Undhiyu

Undhiyu is a very famous Gujarati dish usually prepared in winter. You might wonder, why winter as the vegetables that make this dish are widely available during winters.

Its one of the dishes that labor intensive, but if you try to divide up the steps and do it, it might be easier. The result is this delicious dish. During winter months back in India, we would throw Undhiyu parties. It’s a labor-intensive dish, so you usually make a lot and have people over and enjoy it together. In January, we have festival called ‘Makar Sakranti’ or Kite-Flying festival, yes everyone is on their terraces/roofs and we fly kites all day long and that also involves competing with every other kite in the air. 

What is Undhiyu?

The name of this dish is derived from the Gujarati word “Undhu” which means upside-down. Traditionally, it is prepared in an earthen clay pot lined with leaves and then filled with the all the vegetables that make this dish like potatoes, sweet potato, purple yam, white yam, raw banana, and some beans along with spices. The pot is then put underneath in the ground in fire pit created using hay. It takes at least an hour or two to cook it. Then the pot is removed, the vegetables that have cooked inside are removed and served with extra green chutney, drizzled with peanut oil and some sev (thin crispy noodles made from chickpea flour). I have never had Undhiyu this way. Sigh

But I have experienced best Undhiyu, made at home by my mom. I am bias, but she really makes the best Undhiyu.

What are the ingredients?

Root vegetables like potatoes, Japanese sweet potato, purple yam, white yam.

Eggplants, Raw Bananas

Fresh Beans- Hyacinth beans with their pods (Gujarati names – valor papdi and papdi), pigeon peas

It also has fritters/dumplings or as we call it ‘muthias’ made from fresh fenugreek leaves and flour and they deep fried. I usually dread making these. But my husband loves them, so I make it. I have never bought them store bought, But I am sure I have seen them in Indian grocery stores.

Spice blend – These vegetables are coated in coconut and cilantro spiced blend.

It has freshly shredded coconut, sesame seeds, cilantro, green chilies, ginger, fresh green garlic or garlic cloves, garam masala, turmeric powder, sugar and salt. Finally, it is garnished with shredded coconut and cilantro. You can enjoy this dish with sev and green chutney on the side and Jalebis. It can be served with puri and ‘Shrikhand’. Ahh so good.

There are plenty of ways you can prepare this dish.

Some people shallow fry some of the vegetables like roots veggies and you can also make it directly without frying it. It just takes a little longer to cook.

Pressure cooker method ,Instant Pot method, Oven method, regular stove top method. Whatever way you try to make it, make sure its not mushy and well cooked. It is a dry kind of dish not saucy.

The method I am sharing today is the oven method, but I will share tips incase you want to make it in instant pot or pressure cooker. The best part of this dish is you can freeze the leftovers and warm it up and re-use it. I have done that on several occasions.

Print Recipe

Best Undhiyu

Undhiyu is the most popular Gujarati dish made with root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplants, purple yam, beans with a mix of spices and fresh coconut. Serve it with sev, puris and Shrikhand for a perfect meal.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: gujaraticuisine, makarsakranti, onepotmeal, undhiyu, vegetarian, winterdish

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Devangi Raval

Ingredients

Muthia – Fenugreek Dumplings (optional)

• 1 cup methi leaves preferably fresh, chopped
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup chickpeas flour/ Besan
• 1 tbsp green chili paste or finely chopped
• 1- inch piece ginger grated
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• Pinch of baking soda Eno

Vegetables

• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp carom seeds / ajwain
• 1 cup Surti papdi beans frozen (Hyacinth beans)
• 1 cup Surti papdi pods frozen (Hyacinth bean pods)
• 1 cup pigeon peas frozen (lilva Tuver)
• 1 cup purple yam fresh or frozen both available
• 1 cup white yam/ suran frozen
• 3-4 baby eggplants
• 3 potatoes chopped in big chunks
• 1 sweet potato white or Japanese, chopped in big chunks

Coconut Cilantro Spice Blend

• 1 cup shredded coconut fresh, available in frozen aisles
• 1 cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped
• 2- 3 tbsp fresh green garlic or 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2-3 green chilies
• 1 – inch ginger
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Salt to taste
• Garnish – Cilantro, coconut.

Instructions

Coconut Spice Blend

• Blend all the ingredients of spice blend in food processor and give it a rough mix. You can also use blender, just do not over process it. Keep it coarse. Remove it in a bowl.

Muthia

• Mix the chopped methi leaves and dry ingredients and give it mix. Add oil, baking soda and some water and knead it into dough. The dough should be as such that you can roll out dumplings. Divide the dough into equal portions, you should be able to get 7-10 dumplings. Use oil to grease your palm in between rolling if it gets sticky.
• Heat some oil on medium to deep fry the methi muthia. The oil should not be too hot or too cold. Drop one and check if its coming up then you know, its good temperature.
• Fry all the muthias until brown in color and remove them on an absorbent paper.

Vegetables

• Chop the potatoes (leave on skin on ) and sweet potato (peel the skin off) in big chunks. I have used purple and white yam frozen, so they were already chopped. Take eggplants, make four slits in the middle to create pocket, don’t make slits all the way. In the same oil, fry the whole eggplants, potatoes, sweet potato one by one. Remove them on an absorbent paper after frying.
• Once the eggplants down, take the coconut spice blend and stuff it carefully inside the eggplants. Leave them aside. Just be gentle not to break them apart.

Assembly

• Pre-heat the oven at 400 F.
• In a big mixing bowl, add all the vegetables potatoes, sweet potato, yams , beans, eggplants and add the coconut spice blend and give it a gentle toss with a spatula.
• In a deep pot on medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil. Once the carom seeds start spluttering. Spread the vegetables with blend in the pot. Snuck in the muthias too and spread them around. You can also layer the vegetables one by one and then add spice blend on each layer. I find marinating everything and then adding to the pot easier and quick.
• Add about 1/4 -1/2 cup water. Cover the pot with a lid or aluminum foil. Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove and let it cool down. I used a Dutch oven pot. Please use heavy bottomed pot for oven or you can also use baking dish.
• If you are cooking it on the stove top, then let it cook on low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but still have retained their shape.
• If you are using pressure cooker method, use 1/2 cup water– cook it for 2 whistles.
• Instant pot – Bloom the carom seeds in oil on saute mode, turn it off and after adding the vegetables, turn manual on for 8 minutes and let it release on NPR.
• This dish is supposed to be dry and not saucy. Therefore, I have only used ¼ cup of water. Keep all the vegetables in big chunks.
• Serve it hot with puris, sev and extra green chutney on the side. Shrikhand is a great dessert option to add on the side.

Notes

Did you try this recipe?

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XO, Devangi

If you want to make Shrikhand, check the recipe.