Avial - Onam Special

Onam is the most popular festival of Kerala (a southern coastal state of India). This is a Hindu festival, celebrated with  great enthusiasm throughout Kerala for a period of ten days. Every year this festival falls on the Malayalam month of Chingam - between August and September and also known as the harvest festival of Kerala.

Atham is the first day and Thiruvonam is the final day of the celebration. People wear new clothes, decorate their houses and put flower carpet called 'Pookalam' in front of their houses, to welcome the King Mahabali.

During Onam traditional rituals are performed followed by a lavish feast with twenty-one homemade curries and sweet payasam on plantain / Banana leaf.

During this festival, we have the Onam Sadhya at my place or my in-laws place.   We all visit the temple and get together to cook various delicacies.   It's a great occassion where the entire family sits together and enjoy the Sadhya.  We also invite our friends for the Sadhya!

I had made Avial which is my mother's recipe during Onam this year.  You can make a note of this recipe with  is a yummy blend of different veggies in a spicy coconut and yoghurt gravy flavored with coconut oil. It makes use of vegetables like, Ashgourd,  raw banana, yam, drumstick, yard long beans, snake gourd, carrots and French beans.

Ingredients :

Drumstick / Phalli - 5 to 10 pieces

1 cup chopped yam/suran

1 cup chopped colocasia/arbi

1 cup chopped raw banana

½ cup chopped ash gourd/petha

½ cup chopped French beans

½ cup chopped cluster beans/gavar

1 Carrot

1 small piece bitter gourd

2 stalks of curry leaves/kadi patta

Masala for Avial :

1 and ½ cup grated coconut

2 to 3 green chilies

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 small piece onion (to be crushed and put later)

Other Ingredients:

1 cup beaten curd/yogurt

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

 Water

Salt

1 tsp Coconut oil

Method :

Wash and chop all the vegetables in long shape. Add little water, turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder and pressure cook the vegetables upto 2 whistles.  You can also cook the vegetables by adding water in a covered pan. (ensure that the vegetables are not over cooked.   

While the vegetable is being cooked, make a coarse paste of coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds.  Add the coconut paste to the cooked vegetable and cook well.  Add curry leaves to this mixture, check the salt. Now crush the onions and add it to this mixture.  

Add yoghurt mix and just simmer for a minute.  Add 1 tsp coconut oil to the Avial.

This tastes good with Rice, Chapati, Dosa etc.  You can make it in the morning and consume it by  lunch time so the all the ingredients are well blend.