Vellarikka Curry (Yellow Cucumber in Coconut Gravy)

My mom usually make vellarikka (yellow cucumber) curry this way with slight difference. Cucumber is skinned, cut into cubes and then cooked with turmeric and red chilli powder.  Ground paste of coconut, cumin seeds and shallots (pearl onions) and crushed mustard are added and finally seasoned with oil, mustard, whole red chilli and curry leaves. Note that butter milk or yogurt is not added to this curry. Serve with rice.
Recipe Courtesy: Simply Spicy

Ethakka Aviyal (Green Plantain in Coconut Gravy)

Although the word 'aviyal' denotes mixture of vegetables, this side dish is made with green (raw) plantain alone. Plantain is cooked with green chilli, kudampuli (malabar tamarind or gambooge), turmeric, curry leaves and salt. Grinded mixture of coconut, cumin seeds and pearl onions (shallot) are added and cooked. The dish is finished off with a dash of oil and curry leaves. Kudampuli can be removed from the dish after cooking to avoid too much sourness in localized areas since it is a dry curry.
Recipe Courtesy: Yummy O Yummy

Cauliflower Korma (Gobi Kurma)

A snow storm is no longer a big event here as it is happening more often these days. Meteorologists seem to be the only people excited about it as this winter is very close to getting into record books. I tried to keep myself  happy in this chilly wintry weather by making this cauliflower korma. This delicious korma is prepared by cooking cauliflower in a coconut-cashew gravy along with other spices. This goes well with both rice and roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Seena's Simple and Delicious

Vazhakka Vanpayar Curry (Raw Banana Red Chori Curry)

This Kerala style curry is made with raw banana and red chori (azuki beans) in a ground coconut-spices gravy. It is usually served as a side dish with rice.
Recipe courtesy: Kaipunyam

Bottle Gourd Ambat (Bottle Gourd n Toor Dal in Coconut Gravy)

I'm not a big fan of bottle gourd (dudhi, lauki or churakka in malayalam) and here I'm making an effort to like the vegetable. Ambat is a konkani dish with coconut based gravy and tamarind or kokum or bilimbi (irumban puli) is added for sourness. Addtion of cooked toor dal and coconut gravy made bottle gourd more appealing to the palate. It tasted like a distant cousin of sambar because of the addition of toor dal and tamarind pulp. Loved it with both rice and chapathi.
Recipe Courtesy: The Indian Food Court

Beet Greens in Yogurt Gravy (Mor Kootu)

Mor kootu is a side dish popular in Tamil Nadu where vegetables are cooked in a coconut yogurt gravy. It tastes very similar to kichadi / pachadi of Kerala cuisine. Here beet greens are used for the curry. If you use just beet leaves and not the stem, the dish will look more to the greener side. The more the stem you add, the more the pink the dish will be.
Recipe Courtesy: Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

Brined Olive Curry (Salt Cured / Pickled Olives in Coconut Gravy)

Dishes made from brined mango (uppumanga) is one of my favorites. A colleague of mine shared some salt cured olives at work. It's taste remined me of uppumanga and couldn't help wondering how it would taste like if I replace them for salted mangoes in uppumanga curry. The curry came out good, but what was missing in the curry was mango's inherent sourness.
Recipe Courtesy: Yummy O Yummy

Shrimp Korma (Prawn in Creamy Gravy)

This is a creamy shrimp korma in a yogurt-coconut-cashew gravy. This could be served as a side dish with idli, dosa, rice or roti.
Recipe Courtesy: Speciality Recipes From My(e) Kitchen

Tomato Curry in Coconut Gravy

This is a simple tomato curry in coconut gravy. It could be served as a side dish with rice, idli or dosa.
Recipe Courtesy: Salt and Spice

Beetroot Kichadi / Pachadi (Beetroot in Coconut n Yogurt Gravy)

Beetroot is one of the varieties of beet rich in antioxidants and other nutrients. This kichadi is a traditional Kerala side dish served during sadya (feast). Beetroot is cooked in a coconut gravy and yogurt is added towards the end. To my surprise my four year old son also tried the dish as he was excited to change the color of his rice to pink!
 Recipe Courtesy: Suja's Kitchen Corner-Try It

Mathanga Erissery (Pumpkin / Squash in Coconut Gravy)

Finally fall is here and pumpkins are in abundance now. This erissery could be made either with pumpkins or with any other squash varieties. Erissery is a part of traditional Kerala sadya (feast). I added some crushed black peppercorns to reduce the sweetness of the dish.
Recipe courtesy: Sarah's Vazhayila

Kerala Parippu Curry (Moong Dal Curry with Coconut)

Parippu curry is another important side dish for traditional Kerala feast. The feast starts with parippu curry, which is served with rice along with with ghee and pappadam (papad).
Recipe Courtesy: Sree's Recipes

Mathanga Vanpayar Erissery (Pumpkin Red Cowpeas in Coconut gravy)

Erissery is a side dish usually served in traditional Kerala sadyas. There are different varieties of erissery made with different combination of vegetables. Pumpkin - red cowpeas erissery is one of my favorites. Pumpkin or any other squash variety could be used for the dish. I used red chori (red cowpeas / azuki beans) here which is smaller than the vanpayar that we get in Kerala.

Recipe Courtesy: Yummy O Yummy

Vellarikka Kichadi / Pachadi (Cucumber in Coconut n Yogurt Gravy)

Kichadi/Pachadi is one of the side dishes in traditional Kerala sadya (feast). There are different varieties of kichadies made with different vegetables. In our part of the world we call this kichadi. In some other parts of Kerala this curry is called pachadi. Pachadi and kichadi have 'totally' different definitions in some other regional cuisines of India. It's all very confusing and I don't want to go into any details! Traditionally cucumber with yellow-orange skin is used for this curry.
Recipe courtesy: Shn's Mishmash I didn't grind mustards seeds with coconut, so mine should be kichadi as per the definition in the blog.

Kootu Curry (Chickpeas, Raw Banana and Elephant Yam with Coconut)

Kootu curry is one of the dishes that is served during traditional Kerala sadya (feast). It is a mixture (kootu) of 'black' chickpeas, elephant yam (chena or suran) and raw banana (plantain) with ground coconut and spices. One special feature of this curry is the use of ground peppercorn (black pepper). I used black pepper for grinding with coconut as well as for tempering. Another feature of the curry is tempering with fried coconut towards the end.
Recipe courtesy: Adukala Vishesham

Aviyal - Medley of Vegetables with Coconut

Aviyal is a traditional Kerala side dish, which is a very healthy and delicious medley of vegetables. It is very difficult to define a traditional recipe as each region in Kerala has its own take on it. The vegetables used for aviyal vary from region to region and the souring agent used could be raw mango or tamarind extract or curd. But there is one thing I'm sure about - whichever way you make aviyal, I just love it.

Recipe Courtesy: Bharathi's Spicy Chilly 

Vellarikka Moru Curry (Cucumber Buttermilk Curry)

Pulisseri (buttermilk curry) is something that I have at home all the time. This time I decided to make this curry instead. Traditionally, cucumber with yellow skin is used for this curry. My mom makes another version of this curry without the yogurt in it. I found this recipe in the blog Kaipunyam. The use of garlic in the curry is new to me and we loved it. Thanks to Tina for the recipe.