Name: Mixed Vegetables with a Potent Coconut-Chile Sauce (Aviyal)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ½ cup frozen green peas (no need to thaw); 2 tablespoons coconut oil or Ghee; 1 teaspoon rock salt, pounded; 6 to 8 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed; 1 tablespoon yellow split peas (chana dal), picked over for stones; 1 medium-size russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into French-fry pieces (about 4 inches long, ¼ inch wide, and ¼ inch thick); 1 cup shredded fresh coconut; or ½ cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut, reconstituted (see Note); 1 cup French-fry-cut fresh red pumpkin (pieces about 4 inches long, ¼ inch wide, and ¼ inch thick; see Tips); 1 cup cauliflower florets (2-inch pieces); 1 cup cut-up fresh green beans (2-inch lengths); 1 tablespoon canola oil; 15 to 20 medium-size to large fresh curry leaves; 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 medium-size carrot, peeled, ends trimmed, cut into French-fry pieces (about 4 inches long, ¼ inch wide, and ¼ inch thick); 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 8 to 10 pieces (3 to 4 inches long) frozen “drumsticks” (no need to thaw; see box); 1 medium-size sweet potato, peeled and cut into French-fry pieces (about 4 inches long, ¼ inch wide, and ¼ inch thick); ½ cup cubed frozen yams (no need to thaw) or fresh yams (½-inch pieces; see Tip); 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

There’s a reason why this precision-cut vegetable curry is relished at South Indian weddings. The time spent in cutting nine different vegetables, some of them of the root variety, warrants a sauce that will cling, letting the potent chiles, nutty cumin seeds, and sweet-fresh coconut adhere. My accompaniment of choice, hands down, is Rice with Yogurt and Mustard Seeds, a creamy rice treat that serves as a capsaicin-lowering backdrop for the potent chiles i