Undhiyu - A veggie delight from Gujarat

Hop into the Flavour Train with me. Let us take make a trip to a western state in India, Gujarat, and sample a Vegetable specialty -  Undhiyu. This dish is seasonal and is generally made in winters. This is because winters are the time of abundance in a normally arid Gujarat. It features in most festive menus and is served with roti or puri.

This dish is an obvious favourite of mine. How could it not be - vegetables cooked in a coriander leaves/cilantro gravy. My amma makes another version quite frequently (with all dry ingredients...the typical Gujarati style.)

Variations...
We could prepare undhiyu by stuffing vegetables with the masala or cooking the chopped vegetables in the masala gravy. I have seen and loved more than one variation of this dish. I skip the tempering part of the recipe and make a low fat version. This time around, I also skipped a very important Gujarati ingredient - Muthiya (spicy, wheat flour and besan/chickpea flour fried dumplings).

Vegetables which hold up to being cooked in a gravy work well in this recipe-  pigeon peas (kacha tuvar), drum stick, tindora/ dondakai, Surti papdi (avaraikka), Brinjal, Plantain, yam, potatoes etc.

This time around I cooked the vegetables in the undhiyu gravy. My hubby dearest clicked a series of pictures to make it a colourful post.

All you need: Serves 4
Vegetables:
Plantain - 1
Brinjal - 3
carrot - 2
potatoes- 2
snow pea - 1 ' pieces (1/2 cup)

For the masala gravy 
Green chillies - 4
Fresh coconut - shredded - 1/2 cup
Corainder leaves / cilantro - Chopped (used the stem and leaves) - 1/2 cup
Fresh ginger - 1 " piece Garlic - 2 cloves
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Flavouring 
Salt to suit your taste
hing (asafoetida) - a pinch
Sugar or jaggery - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Process

• Chop all your vegetables and wash them well. Steam/Cook in the microwave for four minutes
• Dry roast coriander seeds and cumin
• Grind roasted ingredients with coriander leave/cilantro, ginger, garlic, coconut, green chillies into a fine paste
• Put all the steam vegetables in a kadai and pour in the masala paste (add a little water used to wash off your grinder jar )
• Add salt, turmeric powder, hing/asafoetida, sugar and let the sabzi cook until the masala gravy looses its raw smell. 
• Stir gently so that the vegetables remain intact and do not become mushy
• Add muthiya at this stage(i did not add muthiya this time)
• Add sugar, mix lightly and let the undhiyu simmer for a minute or so
• Take it off the stove, let the dish rest for a few minutes and add the lemon juice (make sure you add the lemon juice after it is taken off the stove. This is because, the lemon juice turns bitter when exposed to heat)
• serve with steamed rice or roti 

All done and steamy!

Traditionally, the dish is started with oil tempering with a pinch of hing. The vegetables are added to it and then comes the gravy. You could also add Muthiya  to your dish.


Recipe: Muthiya (makes 6-8)
whole wheat flour- 4 tbsp
besan/chickpeas flour - 4 tbsp
coriander leaves/cilantro - chopped - 1 tsp
methi leaves - 1/4 tsp
salt to suit your taste
hing - a pinch
cumin - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
water (to knead your dough)
oil for frying

Process:

• mix all the ingredients (except oil) and make your dough
• roll out equal sized balls and fry them in oil
• Add these dumplings in the dish when the gravy is almost done

Trivia- Ayurveda:

• Garlic, hing, coriander, ginger and cumin are good digestives
• Turmeric is a natural antiseptic
• Coriander leaves/cilantro is very good for our skin and the digestive system
• Vegetables, cilantro/coriander leaves bring in the essential fiber in our diet