Avial

My dad is an excellent storyteller who is good at making up stories at the very instance, and growing up I was a picky eater so to get me to eat he would make up a story around each dish which made it interesting.
There is this story that he would tell me about how avial was born, long time ago a set of cooks were preparing food for a wedding as the wedding was of a brahmin family there had all the vegetarian recipes ready, but towards the end the head cook ended up with a little of every vegetable left , so he decided to try a new recipe asked his fellow cooks to cut up all the leftover vegetables lengthwise and boil them, then made a mixture of coconut , ginger, jeera pwd and mixed with the boiled vegetables, to end it up gave a garnish of sputtering mustards in hot oil with curry leaves.
After the dish was done he asked it to be served along with the remaining dishes and to every one's surprise that was the dish that sold like hot cakes!
Hence AVIAL was born, true or not I sure enjoyed eating avial and reminds of this story every time I make Avial.
It is like a medley of vegetables which includes most of the vegetables like tomato, potato, drumstick, onions, beans , yellow pumpkin, carrots, ash gourd etc. I have seen the Americanised avial too with a little addition of bell peppers and celery too.

My recipe is more towards the tradition version. for this recipe
what u need:

potatoes- 2
onion-1
tomato-2
beans-5-6
carrots-1
ash gourd-1/2 cup
drumsticks-3-4 peices
white pumpkin-1/2 cup
snake gourd-1/2 cup
green chillies-2-3
turmeric owd-1/2 teaspoon
salt to taste
yogurt- 1 tablespoon
u can add or delete vegetables as Per your likes & dislikes
I sometimes add payar (the long strings), tindora (kovakaya), arvi ( kirala), also raw mango if available.

for the paste:
coconut-1/4 cup
ginger-1 tablespoon
jeera pwd-1 teaspoon
green chilles- 3-4
garlic-2-3

for tempering:
oil- 1 tablespoon
curry leaves-4-5
red dried chillies-2-3





Cut all the vegetables length wise, put in a large pot add salt , turmeric pwd, and 1/2 cup water
cover the pot and let it cook till the veges are boiled and cooked do not over cook it or the avial gets too mushy.


Meanwhile grind all the paste ingredients, add the the cooked veges, and mix simmer for 5-7 mins.
temper the dish with sputtering mustard's seeds with curry leaves and red dried chillies.
once the avial cools down add the yogurt and mix, this gives a thick consistency and a sour tinge this is optional.
Serve with rotis or rice.