Feb 4, 2010

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

15 comments:

Unknown said...

I know I'd love this! I'm not sure I've heard of some of the ingredients, though. DO you have shops nearby where you normally find them? It'd be interesting to know. I wish we had Indian supermarket here in Zwolle. In England it's normally easier to find stuff like this.
The fenugreek leaves I'm sure must be difficult to find! Do you think the chickpea flour can be found in an Indonesian toko?

Hayley said...

Hey Lopa
Love Undhiyu!!! lots of vegees and delicious!! I've made on 14th Jan...check my post..

~ Lopa said...

@ Aledys Ver 

I can imagine, most of the spices are common with Indian cooking and all Indians have those in their kitchen.
In England it is definitely more easy with a large Indian community there.

I think some of the items will be available in TOKO, we normally shop Indian grocery from Indian store here.

Here is a link which lists Indian stores in Netherlands, It doesn't show Zwolle but i think there should be one, i will try to search for you.
http://www.indianfoodsguide.com/indian-food-guide/indian-grocery-stores/netherlands/

~ Lopa said...

@ Jagruti

Hey thanks, yes love Undhiyu... there will be hardly any Gujarati who doesn't :)

Though it is a bit difficult to find all the ingredients here in Netherlands :)

Your blog is amazing, love it :)

Siddhi Shirsat said...

hi lopa...this is my first visit to ur blog...u hv a lovely blog with awesome recipes...this undiyo looks very tempting...nice recipe...i like undiyo, but never tried it, vl try ur recipe now...Hey i am following u so that i can track all ur future recipes and visit them n comment.

http://siddhiscookingexperiences.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Thanks, Lopa! I've saved the link. I'll be going to Utrecht soon, so I might look up one of these shops and see what I can find.
Have a nice day!

~ Lopa said...

@ Siddhi S

Thanks Siddhi for visiting and commenting.
Look fwd to tastier food bond with your blog :)

Lizzy said...

Wow Lopa! This looks just amazing! You're right that it doesn't look that hard once you find all of the ingredients...but that's always the hard part in Holland isn't it? First I need to google what many of those things are hehe. Meanwhile, I'll be drooling over your photos!

Unknown said...

Hey Lopa, Thanks dear to remind me..roasted gram flour goes in step one..in between..Oondhiyu is my extreme favorite. Yet to be posted, as it has lot of ingredients just like my "Bharela Ringna"/Stuffed Eggplant..so waiting for the right time...Your muthiya has come out very well.

Parita said...

Who doesnt love Ooondhiyo? Mmm.. i love it but without garlic :)

~ Lopa said...

@ Lizzy 
Yes, totally agree, grocery shopping is the toughest part in cooking here in Holland :o)
First know right shops then know right Dutch word for that and then search ...hehehe

~ Lopa said...

@ A 2 Z Vegetarian Cuisine 

Thanks Muskaan :o)
Here in Holland, finding all vegetables is the toughest part but i remember back home in India too while it was Undhiyu day, mom used to go for special veggie shopping...hehe

~ Lopa said...

@ Parita 
Truly said who doesn't !
No garlic? Jain ? :o)

By the way as a kid i was not a big fan of this dish, due to all vegetables. Like other kids i also had soft corner for certain veggies only, so when it's undhiyu i used to search and eat potato, sweet potato and muthiya from it, hehehe i don't know when i started liking and eating it as a whole package, i think it came over the time, as a part of growing up process :o)

Nithya said...

Lopa the last time you posted a recipe.. It looked n felt to so yumm that I went to the restaurent the very same day to have it.. American Chopsuey... The problem is I am reading abt Undhyu and I am missing my home amdavad badly... There is no place in Bangalore where u get this...
But probably I am inspired to make it-try out the recipe than jumping for a ready to eat :) Looking forward to your next master chef recipe....

dev said...

I am yet to try this one! hope i can do that next season! :)

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