Avial in Chef Style

Ingredients for Avial in Chef Style:

1. Elephant yam – 500 gm
2. Carrot – 50 gm
3. White guard (Ilavan) – ½ kg
4. Cucumber after removing outer skin and seeds – 350 gm
5. Raw banana (padathi kaaya) skin scraped – 150 gm
6. Brinjal – 100 gm
7. Snake guard – 125 gm
8. Drum stick – 150 gm
9. Raw mango – 25 gm
10. Sambar chilli – 100 gm
11. Green chillies – 25 gm
12. Curry leaves – 10 gm
13. Amaranthas/Cluster beans (Cheena Amarakka) – 25 gm
14. Cashew nuts – 25 gm
15. Turmeric powder – 1tsp
16. Chilli powder – 1.5 tsp
17. Salt – one handful
18. Curd – 2 big spoons
19. Pineapple scraped – 3 small spoons
20. Coconut – 125 gm
21. Water – 1.5 litres

How to prepare Avial in Chef Style?

1. Remove the skin of the elephant yams and carrots, and cut them into 1-inch pieces.
2. White guard, cucumber, brinjal, snake guard and amaranths – cut them into avial-type pieces and keep them separately.
3. Cut banana pieces and put them in water.
4. Mango, sambar chillies and drumsticks – wash them well, split them into pieces and place them separately.
5. Crush green chillies. Take a bunch of curry leaves and pluck the leaves one by one.
6. Make a fine paste of coconut and cumin seeds.
7. Heat a big container and add 25 millilitres of coconut oil. Add elephant yams, carrot and half the amount of curry leaves.
8. Add half a litre of water and boil it well. Add the remaining vegetable pieces after washing well. Don’t add green mango, sambar chillies and drumsticks.
9. Sprinkle turmeric powder and chilli powder on top. Add salt solution as well. Never stir the contents.
10. Cook for 20 minutes and check if the elephant yams are cooked well. If so, stir all the contents well and let it dry, evaporating the water.
11. Add mango, sambar chillies, cashew nuts and drumsticks to the cooked vegetables, making a dough in the centre.
12. Cover it fully with the cooked vegetables.
13. Add crushed chillies and remaining curry leaves on top. Then cover it fully using coconut paste.
14. Add curd, pineapple and coconut oil on top and cook on the lowest flame for 20 minutes.
15. When the sweet aroma comes out, using a spatula, check if the drumsticks are cooked well.
16. When it’s completely cooked, mix all contents well and check the salt.

Read a few more banana vegetarian side dish recipes here. Click on the images in the gallery to read.