Super simple beetroot aviyal recipe - in the footsteps of the gravy base for the quintessential Kerala style aviyal. Amazing flavors!

This is not your typical aviyal recipe. Traditionally, Aviyal is a mélange of seasonal vegetables cooked in coconut gravy with yogurt as the souring agent. The concept of this beetroot aviyal is the same. Beetroot is cooked in coconut gravy with yogurt added at the end to give it a tangy flavor.

The sweetness from the beetroot, and the sourness from the yogurt with a slight hint of heat from the green chillies - it is a lovely side dish to serve with some steamed rice and sambhar.

We have a small video at the end of the recipe so that you can see clearly what we do at Framed Recipes to make the dish.

If you notice closely in the video, you can see the red hue on my fingers as a result of dicing the beets for the recipe :). I have not had issues with beet stains on the clothes. But here is a quick tip from Tide in case you are wondering how to get rid of beet stains from clothes.

**This beetroot aviyal recipe post may contain affiliate links. Read my Disclaimer here.

What do you do with the beautiful beet greens? I make a delicious stir fry with them - Beetroot leaves poriyal.

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• additional notes
• Beetroot Aviyal

quick overview of ingredients

Full recipe + measurements + video can be found in the recipe card below.

• Beetroot
• Coconut
• Yogurt
• Green chillies
• Cumin seeds
• Curry Leaves
• Mustard Seeds
• and of course the quintessential coconut oil

how different is this from aviyal?

A little background about this dish before I tell you how beetroot aviyal is different from regular aviyal.

I was am a super picky eater and in my childhood refused to eat beetroot. One of our then family friends shared this recipe with my mom and she started preparing beetroot this way. This was was the only dish with beetroot that I would eat for a pretty long time. So, this dish does not have a particular name as such. We would just call it Beetroot Randayi (meaning beetroot sabji or beetroot curry).

When I decided to share the recipe with you, I decided to call it beetroot aviyal because of the similarities in the aviyal gravy and this beetroot randayi.

As I mentioned earlier, traditionally, aviyal is a vegetable loaded dish - almost all seasonal vegetables are used in aviyal preparation. The gravy base is coconut and cumin seeds ground to a smooth paste. And the souring agent is usually yogurt. We could replace yogurt with raw mango as well when in season. The aviyal recipe that I follow does not have any tadka or tempreing at all. It is finished with a drizzle of coconut oil and curry leaves.

So there is indeed a slight difference between the regular aviyal and beetroot aviyal. This is a no onion , no garlic recipe. I know many of my readers look for such recipes. This is a good one to try.

serving suggestions

This is a dish that has kerala roots, so I serve with steamed rice (if you have palakadan matta (see the picture below), then that would be A-W-E-S-O-M-E! If you do not regularly consume the matta rice, then steamed white rice is good. I also have a side of sambhar and kale thoran in the picture. Pappadam (deep-fried thin lentil wafers) and pickle are good too.

non-vegetarian serving suggestions

• Simple Chicken Roast
• Kerala Fish Curry with Coconut Milk

storing leftovers

You can save leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat either using a microwave or on stove top.

meal prep tip

You can pre-cook the beetroot and keep in the refrigerator. And use it to reduce time of cooking beetroot if you are looking for a easy way to prepare this during a busy day.

is this healthy?

Yes!

Beetroots are known to have a lot of health benefits including increased blood flow and lowering blood pressure. They are also rich in foliates, manganese, potassium iron etc. Refer https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/beetroot for more details.

Yogurt has proteins, calcium etc. along with a good amount of probiotics for improving gut health. I use home made yogurt, but any store bought plain yogurt is good to use in the recipe.

additional notes

• 1 cup = 250 ml. Most US measuring cups are 240 ml. You can definitely use those without any difference to the final dish.
• Make sure that you turn the heat all the way down, to ensure that yogurt does not curdle.
• Meal-prep tip - You can precook the diced beetroot and use it to speed up the cooking process.
• You can use freshly grated coconut or frozen and thawed coconut.
• This is usually served at my home as a thicker semi-gravy dish.