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Home » Recipes » Diet » Vegetarian » Avial – Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt

Avial – Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt

Published: Apr 6, 2016 · Modified: Sep 30, 2020 by Manju · This post may contain affiliate links · 6 Comments

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Avial ~ Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt. Vegetarian. Kerala Sadya Recipe for Vishu / Onam Sadyas (Feast) www.cookingcurries.com

Avial – a mixed vegetable curry in a spiced coconut and yogurt sauce, is a very quintessential Kerala dish that is made for Sadya (a feast)! It also features very regularly in everyday meals in Kerala.

Avial - Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt Sauce - A Kerala Sadya Recipe - Vegetarian, Gluten Free - www.cookingcurries.com

This post contains affiliate links. For more information on this, please refer to my Affiliate and Advertising Disclosure here.

My love-not so much love-hate relationships with certain food has changed over the years. Things I hated when I was a kid, I have grown to love it. Some things I loved before, not so much now. Some foods have always been meh and they still are very much meh. I am sure this happens to most of us.

The food that I did not like a lot but have started to tolerate now could be because I appreciate the effort that goes into making that food. Or maybe I always got to eat that certain food and now not so much, so I miss it at some level, which makes me think I like it?

I believe it is all the life experiences that changes these likes and dislikes with food and possibly with other things too. It need not necessarily be the reasons I said, but I am sure it is somewhere in those lines.

Avial - Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt Sauce - A Kerala Sadya Recipe - Vegetarian, Gluten Free - www.cookingcurries.com (4)

Avial has always been a favorite – then and now. Amma’s avial was something that everyone in the family asked her to make for any kind of get together and sometimes even when we travelled by trains. Someone will bring some puliyodharai (tamarind rice), someone else would bring curd rice and it was amma’s turn (always) to bring avial.

Have I told you what awesome combination avial and curd rice makes? These just made those train journeys so much more worth it. Aside from the coffee and other fun things. I will keep that for another post.

This Avial recipe is a little different from how my amma makes it, she uses tamarind as a souring agent, which is a common practice in the Southern parts of Kerala where as I have used yogurt as the souring agent, which is how it is made in the Central and Northern parts of Kerala. Some also use sour raw green mango as the souring agent for this curry.

Avial - Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt Sauce - A Kerala Sadya Recipe - Vegetarian, Gluten Free - www.cookingcurries.com (3)

I love both recipes, as they have their special taste to it. I tend to gravitate more towards the yogurt base as it is easier to just dump some yogurt while you are grinding the coconut, versus, soaking the tamarind, taking the pulp out and then cooking the vegetables in it.

If you are looking for more Sadya recipes, here is our collection of over 40 Kerala Sadya recipes.

Looking to make this in the Instant Pot? Here is the recipe for Instant Pot Avial.

Avial - Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt Sauce - A Kerala Sadya Recipe - Vegetarian, Gluten Free - www.cookingcurries.com (2)

Ingredients for Avial

  • Mixed Vegetables, cut into 3 inch long strips – Raw Plantain, Elephant Yam, Yellow Cucumber, Carrot, Potato, Drumstick, Chayote Squash are more commonly used.
  • Turmeric powder
  • Salt
  • Freshly grated coconut
  • Yogurt
  • Cumin seeds
  • Thai green chillies
  • Curry leaves
  • Coconut Oil 

How to make Avial

Cook the vegetables in the water with the turmeric powder, till soft. Check the drumstick to see if it is soft, if so all other vegetables should be cooked. Drumstick takes the longest to cook. Add salt to this once the vegetables are cooked.
Grind together the coconut, cumin, green chillies and yogurt to a fine paste.
Add this paste to the cooked vegetables.
Garnish/season with the coconut oil and curry leaves.

Tips for making Avial

  • You can use other vegetables like the small eggplant, other squashes or melons etc. 
  • Yogurt is used as the souring agent here. In certain parts of Kerala, tamarind or sour raw green mango is used as the souring agent instead. If using tamarind, use a lime sized ball, soak in water and take out the pulp. Add this to the vegetables when they are cooking. If using raw green mango, use it like any of the other vegetables in the curry.
  • If using frozen coconut, microwave the frozen grated coconut for 30 secs or so. This way the coconut grinds better without having fat solids stuck in the mixer/food processor.

If you love simple vegetable curries like this, here are a few more that you may want to try:

  • Spinach and Black Eyed Peas Curry
  • Beetroot Saute with Coconut

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Avial ~ Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt. Vegetarian. Kerala Sadya Recipe for Vishu / Onam Sadyas (Feast) www.cookingcurries.com

Avial – Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut and Yogurt

Avial – a mixed vegetable curry in a spiced coconut and yogurt sauce, is a very quintessential Kerala dish that is made for Sadya (a feast)! It also features very regularly in everyday meals in Kerala.
5 from 6 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Vegetable Curries
Cuisine: Indian, Kerala
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 cups
Calories: 166kcal
Author: Manju
[recipe_key]

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Mixed Vegetables – Raw Plantain, Elephant Yam, Yellow Cucumber, Carrot, Potato, Drumstick, Chayote Squash, cut into 3 inch long strips (peel the plantain, yam, cucumber, potato)
  • 1 cup Water just enough to cook the vegetables
  • ½ tsp Turmeric powder
  • Salt to taste

To grind to a paste:

  • ½ cup Grated coconut I use freshly frozen that I buy from our local Indian store
  • ¼ cup Yogurt
  • ½ tsp Cumin seeds
  • 2 Thai green chillies

For garnish:

  • 10 Curry leaves
  • 2 tsp Coconut Oil

Instructions

  • Cover and cook the vegetables in the water with the turmeric powder, till soft. Check the drumstick to see if it is soft, if so all other vegetables should be cooked. Drumstick takes the longest to cook. Add salt to this once the vegetables are cooked.
  • Grind together the coconut, cumin, green chillies and yogurt to a fine paste.
  • Add this paste to the cooked vegetables.
  • Garnish/season with the coconut oil and curry leaves.

Notes

You can use other vegetables like the small eggplant, other squashes or melons etc. This is usually the combination I use.
Yogurt is used as the souring agent here. In certain parts of Kerala, tamarind is used as the souring agent instead. If using tamarind, use a lime sized ball, soak in water and take out the pulp. Add this to the vegetables when they are cooking. Skip the yogurt. Grind the coconut with a little water instead.
If using frozen coconut, microwave the frozen grated coconut for 30 secs or so. This way the coconut seems to grind better without having fat solids stuck in the mixer/food processor.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cuo | Calories: 166kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 132mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 4731IU | Vitamin C: 62mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @Cookingcurries or tag #cookingcurries on social media. We would love to take a look and share!

This post originally appeared on my old blog, Mirch Masala.

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Previous Post: « Tiffin Sambar ~ South Indian Lentil and Tamarind Stew
Next Post: Red Chard and Cannellini Bean Sauté »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. christine says

    April 08, 2016 at 6:07 am

    5 stars
    I bet the house smells so fabulous while this is cooking. Those flavors sound great.

    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    April 09, 2016 at 6:57 am

    5 stars
    This looks like something that I would love to try. I am a huge fan of authentic tasting foods like this.

    Reply
  3. linda spiker says

    April 09, 2016 at 7:49 am

    5 stars
    Just lovely!

    Reply
  4. Prairie Gal Cookin says

    April 11, 2016 at 10:24 pm

    5 stars
    I’ve never tried curry before, but I need to after seeing this – Yummy!!

    Reply
  5. Alice Beef says

    March 22, 2020 at 2:04 am

    5 stars
    Your recipes look so yummy and amazing. I try it for my son and he loves to eat so much. Thank you a lot for your creative and sharing.

    Reply
  6. Phoenix Cooks says

    December 04, 2020 at 4:57 pm

    5 stars
    Wow,it looks delicious.I really love curry. Thank you for sharing. I will try to make this curry for my family. I believe my family will like this very much. Love so much.

    Reply

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