Vendakka Avial Or Vendakkai Avial

Vendakka avial or Vendakkai avial recipe with step by step photos and videos.

Vendakka is the native name of Lady's finger in Kerala and when it comes to Tamil, it became vendakkai. It is one of the vegetable which we consume in the form of stir fries. It is also incorporated in samabar. Except this there are lots of fry and gravy dishes we make at home with this amazing vegetable. But the problem comes due to the slimy nature of this vegetable, most of us don't like the slimy nature of this vegetable. In this recipe, we will see how to cook ladyfinger without slimness.

A few years back, in one of my family trip, we tasted this dish from a local hotel at Kanyakumari. We found it really tempting and try to replicate it at home. In the beginning, it comes out with that bad sliminess and resulted tasteless mushy avial. But later, we corrected the mistakes and made this beautiful single vegetable avial perfectly.

To get rid of sliminess, you have to reduce the moisture content of the vegetable. So wash before you chop and keep in a colander for some times to drain excess water. Otherwise, you can pat them dry with a cotton towel. While cooking the vegetable do not cover the pan in the beginning. Close the pan only when the ladyfinger turns soft. Also, do not put salt in the beginning, put only when the vegetable is almost cooked i.e, about 90 % cooked. All these things will help you to reduce the sliminess.

This is my sixth post in onam series- Avial varieties. A really tempting and tasty dish if done properly. So do follow the steps carefully and enjoy with your family

Vendakka avial recipe | How to make Tamil Nadu vendakkai avial at home | How to make Kanyakumari vendakkai avial perfectly

Lady's finger sauteed in tangy spicy, coconut paste

Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes| Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

250 gram lady's finger
3/4 cup coconut
2 to 3 garlic cloves
1 or 2 green chilies
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 tablespoon oil
2 spring curry leaves
A gooseberry sized ball of tamarind
Salt to taste
Water as needed

How to Make vendakka avial

Preparation of vendakkai avial with step by step photos

Preparations of ingredients

Wash the lady's finger thoroughly with water, put in a colander to drain excess water or pat dry with a cotton towel. Then chop into small pieces as shown in the picture.
Grate coconut, peel garlic cloves and keep all the other ingredients ready.
Put the tamarind ball in water and keep it for some time. Then squeeze and take the extract. Set aside.

Cooking instructions for vendakka avial

Heat oil in a pan and put shallot and curry leaves.
Saute this for a few minutes till the shallots turn translucent.
Add chopped lady's finger and saute on medium flame till it turns soft. Do not cover the pan, saute till it shrink a bit and leaves its slimness. Make sure that the lady's finger is dry before you cook.
Once the lady's finger turns soft, cook and cover till they done completely.
After five to six minutes, open the lid and pour some tamarind water and put salt to taste. The amount of water depends on the strength of the tamarind. I pour five tablespoons of tamarind water. But do not put more water as that will cause sliminess. Saute this for a few minutes till the water evaporated.
Meanwhile, crush garlic and green chilies in a mixer grinder. Then add grated coconut, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and chili powder.
Then grind into a coarse paste without adding water.
You can transfer the coconut masala once the tamarind water evaporated. Make a well at the centre and put the ground paste.
Then gently cover by adding lady's finger on top of the coconut paste. Cover and cook till the raw smell of coconut vanishes.
After two minutes open the lid and mix well.
Prepare the tempering in coconut oil. Heat the coconut oil, crackle mustard seeds, saute curry leaves, dried red chilies and shallots till the shallots turn golden brown.
Pour this tempering on top the avial. Cover and keep it for ten to fifteen minutes before serving.
Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.