#Veganuary Beetroot Aviyal
Namaskaaram, Today needed a soulful bowl of Madras Aviyal. This morning has been extremely crispy with -2C and wild wind in the air. It was too cold to do anything but run everywhere. So I ran to the local green grocers, picked up some carrots and beets for the munch.
On my way home, I really didn't plan on making this dish. I was making some coconut milk for a smoothie and went. Yup I'm having Aviyal for lunch. That's it.
Avila is a super simple side dish that has various versions in South India. I opted for the Tamil version but the Keralite version has got me salivating at the thought. It's not a vegan dish, so one of the main ingredients is Yogurt BUT obviously your girl swapped the yogurt for a vegan alternative. It is basically a ridiculously tasty hotpot of vegetables. You can add more than just two veggies in there and get creative with it. I opted for Carrots + Beets. Let's find out what I used shall we?
This serves two people.
Ingredients
1/2 Onion Finely Chopped
3 Carrots Chopped in bite size chunks
2 Beetroots Chopped in bite size chunks
2 Cups Coconut Milk
Tempering Ingredients
1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil
Handful Curry Leaves
Coconut Paste Ingredients
2 Cups Desiccated Coconut
4-5 Green Chillies
1 Tomato
Thumb size Ginger
1 Cup Water
Method
- Grab all the ingredients you need for the paste, blend them nicely and leave aside.
- In a pan, heat up some coconut oil and chuck the carrots in there to sauté for a minute or 2
- Once the carrot is done, it should be a bit sturdy but soft on the outside as we want this to cook in the coconut paste we have made above.
- Chuck the beets into the pan and give that a minute or 2 and gently fold over.
- Next, add in the paste and gently stir so the veggies are nicely covered in them.
- The coconut milk is now ready to go into the mix. Chuck the 2 cups of coconut milk into the pan and give it a stir.
- Add some pink salt to taste.
- Let it simmer for 10mins on medium heat.
- Turn the heat off and prep the tempering ingredients.
- In a small can, add the coconut oil and curry leaves for 30 seconds and pour over the Aviyal. And you are done.
Aviyal is normally served in a traditional South Indian Thaali or along dishes like Sambar.
I had mine with a spelt Roti and it was so damn good. I think my Paati would have been extremely proud.
I hope you guys give this one a go. It's healthy, its vegan and you get 2 of your 5 a day ha ha. Sending everyone incredible amounts of energy to conquer everything today!
Go get yours babes!