Bursting Bubbles and Myths

Once upon a time, when we were kids, we blew bubbles. Long slippery ones, that would slide out and float. Medium sized ones, that would bob along happily. Small ones, that would catch a few rainbows. And then there were the giant ones. Those slow surprises, so tempting to burst.

While it is always a  shame to burst those beautiful large bubbles, a bubble that is just asking to be burst, is the one that surrounds Indian Food and Cooking. Having grown up eating simple Indian fare at home, where vegetables are complemented by, not doused in spices, and flavor is not stifled by cream and oil, I am always eager to bust the Myth that Indian Cooking is hard (or that Indian food is heavy). So, when I read Anita’s post inviting Indian dishes that use less than 6 ingredients AND take less than 30 minutes to make, I had to join the party. Since Anita is so graciously allowing late entries, I decided to bring some Avial to the mix.

Avial (Veggies cooked in a coconut and yogurt paste)

You will need:

3 C fresh/frozen vegetables, sliced into 2 inch pieces or cubed (I used 1 C each of baby carrots, green beans and peeled potatoes). Though, my favorite veggie to use in an Avial is white pumpkin/winter melon.

2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4-1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 C beaten yogurt/curd

pinch of turmeric

3 green chillies

salt to taste

(Since salt and chillies need not be counted- that is less than 6 ingredients)

The How to:

Cook the veggies in the microwave with 2-3 tablespoons of water, for 4 minutes. While the veggies are cooking, grind the shredded coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds with a 1/8 cup of water.

Move the veggies to a stove top, add salt and the pinch of turmeric, and cook them with a cup or two of water, till the veggies are tender while still retaining their bite. (This took me 15-16 minutes).

Add the ground paste and mix, allowing it to cook further for a minute. Turn the heat off.

Add the beaten curd and top the dish with a drop of coconut oil.

Excluding the prepping of the vegetables, this process should take 21 minutes. If frozen vegetables are being used, there is no prepping time involved. It took me 5-8 minutes, to peel and cube the potatoes and slice the beans. I used pre-peeled and scrubbed baby carrots which didn’t require further prepping. Total time, including prepping time is : 27 minutes.

We ate this uber simple, yet tasty Avial with this even simpler Dal

The Avial goes straight to Express Indian, at A Mad Tea Party.