Avial is one of the trademark Kerala recipes. Mild, stew-like, lush with juicy vegetables, creamy with yogurt, and flavored with fresh coconut and chilies ground to a paste, and tempered in coconut oil with curry leaves. Tastes great on rice, as a side dish for adai and pongal, and puliyodarai, and coconut rice. Requires a bunch of vegetables, but that’s it. Real simple to make.
This is a basic, beginner recipe. No frills, no fancy, just a simple dal. Only, you don’t need 2 pots – one to cook the dal in, one to add the seasonings. It’s all one pot, turn it on, set the timer and forget it. When done, add tempering, and salt. Total comfort food, ready in about 25 mins (including pressure release time).
Panzanella – a salad made with stale cubed bread, some basic dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and fresh mozzarella. And salt and pepper. There. That’s the recipe, and it comes together beautifully in about 15 minutes.
This is one of the easiest lunch/rice recipes. Perfect for summer afternoons, paired with a cucumber or onion raita and a cruncy papad. Fresh mint flavors this rice, I don’t add cilantro as I want the flavor of mint to be the dominant one.
This is yet another variation of the more/moar kozhambu, made with buttermilk. The first variety is a simple buttermilk recipe blended with coconut, green chilies, and jeera and tempered with coconut oil. This one is a slightly more elaborate version of it, with soaked dals, toasted urad dal and chilies, methi seeds, and of course coconut and green chilies! The name varutharacha (varuthu + araicha) gives away the recipe – varuthu is to fry, and aracha means ground. Other than the frying of spices which takes a few minutes, this is a quick recipe just like the first variety. This recipe is from the collection of “Samaithu Paar” Volume 2, by Meenakshi Ammal.
