The Kerala style curry of mixed vegetables in a coconut yogurt sauce base, Avial, cooked in the Instant Pot.
Avial is a favorite dish for many in the Kerala sadya / feast. It is also a great recipe for everyday, to use up all those little bit of leftover vegetables.
Although traditionally, there are a few kinds of vegetables used in making Avial, pretty much most vegetables would taste great in this curry.
Here, I have made this recipe in the Instant Pot to make it just a little quicker than the stove top method. After all, that is one advantage of having the Instant Pot, right?! This Instant Pot Avial recipe takes under 20 mins including prepping the vegetables, bringing the Instant Pot to pressure and cooking it. We do a Quick Release / Manual Release of pressure by turning the sealing knob to pressure release, so, there is no extra time needed to wait for pressure to release before the dish is over.
I love all the different vegetables in it and can’t wait to clean out my refrigerator and cook this. Can this be made Vegan?
Absolutely! In parts of Kerala, tamarind is used as the souring agent instead of yogurt. 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.
I don’t have an Instant Pot. I came looking for Avial recipe. Is there a stove top version?
Yes, you can find the recipe for that here.
Looking for more Instant Pot recipes? Here are a couple from the growing collection of Instant Pot recipes here.
Instant Pot Avial
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)
- 2 cups Water just enough to cook the vegetables
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
To grind to a paste:
- 1/2 cup Grated fresh coconut frozen will do
- 1/4 cup Yogurt
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 Green Thai chillies
For garnish:
- 10 Curry leaves
- 2 tsp Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Add all the vegetables with the turmeric, salt and water to the Instant Pot. Set it to Manual and close and cook sealed under pressure for 4 mins.
- Quick release the pressure as soon as 4 mins is up. Be sure to watch for the steam as you do the pressure release.
- Grind together the coconut, cumin, green chillies and yogurt to a fine paste.
- Add this paste to the cooked vegetables. Cook in saute mode for 2 mins, till it all comes together.
- 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
Here are some reader favorite Instant Pot Indian recipes:
- Instant Pot Avial – Mixed Vegetable Curry with Coconut
- Instant Pot Vegetable Masala Rice
- Instant Pot Saffron Kheer – Instant Pot Indian Saffron Rice Pudding
- Instant Pot Sambar Rice
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