Undhiyu / Oondhiyu ( Delicious stuffed vegetable casserole)

Undhiyu is very famous preparation from Gujarati cuisine. Back home it is savoured in winter when lots of fresh green vegetables are available.

We celebrate Kite Flying Day ( Uttarayan) on 14th January and that is the "Undhiyu time" for all of us.

This year when i talked back home, everyone i talked with asked me if i had "Undhiyu" this season, that made me longing for it.

I decided to try my h

ands on that myself. Help from mom with the recipe, chat with a friend on preparation, some on-line search and i knew what all i needed.

I never tried it earlier as i always thought it's a long complicated procedure ( and also because when was home, it's mom's recipe and she cooks ) but turned out only ingredient list looks long !

Finding and collecting them in Europe can be a bit exercise but not if you are at right market and believe me it is worth those efforts !

Let's collect Ingredients :

2-3 small purple eggplants ( white eggplants don't taste as good as purple in this preparation )

4 small potatoes

4-5 big pieces of plantain / raw banana

1/4 cup Stringed beans whole ( Green broad beans - surti papdi, whole tender avrekayi)

1/4 cup purple yam chunks (ratalu) ( I didn't use it, as i couldn't find it here that time)

1 raw banana, cut in round pieces

For paste:

1/4 cup coriander leaves (I used along with thick stems)

4 green chilies

1 tsp jaggery

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp garlic

1/2 cup fresh peas

1/4 cup coconut

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

A pinch turmeric

Salt

For Muthiya(Chickpea flour Dumplings ):

1/4 cup fenugreek leaves

1/8 cup wheat flour

1/8 cup Chickpea / yellow gram flour (besa

n)

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Green chillies minced

A pinch baking soda

1 tsp - lemon juice

1 tsp - sugar ( as per taste, you can skip this as well)

A pinch turmeric

Salt as per taste

Oil

Tempering:

Oil

1/2 tsp carom seeds ( ajwain)

A pinch asafoetida

Let's start cooking :

* Grind the paste ingredients without adding too much water.

* Make deep cross into eggplants, plantains(raw banana), potatoes and stuff the paste into them. String the green bean. If they are too big, cu

t them into two.

* In a bowl, take the Dumplings (muthiya) ingredients. Add a little

water to make a dough. Make small balls from the dough. Deep fry the balls and keep it aside.

* Also fry potatoes and eggplants a little bit so that when they are put together with other vegetables, they don't take more time to cook than other vegetables.

* Heat oil (I used the oil remaining from frying

dumplings ) and add carom seeds (ajwain), asafoetida.

* Now slowly arrange all the vegetables in layers spreading left over paste in between and over the vegetables.

Add about 1/4 cup water (Traditionally oil is added, that is how one gets while eating outside. Normally when it is cooked at home then to make

it less oily and a bit more healthier water is use, but i bet with oil is always tastier. hehe).

* Cover and cook on a medium flame. Don't mix too much just keep shaking in between so that vegetable are not meshed up.

* When the vegetables are almost done, add Dumplings (muthiya). I also left bananas for the last so that they are not completely meshed.

* Do not mix too much after adding Dumplings (muthiya

).

* Cook for 2-3 mins and take off the heat.

Your Undhiyu is ready, it can be eaten with rice or puri.

In some parts of India, it is eaten by itself with sprinkling some lemon, coriander and sev (fried noodles) over it.

Tip:

Don't stir vegetables too much using spoon, so that they are not broken or meshed. once a while turn them for overall cooking.

*tsp = tea spoon

*tbsp = table spoon