Avial

If you have not read my post on “prawn curry “ being a pure vegetarian , you will not understand a Punjabis reverence for coconut oil . Besides the story there , there is another reason why I began to appreciate the contribution of coconut in enhancing the flavours of the vegetables.

        We spent about an year in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and there the vegetables are shipped from the mainland , so not only are they expensive but also not so easy to get in plenty, and above all they are not as juicy and fresh because of the long journey they have done from the mainland to this island.

      I used to eat fish back then so we did enjoy a lot of fish curries and fish pakoras and lobsters and all the stuff but there are times when even a pure non vegetarian craves for colourful and palatable veggies.

      Somehow the vegetable preparations  did not appeal to my pernickety nature and since my kids were small and naturally fussy eaters it was quite a challenge to make them eat anything at all.

       It was then that I began the use of coconut as often as possible in most vegetable  preparations whether they were dry or with a bit of a curry.

      There is an excellent and simplest way to have raw papaya with coconut and it was a hit with my family.I would soon be putting it on the blog.

       Luckily for me coconut was one thing which obviously was in abundance and I have yet to taste a sweeter and more delicious coconut than what you get in the Andamans.  And there were these two trees right in front of our house and I got about a hundred something from them and I distributed them generously besides keeping lots for myself.

I still remember that I had a hand coconut grater and in one go I grated 17 coconuts and about seventy in three days. I froze them for future use and used them liberally in all recipes.

   So that is my story behind  my extensive use of coconuts and making South Indian dishes with the same . Lets get on with the recipe of Avial , which can be altered to whatever vegetables you like and skip the ones you dont as long as you use the vegetables which are firm like carrots , yam etc.

                        

Ingredients:

1.   One cup sliced thick and one inch long potatoes

2.   One cup beans sliced long

3.   One cup sliced  carrots

4.   One cup peas

5.   Half a cup thick yogurt

6.   Half a teaspoon turmeric powder

7.   One teaspoon salt or to taste

8.   One green chilli slit

9.   Coconut oil

10.   One cup grated coconut

11.  A few curry leaves

12.  Half a teaspoon cumin seeds

13.  One green chilli or to taste

14.  Half a cup of water

 Method:

1.   Place the chopped vegetables in a pot and add turmeric powder, the sliced green chilli and half a cup of water.

2.   Cover and let cook on medium flame till completlety cooked , toss the vegetables in between so that they cook evenly.

3.   Meanwhile place the coconut , cumin seeds and the green chilli with about four tablespoons of water  and just give one blitz, do not over grind, the coconut is not to become a paste, the whole idea is to just give one quick mix to the ingredients.

4.   When the vegetables are completetly done , add the coconut mixture, give one stir and turn the gas off.

5.   Add the curd , another stir followed by the salt.

6.   You could pour the coconut oil now or just before serving .

7.   Tastes great just by itself with plain boiled rice or with accompaniments of your choice.

beans· carrots· coconut· coconut milk· coconut oil· peas· potato· south Indian food· vegetables

Avial

If you have not read my post on “prawn curry “ being a pure vegetarian , you will not understand a Punjabis reverence for coconut oil . Besides the story there , there is another reason why I began to appreciate the contribution of coconut in enhancing the flavours of the vegetables.

        We spent about an year in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and there the vegetables are shipped from the mainland , so not only are they expensive but also not so easy to get in plenty, and above all they are not as juicy and fresh because of the long journey they have done from the mainland to this island.

      I used to eat fish back then so we did enjoy a lot of fish curries and fish pakoras and lobsters and all the stuff but there are times when even a pure non vegetarian craves for colourful and palatable veggies.

      Somehow the vegetable preparations  did not appeal to my pernickety nature and since my kids were small and naturally fussy eaters it was quite a challenge to make them eat anything at all.

       It was then that I began the use of coconut as often as possible in most vegetable  preparations whether they were dry or with a bit of a curry.

      There is an excellent and simplest way to have raw papaya with coconut and it was a hit with my family.I would soon be putting it on the blog.

       Luckily for me coconut was one thing which obviously was in abundance and I have yet to taste a sweeter and more delicious coconut than what you get in the Andamans.  And there were these two trees right in front of our house and I got about a hundred something from them and I distributed them generously besides keeping lots for myself.

I still remember that I had a hand coconut grater and in one go I grated 17 coconuts and about seventy in three days. I froze them for future use and used them liberally in all recipes.

   So that is my story behind  my extensive use of coconuts and making South Indian dishes with the same . Lets get on with the recipe of Avial , which can be altered to whatever vegetables you like and skip the ones you dont as long as you use the vegetables which are firm like carrots , yam etc.

                        

Ingredients:

1.   One cup sliced thick and one inch long potatoes

2.   One cup beans sliced long

3.   One cup sliced  carrots

4.   One cup peas

5.   Half a cup thick yogurt

6.   Half a teaspoon turmeric powder

7.   One teaspoon salt or to taste

8.   One green chilli slit

9.   Coconut oil

10.   One cup grated coconut

11.  A few curry leaves

12.  Half a teaspoon cumin seeds

13.  One green chilli or to taste

14.  Half a cup of water

 Method:

1.   Place the chopped vegetables in a pot and add turmeric powder, the sliced green chilli and half a cup of water.

2.   Cover and let cook on medium flame till completlety cooked , toss the vegetables in between so that they cook evenly.

3.   Meanwhile place the coconut , cumin seeds and the green chilli with about four tablespoons of water  and just give one blitz, do not over grind, the coconut is not to become a paste, the whole idea is to just give one quick mix to the ingredients.

4.   When the vegetables are completetly done , add the coconut mixture, give one stir and turn the gas off.

5.   Add the curd , another stir followed by the salt.

6.   You could pour the coconut oil now or just before serving .

7.   Tastes great just by itself with plain boiled rice or with accompaniments of your choice.

Prawn curry

Prawn curry Prawn curry Prawn curry Prawn curry

Prawn curry

I learnt this prawn curry from a good friend of mine who is a Malayali and an excellent cook  . She has taught me quite a few typical Kerala dishes and I would soon be coming up with lots of them.

Prawn curry

     This  prawn curry tastes best if cooked in coconut oil but you could use the regular refined oil too. I must tell you how I, being a Punjabi came to using coconut oil in my cooking. We were living in Cochin in those days, and once I was passing in front of my neighbour’s door and I smelled a heavenly aroma of food wafting from the door. When I met her the next day I asked her what she was cooking and she said that her cook was preparing “Avial”.

I told her about my sniffing spree  and she offered to send her cook to teach me how to cook it. Well she told me what all to keep ready as the cook did not know Hindi or English and I obviously did not know any Malyalam.

     So the next day the pleasant and kindly cook came and with no common medium of conversation we went along with this teaching and learning business in the international language of gestures. Then when the dish was cooked she managed to articulate the word oil…and I handed her the bottle of refined oil, she nodded her head and said something and I smiled back and she smiled back and said something and walked out waving and muttering and I very smartly understood that she is coming back with something.

    She was back in a jiffy with a bottle of ”coconut oil”.Now like most Punjabis I was a bit sceptical about this stuff and I tried to object and she understood that and she refused very firmly in malyalam and I understood and decided to keep quiet and let her do as she pleased. She poured a good amount of the oil over the prepared dish and I grimaced and vowed that I am not going to eat this stuff…how can one eat coconut oil I reasoned to my ignorant self. We conversed whatever over a cuppa and God knows what we talked about , but I remember that she kept smiling  and so did I.

    Anyways , I must admit that the “avial “was smelling great and tasted good too. We enjoyed the lunch very much but I very stubbornly tried the same recipe but used the normal refined oil in place of coconut oil. Well , honestly the outcome was a disaster and I admited that the credit for the delicious avial went to the "coconut oil" and then began my life long love and respect for this beautiful and heavenly oil called coconut oil.

   But luckily for non coconut oil lovers , this prawn curry recipe tastes good if not as great with refined oil too.

Prawn curry

So don’t miss such a simple and delicious  prawn curry just because I wrote coconut oil the first thing in my ingredient list.

Ingredients:

1. 300 grams prawns

2. 4 tablespoons coconut oil/ refined oil

3. A few sprigs of curry leaves

4. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

5. Two medium sized onions chopped fine

6. One large tomato chopped into big chunks

7. Two tablespoons grated ginger

8. 10 cloves garlic crushed

9. ¼ th teaspoon teaspoon turmeric powder

10.            ¾ th teaspoon Kashmiri  red chilly powder

11.          Two pinches fennel seed powder

12.          Salt to taste           

Method:

1. Take the oil in a pan and on medium flame let it get warm and then add the cumin seeds.

2. After a 10- 15 seconds add the curry leaves followed by the ginger and garlic. Stir fry for about five minutes.

3. Add the chopped oinions and on medium flame stir  till the onions turn pink.

4.Add the turmeric and the red chilli powders and stir fry for another minute to roast the masalas well.

5. Pour half a cup of water and...

.......give it a stir and let the water boil.

Add the prawns and stir and cover , the prawns won't take more than 5-7 minutes to cook.

6.  Add 200 ml of coconut milk along with the tomatoes and the salt and cook for just about two minutes more, not more otherwise the coconut milk will begin to curdle.

7.  Sprinkle the fennel seed powder and serve the prawn curry  with steamed rice.

Prawn Curry

Prawn Curry

Prawn curry

   

 

coconut milk· coconut oil· curries· sea food· tomato

Prawn curry

Prawn curry Prawn curry Prawn curry Prawn curry

Prawn curry

I learnt this prawn curry from a good friend of mine who is a Malayali and an excellent cook  . She has taught me quite a few typical Kerala dishes and I would soon be coming up with lots of them.

Prawn curry

     This  prawn curry tastes best if cooked in coconut oil but you could use the regular refined oil too. I must tell you how I, being a Punjabi came to using coconut oil in my cooking. We were living in Cochin in those days, and once I was passing in front of my neighbour’s door and I smelled a heavenly aroma of food wafting from the door. When I met her the next day I asked her what she was cooking and she said that her cook was preparing “Avial”.

I told her about my sniffing spree  and she offered to send her cook to teach me how to cook it. Well she told me what all to keep ready as the cook did not know Hindi or English and I obviously did not know any Malyalam.

     So the next day the pleasant and kindly cook came and with no common medium of conversation we went along with this teaching and learning business in the international language of gestures. Then when the dish was cooked she managed to articulate the word oil…and I handed her the bottle of refined oil, she nodded her head and said something and I smiled back and she smiled back and said something and walked out waving and muttering and I very smartly understood that she is coming back with something.

    She was back in a jiffy with a bottle of ”coconut oil”.Now like most Punjabis I was a bit sceptical about this stuff and I tried to object and she understood that and she refused very firmly in malyalam and I understood and decided to keep quiet and let her do as she pleased. She poured a good amount of the oil over the prepared dish and I grimaced and vowed that I am not going to eat this stuff…how can one eat coconut oil I reasoned to my ignorant self. We conversed whatever over a cuppa and God knows what we talked about , but I remember that she kept smiling  and so did I.

    Anyways , I must admit that the “avial “was smelling great and tasted good too. We enjoyed the lunch very much but I very stubbornly tried the same recipe but used the normal refined oil in place of coconut oil. Well , honestly the outcome was a disaster and I admited that the credit for the delicious avial went to the "coconut oil" and then began my life long love and respect for this beautiful and heavenly oil called coconut oil.

   But luckily for non coconut oil lovers , this prawn curry recipe tastes good if not as great with refined oil too.

Prawn curry

So don’t miss such a simple and delicious  prawn curry just because I wrote coconut oil the first thing in my ingredient list.

Ingredients:

1. 300 grams prawns

2. 4 tablespoons coconut oil/ refined oil

3. A few sprigs of curry leaves

4. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

5. Two medium sized onions chopped fine

6. One large tomato chopped into big chunks

7. Two tablespoons grated ginger

8. 10 cloves garlic crushed

9. ¼ th teaspoon teaspoon turmeric powder

10.            ¾ th teaspoon Kashmiri  red chilly powder

11.          Two pinches fennel seed powder

12.          Salt to taste           

Method:

1. Take the oil in a pan and on medium flame let it get warm and then add the cumin seeds.

2. After a 10- 15 seconds add the curry leaves followed by the ginger and garlic. Stir fry for about five minutes.

3. Add the chopped oinions and on medium flame stir  till the onions turn pink.

4.Add the turmeric and the red chilli powders and stir fry for another minute to roast the masalas well.

5. Pour half a cup of water and...

.......give it a stir and let the water boil.

Add the prawns and stir and cover , the prawns won't take more than 5-7 minutes to cook.

6.  Add 200 ml of coconut milk along with the tomatoes and the salt and cook for just about two minutes more, not more otherwise the coconut milk will begin to curdle.

7.  Sprinkle the fennel seed powder and serve the prawn curry  with steamed rice.

Prawn Curry

Prawn Curry

Prawn curry