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

Bisi Bele Huli anna / Bisi Bele Bhaath

Need a brilliant one pot meal loaded with nutrition - think Bisi bele Bhaath (baath) / bisi bele huli anna. You could cook it in a rice cooker or a pressure cooker. This is a very versatile dish and could be made with any vegetable of your choice.

Etymology: Bisi bele bhaath literally means hot dal and rice. My ammama tells me that adding vegetables must have happened eventually :-). Traditionally this dish must be the kannadiga version of the tamil Venn pongal (made from rice and moong dal). Bisi Bele bhaath uses Tur dal instead of moong. This Karnataka cuisine classic includes everything from the basic food groups
- wholesome goodness of vegetables
- protein from tur dal
- Flavour and digestive properties of red chillies, tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric, khuzhambu powder, asafoetida (hing)
- antiseptic properties of turmeric powder
- Essential carbs from the brown rice (i prefer brown rice, you could use any rice of your choice)
- Vital Vitamin A from curry leaves
.. and lots more!


The Recipe...
You need: Serves 2
Brown Rice- 1 cup
Tur dal- 1 cup
Tamarind pulp - 1/2 cup
Khuzhambu powder - 1 tsp
salt to taste
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp or lesser
hing - a pinch
curry leaves -5
Vegetables of your choice
(I used Red cabbage, carrots, beans, potato, Bengaluru kathrikkai (chow chow))
oil (to saute' vegetables) - 1/2tsp
Cilantro / corainder leaves for garnish

Bisi bhelle Masala / powder (serves 2)

Dry or Fresh Coconut (shredded) - 2tbsp
Corainder seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2tsp
Chana dal - 1/2tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Rice - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 2

Tempering
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1/2tsp 
jeera / cumin - 1/2  tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6
hing - a pinch
red chillies - 2
clove- 1 (optional)
elaichi - 1 (optional)
dalchini (cinammon) - small piece (optional)

Process:

• Wash tur dal and rice, dice vegetables and wash well and soak for a few minutes (Saves energy)
  
• Dry  roast bisi belle masala ingredients and fine grind them into a powder
  
• Saute vegetables in a tsp of oil and add salt, turmeric, khuzhambu powder, hing and curry leaves. 
• Drain and mix in washed rice and tur dal and saute for a minute
• Add the Bisi Bele masala powder and saute for half a minute
  
• I like to add a few corainder leaves /cilantro  while the dish is cooking apart from using it for garnish
  
• Add the tamarind pulp and pour enough water to cook the rice, dal and vegetables
• you could add water to vary the consistency of your dish (you could cook it a bit put together or do it the traditional way which is a bit flowy )
• pressure cook upto two whistles or in a rice cooker until done
• Tempering : Add ghee in a kadai, mustard seeds, let it crackle
• add (cumin) jeera, curry leaves and green and red chillies and saute 
• Pour over the rice and serve with yummy raitha or mooru khuzhambu
• Garnish with cilantro/corainder leaves. 

Trivia

• I skipped the tempering to avoid use of excess oil 
• You could use dry coconut for the masala powder and refrigerate it for future use 
• You use this powder to make your thoran /poriyal/ dry vegetable fries (a brinjal, potato fry with this powder tastes like heaven)

PS: This is how my amma makes it so I follow the same recipe...There could be variation...do let me know of you prepare it differently!!

Veggie Pohe

Parched rice or poha is one of my favorite comfort food. I love it with a lot of veggies and roasted peanuts. If  you need a really filling meal in just ten minutes , then Pohe is the way to go.... :). Tamil families have been preparing sweet and savory avul (thats tamil for pohe). My paati and amma make a very yummy parched rice dish in tamarind pulp garnish. This breakfast or brunch item is called puli avul (similar to puliodarai). Avul payasam or just washed avul soaked in warm milk is a common vrath (religious ritual) food. I love the Maharashtrian style pohe with finely chopped vegetables and groundnut. I had to include the recipe for a Non desi friend..I told her that she could find it on google but she insisted that I write down my version (I dont think i have one though!)

Yummy Veggie Pohe
Ingredients: Serves 2

• Parched rice (Pohe) - 2 cups
• Mustard - 1/4 tsp
• Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
• Moong Dal - 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin (Jeera) - 1/4 tsp
• Salt
• Curry leaves - 10/12
• Green Chillies-5
• Ginger - 1/4 " piece
• Turmeric  powder (depends on you)
• hing (Optional)
• Cilantro / Fresh corainder
• Lemon Juice - 2tbsp
• Oil - 1tsp
• Carrots (Shredded) - 1/2cup
• Potatoes (peeled, cubed and boiled) - 1/2 cup
• green, red and yellow capsicum (Bell peppers) - diced - 1/2 cup
• Roasted groundnuts - 2tbsp

Process:

1. Wash parched rice in a colander and set it aside to drain.
2. Heat oil in a kadai for tempering mustard seeds, dals, curry leaves, chillies and ginger.
3. Add the veggies and saute wiht curry leaves, turmeric, salt and hing
4. Once the veggies are done, add the washed pohe and roasted peanuts and mix well
5. Mix lightly (to avoid mashing the pohe and veggies) until Pohe soaks up the turmeric and salt well
6. Once done, squeeze in the lemon juice and  garnish with finely chopped cilantro/fresh coriander

You are ready to serve! Enjoy maadi

How its made!
Parched rice finds its way into every cuisine which has rice as one of its staple food. Paddy is cleaned after harvest, boiled and flattened (beaten) to yield Parched rice. Parced rice is also called beaten or flattened rice. 

Popular Legend  
Use of parched rice in India dates back to mythological times (not sure of the exact CE dates) and is said to be one of the favourites of Lord Kirshna. It is believed that as a child, in his gurukula, Sri Krishna  was out herding the ashram cows. Sudama, Krishna's classmate, had accompanied him on this trip. Krishna and Sudama got caught in severe storm and were held up in the forest all through the evening. Sudama was scared but found solace and strength in Krishna's presence.

Image Source:ranchorprime.com

Both grew up and went their way after passing out of Gurukula. Krishna went on to rule Dwaraka and Sudama remained a poor brahmin with a family to support. After a long deliberation with his wife, Sudama decided to meet Krishna. Sudama's poverty did not allow him to buy any expensive gifts for his friend, who was now the King of Dwaraka. Sudama borrowed a handful of parched rice from a neighbour, and set out to meet Krishna. As soon as he reached Dwaraka, Krishna welcomed him with a lot of fanfare.

Image source: images.exoticindiaart.com

Then Krishna noticed a small bundle on Sudama's waist and asked if he had brought him a gift. Sudama was embarrassed to give the small bundle of parched rice to a King. However, the omnipresent Krishna insisted on taking the gift from sudama. Krishna then said "Sudama, any gift given to me with love is dearer to me than the ones given without love."  Then he ate a handful of poha. Sudama was so happy with this gesture that he forgot all about his poverty and the purpose of this visit. 

  

 Image source: Amarchitra katha

Next morning Sudama reached back home, to find a mansion in the place of his humble hut. He lived the rest of his life with health. wealth and happiness. Following this legend, hindus offer Lord Krishna a small amount of parched rice mixed with jaggery and believe that Sri Krishna would bless them too.