Name: Walnut Aviyal (Walnut-Yogurt Curry)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1/2 cup each of the following vegetables, all cut into 5 cm fingers: beans, plantains, carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchinis; 2 tbsp. oil; 1 tsp. asafoetida; 10 curry leaves, torn into small pieces; 1 dried red chili; 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric; 1 1/2 tsp. salt; 5-6 Thai green chilis; 1 tsp. asafoetida; 2 tsp. cumin seeds; 1 tbsp. raw rice; 1/2 cup yogurt; 1 cup walnuts, chopped into smaller pieces; 3/4-1 cup water; 1 tsp. ginger powder; 1 tbsp. butter or ghee; 1 tsp. mustard; 10 curry leaves; For Adjustments after Tasting:; Salt; Water

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Aviyal is an Indian stew with a base of coconut and yogurt. In this version, I’ve swapped the coconut out with walnuts. The first version of this recipe, I used 1/2 cup fresh coconut and 1/2 cup walnuts. I was amazed at how a complex layer of flavor was added, without compromising the basic avialness of the dish.

Then dawned the day when I was hosting a dinner party, the menu had been carefully planned, it was avial making time and there was no coconut to be found. Coconut is an Indian store away while walnuts are plentiful at the local grocer. Thus, was born my Walnut Aviyal recipe. For those of you who have access to fresh/frozen coconut, I would also encourage you to try the 1/2 walnut-1/2 coconut Aviyal.

If you’re allergic to nuts, go all edamame in place of walnuts, or 1/2 edamame-1/2 coconut. You can’t go wrong with the taste. And whether it’s edamame or walnuts, you’ve increased the nutritional content of your meal exponentially.

Assembling the Ingredients:

There are three parts to this dish: 1) cooking the veggies; 2) making the stew base; and 3) creating a tempering oil for the stew. Listed separately are the ingredients for each part.

Walnut Aviyal (Walnut-Yogurt Curry)

Author: Priya’s mashups
Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 50
Yield: 6 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

A hearty yogurt-based stew that is loaded up with 5 different kinds of veggies and lightly tempered with Indian spices.

Scale

Ingredients

What’s Needed to Cook the Veggies:

1/2 cup each of the following vegetables, all cut into 5 cm fingers: beans, plantains, carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchinis

2 tbsp. oil

1 tsp. asafoetida

10 curry leaves, torn into small pieces

1 dried red chili

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Collecting Components for the Stew Base:

5–6 Thai green chilis

1 tsp. asafoetida

2 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tbsp. raw rice

1/2 cup yogurt

1 cup walnuts, chopped into smaller pieces

3/4–1 cup water

Rustling Up the Tempering Oil:

1 tsp. ginger powder

1 tbsp. butter or ghee

1 tsp. mustard

10 curry leaves

For Adjustments after Tasting:

Salt

Water

Instructions

Cooking the Veggies:

Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a pan on med. heat for 2 mins.
Add the dried red chili, 10 curry leaves and 1/2 tsp. asafoetida to the oil.
Saute for 1 min. Add all the veggies, except the zucchini. Turn the heat up to med.-high or high and saute for 5 mins. Make sure the veggies don’t brown by adding 1 tbsp. water if necessary.
Add the zucchini, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. turmeric. Saute for another 5 mins. on high, adding a tbsp. or so of water as needed to prevent burning/browning.
Add enough water to cover up all the veggies, about 2 cups and turn the heat back down to med. Cover and cook for an additional 10 mins. till the veggies are soft, but not mushy. You should be able to slice one veggie finger in half with a fork but you should NOT be able to mash it.

Making the Walnut-Yogurt Paste:

While the veggies are cooking, combine the following ingredients in a blender and puree to a fine paste: 1/2 tsp. asafoetida, 2 tsp. cumin, 5-6 green chilis, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 cup walnuts, 1 tbsp. rice and 3/4 to 1 cup water. This may take a while. I have a small Magic Bullet blender and it took me 10 mins. Check every 3-4 mins. and add the water as needed. The finished paste should be absolutely smooth and if you dip a spoon in it, a drop should reluctantly and slowly fall back down.
Whisk the walnut paste with 1/2 cup yogurt. Set this aside.
Once the veggies have cooked for the prescribed time, turn off the stove and wait a few minutes for them to cool down a bit. We are going to add the yogurt-walnut paste to the veggies and if the mixture is too hot, the yogurt will split.
Once the veggie mixture cools down, turn the stove back on to a low or med.-low heat. Add the yogurt paste to the veggies and simmer for 5 mins. You now have an Aviyal.

Tempering the Aviyal:

While the Aviyal is simmering, heat 1 tbsp. butter or ghee in a pan.
Add 10 curry leaves, 1 tsp. ginger powder and 1 tsp. mustard to the butter/ghee.
Saute for 2-3 mins. until the mustard pops.
Add the tempering oil to the Aviyal and simmer for another 5 mins.
Serve hot with rice!

Notes

As stated in the intro, you can replace walnuts with coconut or edamame or go 1/2 coconut-1/2 walnut or 1/2 coconut-1/2 edamame. They all taste delicious, albeit slightly different.
I wouldn’t use coconut milk. Doing so would make this dish closer to an Olan, another delicious dish but not what we are aiming for here.
A standard substitution I use for curry leaves is fennel shavings, approximately 1/4 cup for 10-12 curry leaves. Once again, not the same as curry leaves, but a wonderful flavor nevertheless.
Buttermilk can be substituted for yogurt. Just make sure that you factor in the additional water content in buttermilk, thus adding less water to blend the yogurt-walnut paste.

Category: Lunch Stew
Cuisine: Indian