Vegetarian Recipes from South India to enjoy a variety of flavorful and healthy dishes. When you explore and find vegetarian recipes from this region, you will discover unique flavors made with spices, lentils, and fresh vegetables.
South Indian cuisine offers plenty of options, including dosas, idlis, sambars, and vegetable curries. You can easily find vegetarian recipes that are simple to cook and perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If you love experimenting in the kitchen, make sure to find vegetarian recipes that include coconut, tamarind, and curry leaves for an authentic taste of South India.
Vegetarian Recipes from South India are known for their rich flavors and healthy ingredients. These dishes use a variety of spices, making them both delicious and nutritious. Whether it’s a hearty sambhar or a comforting bowl of rasam, there are endless vegetarian recipes to try.
Popular dishes like upma, pongal, and avial are easy to prepare and loved by everyone. By exploring South Indian vegetarian recipes, you can enjoy a perfect blend of taste and tradition in every meal.
Avial
Avial, a tasty mixture of various vegetables is a treasure trove of nutrition. There is an interesting story behind the making of this dish that is fit for the Gods. Once Bhima the mighty brother among the Pandavas became very weak.
His mother, Kunti prayed to Lord Krishna to cure Bhima and the Lord in answer to her prayer gave her a recipe. The dish that was cooked according to that recipe restored Bhima’s strength and energy. And that dish was none other than Avial which is non pareil among vegetarian dishes.
Ingradients
- White or yellow cucumber pieces – 3 to 4 cups
- Raw Kerala banana – 1 cup
- Long brinjal – 1 cup
- Elephant foot yam – 1 to 1 ½ cups
- Long beans – 1 to 1 ½ cups
- Snakegourd – 1 cup
- Drumstick – 2 cups
- Green chillies slit – 8 to10
- Tamarind paste – a ball the size of a lemon
- Curry leaves – plenty
- Salt – to taste
For the Masala
- Turmeric powder – 2 pinch
- Grated coconut – 2 ½ to 3 cups
- Cummin seeds – ½ tsp
Seasoning
- curry leaves.
- Coconut oil
How to Cook
Clean and wash all the vegetables. Cut them into pieces of equal size, ie. two inches long, quarter inch thick and quarter inch broad. Wash well and place in a big flat bottomed vessel. Add the turmeric powder, salt, green chillies, some curry leaves and a little oil. Let it stand for about ten minutes.
Grind the masala to a coarse paste, however the cumin seeds must be well ground. Only 25% grinding is necessary to make the mix for the avial.
Pour 1 to 1½ cup of water in the vegetable mix and cook until the vegetables are 90% done. Take care to see that the vegetables are not overcooked. Do not stir often as that may crush the vegetables. Then add sufficient quantity of the tamarind paste and continue cooking for about 3 to 4 minutes.
Spread the masala paste on the vegetable mix and then turn off the flame. Stir to mix, check for salt etc, and then pour the coconut oil over the mix. Put in the curry leaves and stir. Keep for five minutes and then serve.
Mastering the technique of making a tasty avial is no mean achievement. A tasty avial gives off an aroma that can be experienced even from afar. Rice with avial and saambaar is an appetising combination, in fact avial goes with any curry.
And it is not only with rice that avial is suitable but it is good with chappathi, poori, bread, mixed dal dosa also. avial has a shelf life of 2 to 3 days if kept in the refrigerator.
A good avial can be made if we keep the following points in mind:
- The choice of vegetables – Any and every vegetable can be used to make avial when it is only for daily use. Some people use potatoes, igger beans, carrots, big onions and even bittergourd. But if one wants the classical taste for avial one must never use these vegetables but only the ones given in the list of ingredients given here…
- Cutting the vegetables – The vegetables have to be cut into long pieces the size of an average person’s little finger. They should not be chopped or cut in any other shape.
- There should be a volume ratio with cucumber taking up the larger portion and the other vegetables in decreasing volume.
- The colour of the end product should be yellowish white or orangish white. Red chilli powder when added gives the slightly orangish appearance. The dish should be neither dry nor watery but of a thick consistency.
- Over cooking the vegetables will diminish the flavour and quality.
- Tamarind, chilli and salt should be used in moderation so that the dish is neither too spicy, hot or salty.
- Use plenty of fresh grated coconut which should be only coarsely ground. If ground too much the appearance of the dish will not be attractive.
Red Amaranth Avial – Vegetarian Recipe
This is one of the less known avials made entirely of vegetables found in one’s own backyard. I learned the art and science of making this avial from my mother in law who could turn out a truly amazing avial from the odds and ends of vegetables in her compound.
- Tender red amaranth – 300 to 350 gm
- Raw mangoes – Half of one
- Jackfruit seeds – 20 to 25
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Chilli powder – 2 to 2 ½ tsp
- Salt to taste
For the Masala
- Grated Coconut – 1½ cup
- Turmeric Powder – a pinch
- Chilli Powder – a pinch
- Small Red Onion (optional) – 2 to 4
- Cumin seeds – ½ – 1 teaspoon
- Curry leaves – 10-12
Seasoning
- Curry leaves – 5 sprig
- Coconut oil – 1 to 2 tsp
How to Cook
Wash and clean the amaranth thoroughly and leave to drain. Pluck out the leaves and keep aside. Cut the stem into pieces two inches long. Clean and scrape off the skin of the jackfruit seeds and cut into long pieces, four long pieces from one jack fruit seed for instance.
Take a large vessel and cook all the above vegetables except the raw mango in 1 to 1½ cup of water. Chop the amaranth leaves kept aside into 2 or 3 pieces. Cut the mango also into four pieces lengthwise. Grind first the cumin first into a nice paste, followed by the other ingredients into a coarse paste.
By this time the amaranth stem and the jackfruit seeds may well be cooked. Add the mango cut lengthwise and the amaranth leaves. Check for salt and stir, let it boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Put out the flame and spread the coconut above the cooked vegetables. Stir well, add coconut oil and curry leaves and stir again. After 5 minutes transfer to serving dish. Eaten with boiled rice and curd it is truly a royal dish.
Variation is possible here also particularly in the choice of vegetables. Yellow cucumber, long beans, snakegourd with amaranth and mango will give yet another avial. Raw jackfruit cut lengthwise is also another tasty ingredient. If there is no amaranth substitute with drumstick. Yellow cucumber, snakegourd, long beans, raw jackfruit and seeds cut lengthwise, drumsticks and mangoes are the ingredients for another very tasty, homely avial.
Care should be taken to see that both jackfruit and mangoes are not over cooked. Otherwise they will mess up the whole dish and the whole appearance will be lost. Only green chilli should be used, not chilli powder.