This is one of our favorite Tamilian dish. My family fell in love with this tangy and spicy curry when our neighbor shared this with us.  I told her how much I loved it and requested her for the recipe. Guess what she did?  She gave me a list of all the ingredients and asked me to call her after getting it ready. I did just that and to my utter delight she came over and showed me how to make it.  Yes, she cooked it for me at home and I consider this the best way to learn.  Seeing and learning! Now, I make this often and also found out that Telugu's also make a similar curry. Here is the recipe as I know it and I hope you will love it :-)





Ingredients

Garlic-2 full(peel the cloves)
Shallots-10(cut into halves)
Cumin seeds-1/4+1/2 tsp
Peppercorns-1/4tsp
Fenugreek(uluva)-1/4 Tsp
Tamarind water-To taste(preferably on higher side)
Salt-To taste
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder-1/2Tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder-1 1/2Tsp
Coriander powder-2 1/2Tsp
Coconut- 1/2 cup grated and ground with min water
Oil-2Tbsp

Method

1.Heat a pan and shallow fry peppercorns and 1/4tsp cumin seeds(without any oil)
2.Remove that and pour oil in the pan and heat.Meanwhile grind the coconut, and dry fried peppercorns and cumin seeds.
3.Splutter cumin seeds and then fenugreek seeds.
4.To this add the ground coconut mixture and saute for a while.
5.Put chilli, coriander and turmeric and saute till the raw smell goes
6.Slide in shallots and garlic cloves and saute for a few minutes on medium heat.
7.Pour in the tamarind water and adjust the consistency and boil well
8.Serve with rice and pappad.

You could add vegetables like okra, brinjal etc to this curry.



Contributor: Namitha

Even the thought of Aviyal makes me nostalgic.It reminds me of my vallyammachi's (grandma's)cooking .I learned this recipe from her, an excellent cook. Though she is a vegetarian she cooks non veg dishes and makes sure they are perfect paying attention to the smell :-) She is the one who brought up my sis and me,when we were kids, since my mom was employed.  While preparing the vegetables she would tell us many stories about cooking. She says the taste of the curry starts right from the way you cut the veggies :-) According to her carrots and French beans are all foreign veggies, and adds that her mother never used them in aviyal and other authentic dishes.



Here is the recipe for aviyal ,which is an important item in the Hindu marriage feasts in Kerala. I know that from place to place the recipe varies, though it is such a popular dish. Here is my version, rather Central Travancore version :-)

Ingredients

Raw banana-1
Ivy gourds(kovakka)-4
Snake gourd- 2 pieces that are 2 inches long
Carrot-1(medium)
French beans-7-8
Long beans(pachappayar)-4
Brinjal(vazhuthananga)- 1/2
Winter Melon(kumbalanga)- A 4inch long piece
Yam (chena)- A 2 inch long piece
Drumsticks- 5-6 two inch long pieces (1 drumstick)
Green chillies- 4-5

Coconut oil -1 +2 Tbsp
Shallots-3-4
Curry leaves-2 Sprigs
Tamarind Juice
Salt
Turmeric powder-1 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Cocnut-grated and half ground- 1/2 cup
Cumin powder/ cumin seeds-1/2 tsp (If you are using powder , a little less)



Method

1.Cut all the veggies into slender pieces
2.Pour 1Tbsp coconut oil in a pan and add all the vegetable pieces along with the green chillies, turmeric and red chilli powder
3.Mix in everything for a couple of minutes.
4. Throw in a sprig of curry leaves and salt.
5.Pour water ,enough to cook the veggies (Don't add too much water, remember that some of the vegetables like winter melon leaves out lot of water) and cover the pan
6. Cook till it is almost done
7.Pour the tamarind juice and cover and cook for a few minutes (If you pour tamarind juice early, the dish will turn dark in color)
8.Add the coconut and cumin to this, mix well, cover and cook for a couple of minutes.
9. Switch off the heat and add smashed shallots and curry leaves along with the 2 Tbsp coconut oil.
10. Mix well and transfer into the serving bowl.
11. Enjoy with rice , sambar and pappad :-)


You could use any vegetable of your choice. Also you could replace the tamarind juice with sour curd or raw mango.



Contributor : Namitha

Like most of us, I didn't know much about cooking,when I got married and moved to Hyderabad. My husband (M) knew how to make the basic pappu curry, which turned out to be a life saver for us. Parippu (pappu, toor daal, sambar parippu)curry is one of the easiest and basic Andhra recipes. M knew much better than me about this recipe when I made it for the first time . I made some changes in the later years when I got more used to the experiments in the kitchen. Hope you will give it a go and see if you like it :-)