Aviyal

As every mother does, I worry about what a picky eater my daughter is. Her list of don't likes is way too longer than the list of likes. And it bugs me when she looks at a dish and decides she doesn't like it by just the sight of it. Well. I can go on cribbing and most mothers would join me too. But in some ways I am not too concerned. After all I was one of the worst "picky eater" if there ever was such a title. You can count my likes with fingers in one hand. But what gives me hope is that some of the foods on my hate list have made it into my like list. Couple of vegetables, eggs cooked in specific ways and of course coconut. I used to hate coconut in any form - sweets, curry, gravy, chutney. All avataars of coconut was banned from my plate. But over-time this hate has mellowed and today I actually enjoy Kerala cuisine which is predominantly coconut based. Coconut sweets are still a no-no but I love the delicately flavored stews, and the fiery "Thengai Thuvayal" and of course the ubiquitous Aviyal is one of my favorites (as long as it is not made with veggies from my hate list!! Some things dont change :-)).

So judging by my changing tastes, I hope that Little A would grow to like chapathi, pasta, cauliflower, chutney, vatha kozhambu, pulao, biriyani ...phew. I only hope..

Today's recipe is Aviyal - a medley of vegetables in a delicate coconut and sour curd (yoghurt) base. In most homes, there would be one or two random vegetables lying around. There wouldnt be enough of it to make a full fledged poriyal or kootu. The best way to utilize them would be mix them up into an aviyal or a mixed vegetable kootu. Aviyal is super easy with minimum ingredients. Please do check the list of veggies that can be used for aviyal.

Aviyal Vegetables: Carrot, Potato, Raw Banana, Banana stem (vazhai thandu) Beans, Chow-Chow,      Bottle Gourd, Snake gourd, Drumstick, Avarakkai, Spinach stems, Pumpkin/Squash, , Raw Mango etc

Vegetables that should not be used: Okra, Spinach leaves and any other sticky vegetable

Aviyal

Ingredients:

Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (refer list above. I used potatoes, green beans, raw banana, carrots and peas)

Sour curd - 1/4 cup

Salt to taste

Grind to paste: 

Green Chilles - 3 to 4

Coconut - 1/2 cut into pieces or shredded

Cumin - 1t

Raw Rice - 1t (soaked). or Rice flour - 1r

For seasoning:

Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

Coconut oil - 1 t

Method:

1. Pressure cook the vegetables with little water and salt for 1 whistle. Alternatively you can boil them in water as well. Remember to use less water as all the nutrients are in the water and you dont want to throw the excess water out. If the water is more, then the aviyal will be runny.

2. Grind together the items given above with little water into a thick paste. You can increase of decrease the chillies according to your heat quotient.

3. Add the ground paste to the cooked vegetables and boil well.

4. Add the curd and mix well. Adjust salt if necessary.

5. In a small pan, heat some coconut oil and season with curry leaves. Add this to the aviyal.

6. Serve hot with rice, sambar and rasam or with Adai. Goes well with rotis too.

Notes:

• If the cooking times for vegetables you are using differ, then you can cook them separately and mix together for the aviyal.
• If using raw mango, adjust sour curd accordingly as the mango will increase the sourness of the aviyal.
• Traditionally coconut oil is added without heating. If you like the intense flavor it gives, then you can use it without heating. Add the curry leaves while the aviyal is boiling.
• As you get experienced with making aviyal, you will be able to judge if a particular vegetable would suit the combination to make aviyal.

Vegetable Spring Packets

Today I was planning to make Chinese Vegetable Noodles and ended up chopping more veggies than required. So decided to try a spring roll. After kneading the dough, I realized that the maida we bought from a Little India store here is totally different from the ones available in India. (Infact it is marked as "wheat flour" on the packet :-)) and the store boy said that it is actually maida but folks here call it wheat flour)!! After this revelation, it takes double the time to shop for groceries here (actually 2+ hours much to the agony of PK who has to manage Ad during those times) as I read every packet thoroughly!.

So the "wheat flour alias maida"dough didnt allow me to roll out bigger "chappathis" for the spring roll. Thus was born the improvised cousin of the spring roll - Spring Packets. You can use any kind of vegetables - even left over poriyals to make this tasty evening snack.

Spring Packets

Ingredients:

For the Packets:

1 cup maida / all purpose flour

1 teaspoon oil

a pinch of salt

For the Stuffing: - Cut all these veggies into thin strips

1 Carrot

1/2 Capsicum

1/4 Cabbage

1/2 Onion

1/2 teaspoon finely shredded Garlic

1 teaspoon Soya Sauce

1 teaspoon Tomato Chilly Sauce (any store brought brand like Maggi / Kissan)

a pinch of pepper

salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil (I always prefer sesame oil for chinese dishes. Any oil can be used)

2 tblspoon oil for frying the packets

Method:

For the Packet: Mix all the ingredients into a dough and roll it into a round chappath shapei. Cut the chapathi into two halfs (semi circle).

For the Stuffing:

1. Heat Oil in a pan and add the shredded garlic. Fry for a minute.

2. Add the onion and fry for a bit.

3. Add the cabbage, carrot and capsicum and fry till soft but crunchy.

4. Mix in salt, soya sauce and pepper and fry for a minute.

5, Remove from fire and cool the mixture.

For the Packets:

1. Roast the chappathi on a tava on one side only with a little oil.

2. Remove and cut into two halfs (semi circle)

3. Place a little stuffing on the cooked side and fold the packet and seal it with the raw side of hte dough.

4. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, fry the sealed packets until cooked.

Serve with hot tomato sauce.

You may also like to:

• Add cooked chicken pieces / mushroom / noodles
• This can be deep fried as well for indulgent folks