Aviyal

Aviyal is a traditional Kerala dish,practically a cooked salad with different veggies,coconut,cumin,yogurt and coconut oil.All vegetables go in it, except perhaps,some mushy vegetables.
There is a legend about this dish. The Maharaja of Travencore used to perform Murajapam every year (The word murajapam signifies a course of prayer.Mura,literally "a course of recitation" each taking eight days to go through,and japam meaning " prayer or chating of vedic hymns".The Murajapam thus instituted consists of seven courses and lasts for fifty six days,closing with the grand illimunation of the temple called lakshadipam). One year it so happened that there was no vegetables left on the last day of the Murajapam.Only few pieces of various vegetables left over from the previous days were available. The cook cut all the left overs into long thin pieces and prepared "Aviyal." The king liked the dish so much and presented him with a gold bracelet and ordered that this dish be served every year since then.
The traditional aviyal generally uses common vegetables like
Raw Green plantain
Elephant yam
Chembu (colocasia)
Snake gourd (Trichosanthes Anguina)
Pumpkin
Ash gourd
Carrot
Beans
Avarakkai(Broad Beans)
Chow Chow
Thondekkai
Lobia
Green mango (raw)
Drumsticks
Raw jackfruit
A small quantity of bitter gourd can be used to give a tinge of bitterness
Potato
Shelled Peas
Long String Beans

Ingredients
250 grams of any combinaton of the above vegetables peeled(long thin 2" pieces)
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Curry leaves Few
Salt as per taste
Coconut Paste - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 6-7 nos
Cummin seeds - 1 tsp
Curds 3-4 tbsp lightly sour (if using raw mango, do not use curds)
Method
1.Boil the vegetables until just done, with turmeric powder and salt (cover and cook). One should be careful not to overcook the vegetables.They should remain crisp.
2.Grind together the coconut, green chillies and cummin seeds to make a fine paste, adding very little water.Mix the curd to the ground paste and keep aside.
3.Add the paste to the vegetables and gently toss for few minutes, until all the vegetables are coated with the paste.If using a spoon, be careful not to mash the vegetables.Add fresh curry leaves, coconut oi and mix well.Switch of the stove and serve hot with rice,chapathi etc.

Tips
1.If you do not like coconut oil,you can exclude that and the avial is still very tasty.
2.You can also microven the vegetables with turmeric and salt.
3.Avial has to sit a while for its flavours to deepen.
4.Add Pumpkin and squash after the other vegetables are half done because they tend to cook faster.
5.Add litte water because avial is a dish of thick consistency.
6.Close the avial once cooked,not to lose the flavour.
7.If you are adding raw mango there is no need for curd as the mango will provide the sourness.Mango should also be added after the other vegetables are half done.