Kerala Avial

Fabricate the Coconut Paste: In a blender, combine the grated coconut, a portion of the green chillies, and the cumin seeds. Grind this mixture extremely coarsely using a minimal dash of water. Absolutely DO NOT reduce this to a smooth paste. Set aside.

Start the hard vegetables first in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan — yam, carrot and drumstick. Cover with water and add the turmeric, the remaining slit green chilli and salt.

Cover the pan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes to start the vegetables softening.

5 min

Subsequently, fold in the softer, rapid-cooking vegetables (ash gourd, raw banana, beans). Cover and continue cooking for another 8-10 minutes. The objective is for all vegetables to cook through entirely while rigidly retaining their batoned shape. Do not permit them to disintegrate into a mush.

8–10 min

Once most of the liquid has cooked away, spoon the coarsely ground coconut paste over the steamed vegetables.

Very gently toss the vegetables, coaxing them to evenly wear the heavy coconut mixture. Sauté the assembly for 2 minutes solely to cook off the raw, sharp aroma of the cumin.

2 min

Turn the heat right down. Add the well-whisked sour curd and fold it in very gently. Take the pan off the heat straight away so the curd cannot split.

Tear the fresh curry leaves roughly with your bare hands—releasing their volatile oils—and scatter them dramatically over the finished Avial.

The definitive magic step: Generously drizzle the raw coconut oil evenly across the entire surface of the dish. Resist the urge to stir it in.

Slam the lid back onto the pan and enforce a resting period of 10 minutes prior to service. This critical step hermetically traps and fuses the raw aromas of the curry leaves and unrefined coconut oil directly into the vegetables.

10 min