Gujarati Undhiyu

Today I am going to write my second recipe for the Gujarati Food Festival; the Hallmark Gujarati Undhiyu.

Undhiyu is a traditional gujarati mixed vegetable which is usually made during the winter season. The name Undhiyu comes from the gujarati word “Undhu” meaning upside down. Traditionally in the villages, this vegetable used to be prepared in an earthen pot (matlu) by placing it upside down in a fire pit dug in the ground.

This vegetable is made with lot of different veggies (few of them generally available only during the winter season); purple yam (kand), raw bananas, sweets potatoes, baby potatoes, baby brinjal, surti papdi, pigeon peas (tuvar lilva) green peas, green beans, green garlic and muthia (fried dumplings made out of methi and besan). You can make the vegetable with whichever veggies are available with you. Its not necessary to have all of them available in order to make the vegetable. Also you can use alternative veggies – like if yam is not available, you can use potatoes in its place etc..

The finished vegetable is generally dry with individual chunks of vegetables coated evenly with oil and spices. The vegetable must be cooked ideally to retain its shape and crunchiness to give the best experience. There are different variants of undhiyu that is prepared. One is a normal undhiyu that is prepared which has a red texture to the vegetable. The other one which is commonly seen in weddings is the Surti Undhiyu. This generally has a green texture. Today I will be writing about the former one.

As mentioned above, this vegetable is generally prepared in a pot and also contains a lot of oil in it. But now a days, we don’t use pots or charcoals to cook our food and also we are very much health conscious. Hence, today’s dish we will be cooking the vegetable in a cooker and also we will be using minimal amount of oil to make it healthy; retaining its flavors and aroma.

Undhiyu is best served with puri, soft phulkas, bajra roti or rice.

So lets get started with the recipe.

Ingredients:

For Vegetable

Green beans (Vaal / Papdi), stringed – 100 gms

Surti Papdi, stringed (whole) – 100 gms

Purple Yam (Kand) cubes, peeled – 100 gms

Baby Brinjals, slit – 100 gms

Baby Potatoes, peeled & slit – 100 gms

Green Peas, peeled – 100 gms

Tomato puree – ½ cup

Green Garlic – 1 tbsp

Oil – 3 – 4 tbsp

Ajwain – 1 tsp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Tumeric Powder (Haldi) – 1tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 2 tsp

Coriander Powder – 2 tsp

Chilli Ginger Paste – 1 tsp

Salt – as per taste

Baking Soda – a pinch

For Methi Muthia

Finely chopped Methi – 1 cup

Wheat flour – ½ cup

Besan – 2 tbsp

Sesame Seeds – 1tsp

Chilli Ginger Paste – 1 tsp

Tumeric Powder (Haldi) – ½ tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp

Baking Soda – a pinch

Salt – as per taste

Sugar – ½ tsp

Water – as required

Oil – 1 tbsp

Oil – for frying

Method:

Preparing Methi Muthia

Step 1

Mix all the ingredients for the Methi Muthia in a mixing bowl.

Step 2

Mix well into a soft and sticky dough.

By making sticky dough, the muthia will remain soft after cooking.

Step 3

Make small round / oval dumplings, from the dough with greased oil.

Step 4

Heat oil in a frying pan on high flame. Once the oil is ready, fry the muthias till light brown.

Don’t overcook the muthia as it will spoil the taste of the vegetable. Also you can consume these muthias as a snack item. I generally have few of them while preparing the vegetable itself.. 🙂

Preparing the Vegetable

Step 1

Heat oil in a cooker. Add ajwain and cook for few seconds. Add hing and stir. Now add the Pigeon / Green beans, Surti Papdi and Green Peas and stir. Add a pinch of soda to retain the green color. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Step 2

Add the baby brinjals and baby potatoes to the veggies and cook for another couple of minutes.

Note: You may stuff the brinjals and potatoes with a grated coconut and fresh coriander based masala. But I have not done the same.

Step 3

Stir the entire vegetable properly and add the yam (kand). After adding the yam, ensure that you don’t stir the vegetable. Add half a cup of water from the sides, close the lid of the cooker and cook till one whistle.

Yam (kand) has a very sticky texture and hence you should not stir after adding it.

Step 4

Heat little oil in a pan and add the tomato puree and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the masalas (turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, chilli ginger paste and salt) and stir for another couple of minutes. Then add the fried muthias to the gravy.

Step 5

Cook for few minutes till the gravy becomes little dry and the muthias becomes a little soft. Then add the veggies that were cooked into the cooker and cook for few minutes until the spices have been properly mixed into the vegetables. Your unidhiyu is ready to eat.

Garnish with coriander and green garlic. Serve hot along with puri, phulka or rice.