Winter months are lazy months. Cold weather restricts outdoor activities and everyone seems to be always hungry at home this time. I prefer one pot meals and usually have some soup preparation ready in the freezer to thaw and use.
Sankrant is a winter time festival. It is celebrated in different places and each region has their own special food prepared during winter months. In Gujarat, they prepare undhiyo - a winter special dish made using assorted vegetables available locally. A variety of root vegetables are used in this recipe.
Undhiyo needs elaborate preparation but it is totally worth making it. This was my first attempt at it and everyone in the house loved this dish. I plan to make this at least once every winter.
Undhiyo has multiple layers of assorted vegetables. There is elaborate preparation to be done.
Keep below spice powders ready to cut down on total cooking time.
Green chili paste - wash and cut green chillies and blend it to form a paste.
Ginger paste - wash and cut ginger and blend it to form a paste. Add little water for grinding, if needed.
Garlic paste - wash and cut garlic and blend it to form a paste. Add little water for grinding, if needed.
Cumin powder - dry roast and powder cumin seeds
Coriander powder - dry roast and powder coriander seeds
Servings:
6 people
For Methi Muthiya:
1 cup besan or chickpea flour
1 1/2 cup methi or fenugreek leaves, cleaned and chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1.5 tsp green chili paste
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp cumin seed powder
3 tsp coriander seed powder
1 tsp turmeric
salt as per taste
Knead all ingredients together and roll into balls. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry these balls on a medium flame. Alternatively, you can also air fry them using minimum oil.
For Vegetable gravy:
4 small eggplants or brinjal
2 raw banana or plantains - do not remove the peel or skin.
1 medium sized purple yam
1 medium sized elephant yam
6-8 baby potatoes
1 medium sized sweet potato
3 cups of assorted Indian beans - Surati Papadi, Val papadi, (flat beans, broad beans, fava beans) - cleaned and cut
Ingredients for vegetable gravy masala:
2 cups fresh garlic greens - cleaned and chopped
2 cups cilantro or coriander leaves - cleaned and chopped
3 cups of freshly grated coconut
1.5 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp ginger past
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tbsp coriander seed powder
1/2 tbsp cumin seed powder
1 tsp ajjwain or carrom seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt as per taste
For gravy:
Gravy Stuffing:
Add all ingredients for vegetable gravy masala together. Set it aside for a few minutes while you prepare vegetables for the gravy. This gravy masala will be used as a stuffing in vegetables and will also be used for flavoring the gravy.
Preparing the vegetables:
Divide the gravy masala stuffing into 4 portions. You will use it to stuff some vegetables, and for few other vegetables, this will be used to marinate and add flavoring.
Slit open eggplant, do not cut it open all the way. It is cut similar to when making stuffed eggplant. Add gravy masala stuffing in the slit, just enough to keep the eggplant together without breaking into two pieces. Cut raw banana into two horizontal pieces and slit open each raw banana piece and add the gravy masala stuffing. For assorted beans, mix together gravy masala with beans and let it marinate for 5-10 minutes. For the remaining vegetables, add the left over gravy masala and mix it together.
Seasoning:
1.5 tbsp oil
1 tsp hing or asafoetida
1 tsp carrom seeds
Layering:
Make sure you use a large vessel to cook, the pot needs to be big enough to hold all the vegetable preparations.
In a large pot, you will layer all these vegetables together and slow cook the stew. First you need to do regular oil seasoning. Heat the pot and add oil. Once the oil is heated, add hing and carrom seeds. Next we will layer the vegetables one by one. First goes assorted Indian beans, then add stuffed raw bananas, followed by sweet potato, potato, yam and eggplant. Add fried methi muthia (fenugreek balls) on the top layer.
Add about a cup of water mixed with salt, sugar, turmeric and ajjwain and pour it on this layered mixture. Cover the pot with a lid.
Cook this on medium flame for about 40-45 minutes. Alternatively you can pressure cook this for 2 whistles.
This gravy goes very well with rice or chapati/millet bhakri or any type of flat bread. It stays good for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
Note:
You can add any other vegetable such as ivy gourd, carrot or any other vegetable that goes well in a stew.
