Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Festive Mood, Awards, and MeMe

Ever since my dear friend Priti of Indian Khana announced the Festive Food Event along with Purva of Purva's Daawat (another dear and new friend from the food blog world), I have been elevated to a festive mood. This is the main festival season too, with Rakhi, Krishna Janmashtami, Navarathri, Ramadan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra lined up one after the other (If I have missed any, please forgive!).

Though I intend to post a sweet dish made specially on Raksha Bandhan and submit for the first FF event: Rakhi – Thread of Love, I could not help but think of Aviyal, the quintessential part of Kerala cuisine and festive occasions. Any feast is incomplete without it, and so would have been my little spread on Sunday, if I had not made the Aviyal in the picture:

Now, before get to the recipe, let me warn the Aviyal purists that this Aviyal does not have yam in it because I did not have yam at home at the time I decided to make it. Also, I used yellow pumpkin! I know, it sounds ridiculous, but then, I have grown up with Aviyal, and each time I have it, I am reminded of the story I have heard of the cook who just chopped all remaining vegetables after a feast and made Aviyal with them. So, that is exactly what I did with the vegetables that were leftover from last week in the fridge, and in a very simple way!

To make the Aviyal in the picture, you will need:

Veggies:
Plantain - 1 (I do not peel the skin)
Carrots - 1
White Pumpkin - about a 150 gm piece
Drumsticks - 1 large
Beans - 4-5
Longyard beans - 4-5
Bitter Gourd - (shocking?) - 1
Snake Gourd - 1 medium length
Green chillies -2
Curry Leaves - 2 strands
Ginger - finely chopped - 1tbsp (optional)
Garlic - 2 cloves (optional)

Note: All vegetables can be cut into long rectangles.

For the base:
Coconut - 2 cups - grated
Curd - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Jeera/ Cumin seeds powder - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp (Use Coconut Oil for the best taste)


Method:
  • Boil the vegetables except garlic in a pan with 2 cups of water and salt to taste, adding the hard ones first, and the soft ones later
  • Grind the coconut, curd, turmeric and jeera powders into a coarse paste (not too fine)
  • Once the vegetables are evenly cooked, add the paste and curry leaves and mix well
  • Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, adjust consistency (gravy/ dry) with water
  • Pound the garlic and add at this stage and mix well
  • Add the oil on top (Neyyi Nanakkuka), and remove from heat

Serve hot with rice. We have this with chapathis too.

Awards

*Swati of Swati's Sugarcraft and Purva of Purva's Daawat have passed me the Brillante Weblog premio-2008 award. Thank you so much, girls. This means so much to me!

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere. Here are the rules to follow:

  • When you recieve the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.
  • Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
  • Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’.
  • Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).

I would like to pass this to:

Cham of Spice Club

Nupur of One Hot Stove

Priya of Akshayapaatram

Sra of When My Soup Came Alive

Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons

Sunita of Sunita's World

VP of Vegetable Platter

*Priti of Indian Khana has passed me the 'Rocking Girl Blogger Award.' Priti is a rocking blogger herself, and I am so humbled by her gesture. Thank you, Priti :-)

I would like to pass this award to:

N of A_and_N at Delectably yours, (A, if there ever is a Rocking Boy Blogger award, I'd pass it to you, but you see, I'd never receive it in the first place!)

*SriLekha of Me and My Kitchen has passed two awards to me: "Beautiful Site Award" and "Best Blog Darts Thinker Award."

Thanks a lot, SriLekha, I am truly blessed!


I would like to pass these awards to:

Adam of Baking with Dynamite

Dee of Choos & Chews

Kevin of Closet Cooking

Laavanya of Cookery Corner

Lore of Culinarty

Nags of Edible Garden

Sia of Monsoon Spice

Sireesha of Mom's Recipes

Suganya of Tasty Palettes

Vaishali of Holy Cow!

MeMe

Pragyan of Sorisha - Cooking at Pragyan's and Priti of Indian Khana have tagged me with The Booky MeMe. I have done this before, but I so love to read, and want to do this again!

The rules of the tag are as follows:

Pick up the nearest book, Open to page 123, Find the 5th sentence, Post the next three sentences, and Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

Nearest Book: Journey of a Master, Swami Chinmayananda. The Man, the Path, the Teaching, by Nancy Patchen. Central Chinmaya Mission Trust. (Bought it this weekend, and currently reading)

The three sentences after the 5th sentence on page 123:

  1. Then joining hands, they circled the lamp three times.
  2. After the ceremony, the parents of both the bride and groom escorted them to Poothampalli House, Manku's family home.
  3. Upon entering the home, Manku scattered grains of rice over the threshold; then she was received with honour with the lamp from the prayer room by Kouchi Narayani, the eldest woman of the household.

I would love to pass this MeMe to:

Clumbsy Cookie

JZ of Tasty Treats

Mathew of Ambrosia

Purnima of Fantasy Cooking

Sukanya of Hot N Sweet Bowl

Whew! This is one lengthy post. I need some rest after this!:-)

39 comments:

Cham said...

I love avial :) Great that u share an authent Kerala dish! Congrats on ur awards & thank you to consider me :)

amna said...

Thanks a ton Shreya! just a note though, u have misspelt the name of my blog :)

Dee said...

Wow, thank you Shreya. This means a lot!

Congratulations on all your very well-deserved awards too. Keep up the excellent blogging!

Vaishali said...

Shreya, That aviyal looks delicious- it's one of my favorite dishes. I've never used snake gourd or bitter gourd in it before, but thanks for the idea: I must try it your way.
Congratulations on all the well-deserved awards, and thanks for thinking of me. A big hug.

RM said...

Hey Shreya : Just wanted to say congrats on all those awards !
And also welcome aboard - I've added you to my BlogRoll...something I do when I appreciate a person's feedback or his/her work :)
In your case both are appreciated :)
Rgds,
Sam !

Laavanya said...

Quite a loaded post :) Aviyal looks so good Shreya makes me want to have some right away. Congrats on your awards and thank you so much for thinking of me.

Indian Khana said...

Poriyal looking so gud dear with bitter gourd too :) thts making it more healthy...A Big Congrats to U for all the awards, you truly deserve them.

Suganya said...

Except okra and bitter gourd, anything goes for avial. Thank you for the award.

mathew said...

First of all congrats for the award!!:-)

and thanks a lot for the tag..though I have actually done it already in my other blog
http://wetspark.blogspot.com/2007/05/when-you-tag-rocket-scientists-this.html
thanks anyways...


Avial was once the most hated vegetable but ever since I left home I suddenly developed a liking for it and never miss a chance to have enough of it!!slurp i already get the flavours in my mouth!;-D

ST said...

Avial looks delicious......Thanks a lot dear for the cute awards:))
Congrats on all ur awards.

Ramya Bala said...

Avial-I simply luv it,Do you have with rice n chappathis?I dont need them...A bowl full of Avial...Wow,u tempted me...

Ramya Bala said...

Hey shreya,forgot to pass on wishes..Congrats dear

@the_whisk_affair said...

aviyal looks tasty...didnt know u were a malayali!

congrats on ur awards, and to all who received it. Thanks for the tag, will do soon!! :-)

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Congratulations on all your awards! And thanks you dear for tagging me on the fun meme!

Adam said...

Is that clock on the top of your page your time? If so, we have like a 16 hour difference. Crazy. Now I get why you said you were late :)

Thanks for your comment on my coconut dessert AND my fats post. I'm glad you enjoyed both of them, and am happy your a fellow coconut lover.

Speaking of coconut, it's even in your dish here! What a coincidence. Looks delicious :)

Ok, and lastly, thank you very much for the awards, and congrats on yours. High five cool award buddy.

Sum Raj said...

i luv avial...urs has come out perfect....congrates on awards.

test it comm said...

Congrats on the awards! Thanks for the award.

Illatharasi said...

Avial is my favourite too... I am seeing all my favourite in my friend's blog ;) you all make me drool:)

Congrats for all the awards:)

Indian Khana said...

Hey dear award for you in my blog :)

notyet100 said...

nic eone for the event,//loks read with so mny veggies it nutritious too,..nd congrats for all the well deserved awards..

sra said...

Shreya, glad you find my blog brilliant - thanks ever so much! Really appreciate this!

sra said...

Oh, and I wanted to say that I live avial - surprisingly enough, our canteen dishes out a good avial!

ST said...

I have a small treat for u at my blog:))

lubnakarim06 said...

Congratulations for the awards. Nice recipe.

Sia said...

shreya, thanks for the awards girl :)
and avial is my fav dish too.

Rajani said...

hi shreya, congratulations! ur right.. no feasting can be complete without aviyal. with bittergourd it must taste different, i love bittergourd in sambhar so this must taste good too. also we don't put ginger garlic in the aviyal so it definitely is an interesting version.

Madhavi said...

Yummyyyyy post Shreya, look delicious and healthy!!! Congratulations on ur well deserve awards dear, m very happy for u!!!

Swati said...

The avial looks really delicious....
Enjoy your awards!!

Dragon said...

I have never tried Aviyal before but it sounds and looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing your version with us. :)

Srikitchen said...

congrats on ur awards!

lubnakarim06 said...

Happy Independence Day to u dear.

Suganya said...

Hi....
Congrats on all ur awards... Thank u for tagging me for the meme....

Chef Jeena said...

Well done, lovely dish so healthy with all those vegetables too. :-)

Dershana said...

Hi Shreya, i love aviyal too. in fact have the pics ready to post it on :-)

a little surprise for you at my blog.

Sig said...

Avila purists - LOL! :) I can't stand those so called purists, id everyone was a purist, cooking will be so boring! :) Avial looks yummy Shreya... and congrats on all the awards! :)

Paru ... said...

I love avial..especially the mixture of veggies..Great recipe..

sometimes I add a tsp of coconut oil to enhance the flavour..

Happy Rakshabandhan..

Paru

zlamushka said...

Lovely award distribution. I discovered blogs I didtn know existed :-) aviyal looks great, so many ingredients I never cooked from (bitter gourd, plantain...)
Btw, I hope you are participating this month´s Tried And Tasted, we are cooking from Jugalbandi(ts).

Seena said...

Shreya,
never thought of adding garlic to Avial!! your header makes me drool.. :P

Shreya said...

Hi, thank you all so much for the lovely comments! I am so happy!:-)