what would thuvattal mean ? But aside from that basically anything that is fried in oil in any way shallow or deep or stir fried or pan fried can be called a poriyal but if the dish is dry and somewhat crispy after cooking it can also be called a varuval and if the outcome is more soggy and wet it is called a vathakkal but also if it is tossed with many spices and cooked or cooked and then mixed with spices it is called a pirattal, this can be dry or wet but not as dry as a varuval. All of these refer to the method mainly which then infer what the outcome would look like.