Aviyal

Aviyal in literal sense means "mixture of vegetables", simmered in a spicy coconut based gravy. Aviyal is considered to be rich & festive and hence, no south Indian festival/marriage is considered complete without aviyal in the menu. Aviyal is very near & dear to me and I always look forward to this dish, be it a big wedding or a small function. I must say that the mixed vegetables gives aviyal a unique flavor and with every mouthful, as you get to bite into different taste & texture of different vegetables .. mmmmm .. yum is the word!!

History of aviyal seemed quite interesting (Thanks to wikipedia!), as it dates back to the times of Mahabaratha, when Bheema (one of the five Pandavas) wore his cooking hat (which he is supposedly not very good at!) in the kitchens of King Virata, during exile. Not knowing the basics of cooking, he simply chopped up different vegetables, cooked and garnished them with grated coconut, that later became popular as Aviyal.

This renowned dish takes different forms, uses different ingredients in different household. Some add turmeric powder for that yellowish tinge, but I grew up with my mom's white aviyal (though I like both the versions). Some use tamarind water for sourness, whereas my mom uses sour curd/yogurt instead. Some use cumin seeds to add to the flavor, but my mom says adding cumin seeds to aviyal will make it taste more like 'mor kuzhambu' than aviyal!

As for the vegetables, you could use any vegetable that doesn't lose its shape and mush up when cooked. Carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, broad beans (avarakkai), raw bananas, snake gourd, drumstick - an equal mixture of atleast 4-5 vegetables from the list would be just perfect for aviyal!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium

Prep time - 30 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 3-4

Ingredients

Vegetables - 3 cups (I used 1 raw banana, 1 potato, 10-15 beans, 2 carrots & 1/2 cup peas)

Water - 1/2 cup

Raw rice - 1 tbsp (Sona masoori works best)

Green chillies - 3 nos

Coconut - 1/2 cup (packed, freshly grated coconut is highly recommended)

Sour curd - 1/4 cup (I used greek yogurt which was souring in my fridge)

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Curry leaves - 2-3 sprigs

Salt - to taste

Method

Soak raw rice in water for atleast 20 mins.

In a deep saucepan, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Add vegetables & salt. Cover and cook on medium flame until 3/4 th done. Over-cooking will mash up the vegetables.

In the meanwhile, grind coconut, chillies, soaked/drained raw rice into a thick & coarse paste.

Add this paste to the vegetables along with 1/3 cup of water and let it simmer on low flame for 3-5 mins.  Garnish with coconut oil, curry leaves and remove from heat. 

Add beaten yogurt (without any lumps) to the aviyal and mix well. Aviyal is ready to be served!

Milagu Kuzhambu

When someone in my family is sick, I know where to turn to and how to make them feel better. Thanks to all those comforting traditional recipes that are passed down to us from our ancestors! Especially, last week was so tiring with my entire family was taken down by a nasty flu. Without a doubt, traditional recipes were my only resort. 

It's such a blessing to have known what to use in a traditional recipe, how to cook & when to cook, just the way our ancestors cooked them. Traditional recipes are packed with nutrients and super nourishing especially during sick times. They use no artificial ingredients, no pre-processed foods, but the best food that helps our body to get the maximum nutrition and comfort in every possible way!

Every culture has a nourishing tradition of their own and we, Tamilians also have a rich nourishing tradition that includes a lot of healthy ingredients such as pepper, cumin, ginger, turmeric, hing, garlic, curry leaves, ajwain etc.

Milagu Kuzhamabu (tamarind pepper stew) is one such traditional recipe, where pepper serves as a good decongestant for the stuffy noses & throats. I always remember my mom saying how sweating helps body to cool down during fever and heat from the peppercorns works wonder at that. Curry leaves & hing promotes digestive health, which is supposedly weak during ailment. Milagu kuzhambu was spicy yet very comforting with hot rice and a dash of ghee.

Ingredients

Tamarind - small golf ball sized
Water - 2 cups + 1 cup
Ural dal - 2 tbsp
Whole black pepper - 1.25 tbsp
Hing - a small piece
Red chillies - 2 nos
Gingelly oil - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp
Dry ginger powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 6 sprigs + 1 sprig for garnish
Sundakkai vathal - 1 tbsp (optional)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp (I used 1/2 tsp of roasted cumin powder)
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 1 tsp

Method

Soak tamarind in a cup of hot water and extract about 3 cups of tamarind pulp. Set it aside.

Heat abt a tsp of gingelly oil and fry hing, urad dal, whole black peppercorns, red chillies until crisp & golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste along with fresh curry leaves using very less water (about 2-3 tbsp). Set it aside.

Heat rest of the oil in a deep saucepan. When hot, add sundakkai vathal and fry it for a min. To this, add tamarind pulp extract (caution: oil might splatter), turmeric powder, salt and let it boil for about 15 mins until it reduces to half in quantity.

Now, add the ground paste, dry ginger powder, curry leaves (from 1 sprig) and let it boil for another 5 mins. Remove from heat. Fry cumin seeds in a tbsp of ghee and add it to milagu kuzhambu at the end.

Yummy, flavorful milagu kuzhambu is ready to be served.

Note

You could also grind tamarind along with the other spices, add water and bring them all to a boil until the mixture starts to thicken and the raw smell of tamarind goes away!

Morkuzhambu

Morkuzhambu is yet another popular gravy variety from south India. It is a yogurt based gravy flavored with fresh coconut, yogurt and cumin seeds. Preparation is very simple & easy and takes about 15-20 mins of your time. Morkuzhambu is extremely delicious and an absolute relish with plain hot rice and veggie stir-fry on the side.

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 20 mins
Cook time - 10 mins
Serves - 3-4

Ingredients

Chopped Chayote - 1 cup (or other vegetables like okra, white pumpkin etc)
Greek yogurt - 1.5 cups (plain yogurt works fine too)
Salt - to taste
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs
Oil -1 tsp

To grind
Raw rice - 3/4 tsp
Channa dal - 3/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3 nos
Red chillies - 3 nos

Method

Soak raw rice & channa dal in a little water for about 30 minutes until soft. 

Grind it along with green chillies, red chillies, cumin seeds, fresh coconut into a fine paste (I used about 1 tbsp of water while grinding). Take a bowl, whisk yogurt, ground paste together until well combined. Keep this yogurt mixture aside.

Heat a cup of water. When it starts to boil, add turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp of salt and chopped chayote to it. Let it continue to boil until the vegetable is soft & cooked. To this, add the yogurt mixture, salt (as required) and mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water (or 1/4 cup more depending on the thickness of yogurt) and dilute the consistency. Let everything come to a boil and simmer for a while on low-medium heat.

Heat a tsp of oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry curry leaves and add it to morkuzhambu. Finally drizzle a tsp of coconut oil for it helps in deepening the coconut flavor.

Piping hot & tasty morkuzhambu is ready to be served.

Tips
- If using okra, saute okra in a tbsp of coconut oil, 1/2 tsp of salt until soft & cooked. Add this to the yogurt mixture and bring it to a boil. Rest of the vegetables can be cooked in water (as given in the recipe above.)

Vatha Kuzhambu

Vatha kuzhambu is an authentic variety of tangy/spicy kuzhambu that can be mixed & eaten with rice. This is one of the quickest & easiest kuzhambu varieties that can be prepared in minutes. It doesn't need any vegetables/dal, yet tastes great. It doesn't require any special side, and yet tastes great. "Sutta appalam (fire roasted papadum) & vatha kuzhambu" is the perfect duo. But, If you want to stretch yourself, go ahead and try it with potato roast / seppankizhangu roast / okra fry.

'Vathal' is nothing but sun-dried vegetables, which are used in making this spicy/tangy gravy. Most popular ones are Sundakkai (turkey berry), manathakkali (black nightshade), bitter-gourd & okra. Vatha kuzhambu can be made with just one or mix of the above. Don't worry if you don't have any of the vathal's handy at home. This is the most forgiving dish and can be prepared with anything from as simple as appalam to shallots/drumsticks and yet develops a unique flavor with every vegetable that you use.

I have a few friends who are big fans of my vatha kuzhambu. Personally, I am a big fan for my mom 's appalam (papadum) vatha kuzhambu.

Basic Info
Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 5 mins
Cook time - 20-25 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Toor dal (raw) - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 3 nos (broken into half)
Appalam (Papadum) - 2 nos (OR vegetables of your choice - choose from drumstick, okra, shallots, onion etc)

Hing - a pinch

Sambar powder - 3 tsp

Salt - to taste

Gingelly oil - 1/8 cup

Coconut oil - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Rice flour - 1/2 tsp

Method

Soak tamarind in a cup of hot water for 5 mintues. Extract about 1.5 cups of tamarind juice and keep it aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat gingelly oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry fenugreek seeds, red chillies & toor dal until golden brown. Break appalam into small pieces, add it to the pan and fry them. Add sambar powder and fry for few seconds until fragrant. (Make sure that you are not burning the sambar powder. Don't let the color of the sambar powder change to black)

Then, add the tamarind juice and let it boil. 

Allow it to boil until the raw smell of tamarind / sambar powder is gone (Tip: Longer you let the kuzhambu to boil, more thicker it gets). Drizzle coconut oil on top, add curry leaves and remove from heat.

Hot & spicy vatha kuzhambu is ready to be served!

Tips:

- If vatha kuzhambu is too thick, add 1/2 cupof water and bring it to a boil before removing from heat. 

- If vatha kuzhambu is watery, mix rice flour in 1/2 cup of water (without any lumps) and add it to kuzhambu. Bring it to a boil and remove from heat.
- If you find vatha kuzhambu to be too spicy, add a small piece of jaggery towards the end immediately after removing from heat.