To judge a "Full-meals" by the taste of the "Aviyal".

Random TamBrahm function, Chennai, Mid 2000s. 

Mom: "Hand wash enga?"
Dude with sambar bucket points where.

Mom: "Sapadu okay dhan, service poor. Appalathula ore ennai."
Perima: "Aama saandhi, enaku onnum pudikala."
Mom: "Naa aviyal taste pannoneve kandupudichuten sapadu okay va dhan irukun nu."
Me: "Adhu epdi verum Aviyal taste panni kandupudicha?"
Mom: "Adhu Apudi dhan, Aviyal panna theriyale naa cook is not good nu artham.."

What is this Aviyal? Well, Aviyal is a beautiful coming together of vegetables such as carrot, beans, potato, drumstick and peas(optional) with curd, grated coconut and coconut oil. In the end, you garnish it with curry leaves. Also, the signature dish of a south-indian thali meal. The Mallus will tell you that it originated in their "Sadya" but don't believe them, they are telling "simblee". It's very difficult to get this prepared perfectly and a lot of chefs struggle to get it just right, so you can understand when my mom says that it is the make or break dish of the meal.

So, with those words from my mom, I started judging each and every meal by the taste of its Aviyal. Sometimes the food would have been really good but the Aviyal would have been piss poor and sometimes the food would have been mediocre but the Aviyal, much to your surprise, would have been excellent. Usually when Aviyal sucks, so will the rest of your plate.

When you see vegetables that should not be present in an Aviyal sitting on your plate as part of your Aviyal, you can be rest assured that the chef tried to experiment with the wrong dish. This one time I had an Aviyal that consisted of only pumpkins, cucumbers and beans. What the F, bro? (Can't say the F word, my mom knows  I blog. F my life.)

Yes, I am aware that different states use different vegetables in their Aviyal and yes, I am also aware that the Keralites use plantain, yam and all. I will tell you something about them Keralites a? They keep rubbing your nose in the fact that they are the most educated bunch in India but look what they actually do:

Green "PAPER" leaf. What sorcery is this?

Went to Gavi, Kerala for a wildlife photography trip and had to eat my food which was served on a green paper, basically.

The guy who came up with this idea must have been thinking, "Okay, let me cut this banana tree which naturally provides awesome leaves to serve food on, take that to my factory, make paper out of it and color it green." He's not too mainstream, no? Stupid fellow.

This green paper is not even thick to hold one teaspoon payasam, how is it gonna hold up when they pour rasam and all?

As I conclude this post, I want to tell you two things cut and right:

1. Aviyal is very important.
2. No matter how good the Aviyal is, it'll never be as good as how your mom makes it.

If you mom has never made Aviyal or you have never had it, you are missing out on something really special.

P.S. Tell me what your favorite vegetable in an Aviyal is in the comments section, okay?

EDIT: Here is a contribution by one of my friends, Anusha, who gave me the link which talks about real banana leaves and artificial ones:

http://www.consumer.org.my/index.php/food/safety/559-paper-banana-leaf-is-cheap-and-unhealthy-substitute-for-the-real-one