Travancore Avial: A seven vegetable dish from Kerala

As a child, he used to watch shootings happening in nearby places and imagined playing a cop, villain or doing great stunts. His dream came true when they shifted to Chennai. Raajmitheren’s first movie was in 1996 titled Pulla Kutti Karan. After its release, there was no looking back for him. During his childhood days in Shoranur, along with his two siblings, he used to play games where he was the policeman or thief and they would always end up robbing mangoes from the neighbour’s tree. He has pleasant memories of the heavenly cooking smells from the kitchen, where his ammamma (grandmother) used to cook and give instructions to cooks. They used to cut on the traditional aruvamanai, hand pound spices in stone grinders and saute and stir curries on different firewood flames to develop distinct flavours. The smell of his ammama’serachi varuthathu (mutton pepper fry) cooking on the woodfire used to draw them like magnets. He also recollected that in the courtyard they used to dry fish and mango for pickles. Raajmitheren’s all-time favourite dish is avial. He tells me that on the sets, lunchtime is always a fun time where the actors share dishes and interesting conversations. The easy camaraderie and bonds are strengthened by great food, be it veg or non-veg. He loves the food which comes from Sai Sukumar’s place, which includes vathal kuzhambu and paruppu usili.

There are so many versions of avial. But the most popular one is that when the Pandavas finished the 12th year of exile they had to hide for one year. So, all the way from UP with their followers, they made their way across India and reached Kerala. The recipe of avial is said to have travelled from the Virat kingdom to Kerala. Once, in the kingdom of Virat, where Bheema was working in disguise as a chef, the king organised a feast. But the kitchen was running short of dishes and the king’s name was at stake. Bheema gathered different leftover vegetables and cooked them together with curd and chillies. Once they reached Kerala, their followers became part of the great warrior community the ‘Nairs’ with exceptional cooking skills. The original dish saw a pleasant change when the enterprising cook in the king of Travancore palace added ground coconut and cumin, along with some more vegetables to make it seven vegetables in number. That’s how the traditional Travancore avial was born. The king also ordered it to be served as the first item. Hence, avial is the first to be served on a sadhya.

Generally, only crisp vegetables are used in avial. Vegetables commonly used are elephant foot yam, plantain, ash pumpkin, carrots, beans, eggplants, cucumber, drumstick pods, and snake gourd while potato and broad bean are the recent introductions. Avial made in north Kerala includes bitter gourd and in the Kollam region of Kerala, tomato is added among other vegetables. Some people prefer to skip curd or substitute it with raw mango or tamarind pulp. The dish can be a semi gravy dish or a dry one.

INGREDIENTS 

VEGETABLES: Snake gourd: 1 cup cut 1 inch length | Ridge gourd: 1/2 cup cut 1 inch length |

Big cucumber: 1/2 cup 1 inch length | Carrots: 4 nos cut 1 inch length |

Drumsticks: 3 nos -1 inch length | Long beans: 1/2 cup 1 inch length |

Brinjal: 1/4 cup 1 inch length | Potatoes: 1 inch length ½ cup |

Raw banana: 1 inch length, ½ cup

FOR GRINDING:

Coconut: 1 no | Cumin: 1/2 tsp | Ginger: 1 small piece | Green chillies: 3 nos |

Curry leaves: 1 string | Curd: 1/2 cup | Turmeric powder: 1 tsp | Salt (as reqd)

| Coconut oil: 1/2 tsp | Coconut milk: ¼ cup

*Cut all the vegetables and keep aside

*Place them in a pressure cooker along with salt, turmeric, half the curd and cook for 1 whistle

*Meantime, grind coconut, ginger, green chillies and cumin to a coarse paste. Add curd

*Mix this paste with cooked vegetables and allow to boil

*Once it starts boiling, add curry leaves and coconut milk

*Switch off the flame and add 1/2 tsp oil on top of the curry

*Serve hot with red parboiled rice and sambar

*Avial is the best way to make sure that kids eat many vegetables

*Don’t use veggies which will become mushy like ladies fingers or cauliflower

*Parboiled rice goes best with avial and small onion sambar