What is "poriyal"

Poṟiyal ( Tamil:பொரியல்) is the Tamil word for fried or sometimes sauteed vegetable dish. The Kannada word for the same dish is Palya and in Telugu, its Porutu. It is usually made by shallow frying shredded or diced vegetables along with spices. The preparation would normally involve frying mustard seeds, urad dal, onions and then the main vegetable, and finally adding turmeric, spices, dried red chillis and coriander. In Tamil Nadu, shredded coconut would be added as a dressing.

Poṟiyal serves as a side dish to a three-course meal of rice with sambhar, rasam and yogurt (Anglo-Indian curd).

All poṟiyals by default have some vegetables and lentils, but many variations of the main vegetable exist:

• Potato poṟiyal: made of Potatoes.
• Bean poṟiyal: made out of Green or String Beans.

Many other regional variations exist. Palya, a very common dish in the South Indian state of Karnataka is very similar to the poṟiyal. Some variations of the palya involve use of chana dal instead of urad dal. Porutu in Andhra region is prepared in almost same manner, but the name has become alternate to Guddu porutu, egg poṟiyal.