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Active Time
25 minutes
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Total Time
45 minutes
This quintessential Kerala vegetable curry marries many of the best ingredients of the region: coconut, curry leaves, green chiles, and a host of tropical vegetables. All the vegetables are cut into batons and poached in a spiced yogurt-coconut sauce. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.
Ingredients
Makes 6 servings (as part of a large meal)
Step 1
Bring potatoes, carrots, chile, red pepper flakes, turmeric, 1 cup water, and salt to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy pot, then simmer briskly, uncovered, until vegetables are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and peas and simmer 1 minute more.
Step 2
Meanwhile, blend coconut, cumin, cayenne, and remaining 3/4 cup water in a blender or food processor to a medium-fine paste.
Step 3
Add coconut mixture to vegetable mixture along with yogurt. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and flavors have blended, 12 to 15 minutes. If mixture becomes too thick to simmer, add more water.
Step 4
Serve sprinkled with curry leaves and drizzled with coconut oil, if desired.
•Indian ingredients can be mail-ordered from Kalustyans.com.
•Chile can be removed during cooking when aviyal is spicy enough for your taste.
•Aviyal can be made 1 day ahead and chilled (add curry leaves and coconut oil just before serving).
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Reviews (6)
Back to Topnot a winner at our house. the coconut flakes gave it a real strange texture. I guess we are used to coconut milk too much. Flavor was good, not spicy at all, especially with the rice, but nothing special. Won't make it again, no one took seconds.
Anonymous
las cruces, nm
4/17/2013
Pretty good recipe but as others have said, needed some modifications to boost flavor. I added about 3/4 c. coconut milk as well as the shredded coconut, and I increased the turmeric to 1 tsp and the cumin to 1 tbsp. Plus added 1 tsp ground ginger and used a julienned red bell pepper in addition to other vegetables. I also par-boiled the potatoes since I didn't think they would cook properly with the other vegetables, that was a good move. Otherwise, it came out pretty good, needed a bit of salt but otherwise yummy! We served it with basmati rice and pan-fried tofu cubes. And, I actually like the texture of the ground coconut, so that was a plus for me. Oh, and don't worry about the yogurt thing. We used Greek yogurt and it turned out just fine. :)
BeeQueen
New Brunswick, NJ
3/8/2013
I usually don't make dishes with so few and unenthusiastic reviews, but I had a bunch of ingredients to use up and this looked easy and I figured I could doctor it up. The basic recipe has good bones. So I tripled the spices except the peppers which I doubled and I added 1 tsp of Aleppo pepper flakes. I used green beans instead of zucchini. Threw in a little coconut milk with the yogurt ( I used kefir). There are some issues with the recipe as written. The potatoes take far longer to cook than the rest of the veggies so boil them a good 5 to 10 minutes before adding the carrots. I could not make a smooth paste out of the flaked coconut no matter how long I processed it and it came out gritty. Next time, I will try soaking the coconut in hot water before making the paste, or just substituting coconut milk. This recipe has potential, it just should have been vetted a few more times in the test kitchen.
downeygirl2
Rochester, NY
2/28/2013
Made this this morning according to recipe directions - it has to be the blandest dish I have ever made. Very little flavor. Ended up tossing the remainder of the dish, thank goodness I didn't try it on company. Not worth the calories!
debskitchenuk
1/28/2013
Sounds yummy....and just right for me here in Kenya!
HillyWtm
Kenya
1/3/2013
I've been making a very similar dish to this for many years. First off, I would use frozen or fresh coconut instead of dried unsweetened coconut if you can find it. Also, Aviyal means mixed vegetables, and you can easily substitute vegetables of your choice in this dish, i.e. sweet potato, plantain, green beans, drumstick (if you can find it), and/or bell peppers of any color go very well. Instead of the various chilies suggested, you could use just the green chile, doubling it if you want it spicier... and I typically grind the green chilies into a paste. Another thing I do differently is to add mustard seeds, cooked for a moment in the coconut oil until they pop.
Angela_Swayam
Vancouver, Washington
1/2/2013
