Its Onakalam again.. and time to make my fav dish..aviyal. Explained in english, its a concoction of many vegetables cooked in yoghurt with mildly flavored coconut..
Aviyal is said to have a very interesting origin. There are many stories which link it to royalty. Most commonly said is that it originated during Mahabharata when Bhima ( the strong man amongst the Pandavas) was working as a cook in a palace and while the king walked into the royal kitchen he saw lots of vegetables being left over. As the King did not like waste of any kind, he ordered all the remaining vegetables to be made into a dish..and our dear old Bhima cooked the veggies in some curd and coconut seasoning..& voila a new dish was born.Interestingly the term " Aviyal " is used colloquially for variety or for mix and matches. There is even a Kerala rock band by this name in which there is a mix of various music genres.
I make aviyal for pretty much the same purpose - to use up left over veggies and also to because its one of the most tasty recipes for having a wide variety of greens..
