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Ever wondered how a side dish can contribute more nutrients in one single meal? Aviyal is the perfect example of that. With its origin in Kerala, aviyal is a combination of healthy vegetables, coconut, and curry leaves. This dish has become an integral part of Indian cuisine and a major part of the sadhya. The key aspect of making the best avail is choosing quality vegetables with contrasting colours, like pumpkin, carrots, beans, ivy gourd, drumsticks, etc. All these veggies along with the grated coconut make a delicious combination you cannot resist. 

There are so many stories related to the origin of aviyal. The most famous is the one associated with Bhima from Mahabharatha. Bhima disguised himself as cook Vallabha in the King’s kitchen. When there were insufficient vegetables to cook a single recipe, he decided to combine all the vegetables and make one dish. When all the vegetables were cooked to perfection, he added some grated coconut along with a few spices and gave a quick stir. He also named it aviyal which means a mix of different things. Another story says that a King did not like to see anything wasted, so he ordered his chef to make a dish out of vegetable leftovers and aviyal was created as a result. 

Aviyal remains a colourful delight of South Indian cuisine, regardless of its origins. It has even found its place in Kerala’s traditional feast, which is the Sadhya. It has become an important side dish that is unavoidable. Even though it includes so many veggies, it is an easy-to-prepare dish, with locally produced vegetables, coconuts and spices. Let’s quickly look into the recipe.

Ingredients:

Diced Vegetables:-

• Drumsticks

• Carrots

• Cucumber

• Pachakaya

• Pumpkin

• Kumbalanga

• Green Beans

• Kovakka

• Yam

• Padavalanga

Grated coconut

Curry leaves

Green Chilli

Cumin Seeds

Turmeric powder

Salt

Coconut Oil

How to Cook:

Grind some coconut, green chilly and cumin seeds with water to make a fine paste. Cook the vegetables with some water, turmeric powder, and some salt to taste. Cover and cook till the veggies are half-cooked. Pour the ground coconut paste into it and cover it with a lid. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and toss in some curry leaves and stir slowly for a few minutes. Cook on low flame for a few minutes till the vegetables are well cooked. Pour some coconut oil on top and mix well. Turn off the flame and serve with boiled rice.

Cleaning and cutting the vegetables is a hideous task but Onionz Fresh is here to ease out that work for you. You just have to place the order for aviyal cut and we will have all the vegetables you need, cleaned and diced for the dish. Sit back, place your order and wait till we get it delivered to your doorstep.