Avial

Kerala's mixed vegetables bound in ground coconut and yoghurt and finished with raw coconut oil and curry leaf

Origin: Kerala, South India

From the journey of Curry Leaf.

Avial is the centre of the sadya, the vegetarian banquet served on a banana leaf at Onam and at Kerala weddings, and it is the dish that most clearly shows what the state does with coconut. A dozen vegetables are cut to the same size, batons about the length of a finger, and cooked in very little water until barely tender. They are then bound with a coarsely ground paste of fresh coconut, green chilli, and cumin, slackened with sour yoghurt, and finished off the heat with a spoonful of raw coconut oil and a handful of fresh curry leaves crushed between the palms. That final step is the whole character of the dish. The oil is not cooked; it goes in cold, at the end, and its heavy coconut smell sits on top of everything. The curry leaves go in with it, uncooked, so what you get is the raw green citrus note of the leaf rather than the toasted one a tempering would give. Kerala does this deliberately and repeatedly, and it is the opposite of the Tamil thalippu a hundred miles away. The cutting matters more than it sounds. Every vegetable must be the same length and thickness, and they go into the pan in order of hardness, because avial is judged on whether each piece is recognisably itself. A dish where everything has collapsed into a mash has failed. The origin legend credits Bhima, cooking in disguise in the Mahabharata and improvising with whatever remained. It is a good story and almost certainly a later attachment.

Ingredients

Vegetables

200 g raw plantain, peeled and cut into finger-length batons
200 g yam or taro, peeled and cut into batons
150 g carrot, cut into batons
150 g drumstick (moringa pods), cut into finger lengths
150 g ash gourd or courgette, cut into batons
100 g green beans, topped and cut into finger lengths

Cooking

1 tsp ground turmeric
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste
200 ml water

Paste

200 g fresh grated coconut
3 whole green chillies
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves shallots, small, optional

To Finish

200 g thick sour yoghurt, whisked smooth
3 tbsp raw coconut oil
2 sprigs fresh curry leaves

Method

Cut every vegetable to the same size, batons roughly 5 cm long and 1 cm thick.
Put the hardest vegetables (plantain, yam, carrot, drumstick) in a wide pan with the turmeric, salt, and water. Cover and cook for eight minutes.
Add the softer vegetables (ash gourd, beans) and cook for a further five to seven minutes until everything is just tender.
Meanwhile, grind the coconut, green chillies, cumin, and shallots if using to a coarse paste with a splash of water. Do not make it smooth.
Stir the coconut paste through the cooked vegetables, turning gently rather than stirring, and cook for three to four minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and let it stop steaming, then fold in the whisked yoghurt.
Pour over the raw coconut oil and crush the curry leaves between your palms as you scatter them on.
Cover and leave to stand for ten minutes before serving at room temperature.

Notes

Fresh curry leaves are essential and uncooked. Dried leaves contribute nothing at all here, since there is no hot fat to draw anything out of them. Raw coconut oil, cold-pressed if possible, is the other non-negotiable. Refined coconut oil has been deodorised and the whole point is the smell. Drumstick (moringa pods) and ash gourd are sold by South Asian grocers. Neither is essential but the dish is better with them; substitute more beans and courgette. The yoghurt should be genuinely sour. Fresh sweet yoghurt gives a flat avial; leave it out of the refrigerator for a few hours first. Serve at room temperature as part of a sadya with rice, sambar, thoran, and pickle, or simply with rice and pappadam.

The Gastrographer

Name: Avial
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South India
Ingredients: 200 g raw plantain, peeled and cut into finger-length batons; 200 g yam or taro, peeled and cut into batons; 150 g carrot, cut into batons; 150 g drumstick (moringa pods), cut into finger lengths; 150 g ash gourd or courgette, cut into batons; 100 g green beans, topped and cut into finger lengths; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste; 200 ml water; 200 g fresh grated coconut; 3 whole green chillies; 1.5 tsp cumin seeds; 4 cloves shallots, small, optional; 200 g thick sour yoghurt, whisked smooth; 3 tbsp raw coconut oil; 2 sprigs fresh curry leaves

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control