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Theeyal is a vegetable curry made with roasted coconuts ,a few spices and vegetables like Eggplant/Snake gourd/Bitter gourd/Potato/Drumstick/Onion/Prawns/Okra/Ladies finger popularly .If you ask me what does theeyal mean,then I would say , "When coconut was getting roasted on thee/fire/flame,it started yelling ,hence it is called "Thee+Yell/Yal in a sober way ".😉😂😋.Jokes apart, according to Mr.Wiki ,Theeyal means "burnt dish"as the coconut is roasted with spices till it turns tad brownish and the final curry is also dark brown in color.
My entire family loves theeyal, even my munchkin a.k.a D.K.P a.k.a honey D loves it. Whenever I leave India and go back to pardes/US,my mother would pack me a huge cover full of homemade, ready to cook, theeyal podi that is theeyal powder . This theeyal podi is such a lifesaver/time saver especially when I am sick,or feel lazy to cook or running short of time , it is a super quick way to whip up a lip smacking ,healthy curry in no time loved by all.#Happiness
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It needs to be refrigerated though.I treasure it as very precious, so, sparingly I use it for making curry .Amma is always surprised that the theeyal podi is always in stock even after a year or two ,which Amma is not at all happy about as she thinks it may not be that healthy after such a long period of time .Guess what I still have the theeyal podi that Amma gave me last year....Shhhh..😬😑
However, this time, as I am packing up to go back to US, I told my mother not to bother because it is indeed a Herculean task especially to dry roast the coconut in large quantity and so,I don't want to disturb her more. So,I decided to learn how to make theeyal curry Amma style so that I can myself prepare it when needed later.
This is a Padavalanga Theeyal recipe ,പടവലങ്ങ തീയല്,snakegourd curry recipe ...I only knew to use snake gourd in Avial and sambar ,now good to learn a snake gourd theeyal curry recipe...
Let's head to the theeyal recipe then..what say ?
Padavalanga Theeyal Curry|SnakeGourd theeyal curry
Ingredients
Snake Gourd,chopped 1 Cup
Onion,large 1 No.,chopped
or Shallots/Kunj Ulli,chopped 1 cup
Potato,medium size,chopped 1 No.
Drumstick,sliced 3 inch long
Tomato,medium size ,chopped 1 No.
Green chillies,chopped 2 to 3 Nos.
Coconut,grated 1 Cup
Red chili powder 1 Tbsp
Coriander powder 1 Tbsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 Tsp
Fennel powder 3/4th Tsp
Fenugreek powder 1/4th Tsp
Coconut oil 2 to 4 Tbsp
Mustard seeds 1 Tsp
Dry red chillies,broken 2 Nos.(Optional)
Curry leaves,a few
Water as needed
salt to taste
Preparation method to make theeyal :
- Wash all the vegetables well and keep them aside.
- Scrape the skin of the Snake gourd and cut them into pieces ,remove the seeds and then chop them into more pieces,1 inch long approx.
- Peel the skin of the drumstick and cut them into 3 inch long and keep them aside.
- Heat a pan and dry roast the coconut till they turn golden brown on high flame first to just dry out the grated coconut ,keep on sautéing continuously. Then on medium to low flame dry roast until the coconut turns brown .
- Then add all the spices and saute on low flame . Make sure not to burn the coconut by all means ,otherwise it may change the actual taste of the curry making it bitter.
- Then put the flame off and let it cool off.
- Meanwhile, heat oil on a pan ,splutter mustard seeds,add broken red chilies ,add all the chopped vegetables and saute until they turn soft and onion turns transparent.
- Finally, add the chopped tomato and saute until they become soft.
- Then grind the roasted coconut and all spice powders with little water until it becomes a not so thick not so thin smooth coconut paste.
- Add the coconut paste to the cooked vegetables above and mix well
- Add enough water.
- Let it come to full boil.
- Then reduce the flame and let it simmer until the curry thickens up a bit.
- Then throw a sprig of curry leaves and slat to taste.
- Put the flame off.
- That's it theeyal curry is ready.
NOTE:
- Shallots/Kunj Ulli makes this curry more flavorful than onion.
- You may omit potato, drumstick.
- Fennel is the main spice in this theeyal recipe.
- We don't use tamarind .Tomato's sourness is enough for the curry. However, for bitter gourd theeyal, we use tamarind only.
- The key thing in the recipe is the nicely dry roasted coconut without getting burnt.
- Instead of snake gourd ,we can also use onion, eggplant or bitter gourd or okra or eggs or prawns for making different curries with same spice mix and roasted coconut.
Theeyal is also one of the main curry of Kerala's grand feast,Sadya.This curry is so coconut-ty that it goes amazing with boiled rice and any side dish.This curry tastes more flavorful next day.And I am a huuge fan of theeyal curry,finally learned it.A happy camper here!😊🙌
That's it for now.
Take care of yourself.
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