Undhiyo (उंधियो) - Vegetable Stew

 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

Ingredients:

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.

Mushroom Masala ( अळंबीची भाजी )

I started enjoying mushrooms recently. I have not experimented much with mushrooms yet, this is the only dish I cook. All these years, I never cooked them, for some reason, I thought they were heavy to digest. I remember eating mushroom flavored dish in a restaurant long back and having a tummy upset. Ever since then, I did not have mushrooms, even while ordering a dish at a restaurant, I would specifically ask them not to add mushrooms!
I am trying to cut dairy and oil from my diet, relying solely on plant based food to get all the nourishment. While doing grocery shopping, my husband picked mushrooms few months back, and I thought, "why not give it another try?"

So here I am, enjoying mushroom gravy now :)

I have used water based seasoning for this recipe, you can use oil instead, if you want to.

Ingredients:
6-8 white mushrooms, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garam masala,
salt as per taste,
jaggery as per taste (optional)
coriander leaves for garnish

for grinding:
1/4 cup grated coconut,
a handful of cashew nuts, soaked
1/2 tsp jeera,


for seasoning:
2 tbsp water,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1/2 tsp cumin or jeera,
1/2 tsp turmeric,
5-6 curry leaves
3-4 green chillies,
1/2 tsp grated ginger,
10-15 cashew nut pieces,

Serving: 2-3 people

In a heated kadhai (pan) add water for the seasoning. When the water starts bubbling up, add mustard seeds, asafoetida and jeera. Let it simmer for a minute. Add rest of the seasoning ingredients and cover it with lid for another minute. Now add chopped onion and mix well. Let it cook for 2 minutes, covering the pan with lid. Next, add diced tomatoes and stir. Let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes. Add garam masala and sliced mushrooms. Cook for few more minutes. Next add salt, jaggery as per your taste and let the gravy simmer for some time until mushrooms are almost cooked.
Grind together coconut, cashew nuts and jeera with little bit of water to form a chutney consistency mixture. Add this coconut mixture to the simmering gravy. Adjust water in the gravy to get the required consistency. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. The curry will thicken with coconut and cashew paste mixture.

Enjoy this curry as a side dish or with rice or chapati. It goes well with bread too.

Roasted assorted vegetables (रोस्टेड भाज्या)

I love to roast vegetables. My new favourite way to cook veggies! Super easy, simple, healthy and very tasty dish. You can use any vegetables that you may have at home.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
1-2 carrots
5-6 asparagus stalks
1 large potato
1-2 tsp olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt as per taste
2 tsp pepper powder
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Servings:
3 people

Wash all the vegetables thoroughly. Cut potato, zucchini, sweet potato into round slices about 1-1 1/2 inches thick. Cut carrots and asparagus stalks into bite sized pieces.

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. In a flat oven dish, line aluminium foil to roast the vegetables. You can also roast them directly on the oven plate. Mix olive oil, garlic cloves, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Now add all the vegetables into the oil mix and coat them well. Leave it aside for marination for 5-10 minutes. Pour all the vegetables in the oven dish.

Place the vegetables in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. After every 10-15 minutes, turn the vegetables to uniformly heat them in the oven. Once the vegetables turn slightly brown black, turn the oven off and leave it inside for additional 10 minutes to roast.

This is a great side dish with either rice or chapati.

Apple & dried cranberry chutney (सफरचंद व सुक्या क्रेनबेरीजची चटणी)

I found this recipe on this website. I modified it a bit based on what was available at home. It is very quick and easy to make recipe

Ingredients: 

2 apples (I used Fuji apples)

a fist full of dried cranberries

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

1 1/2 tsp cumin or jeera powder

3 tsp coriander or dhaniya powder

salt as per taste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp oil

Servings: 3-4 people

Peel the apples and cut them into small cubes. In a hot frying pan or kadhai, add oil and roast sesame seeds for a minute. Next add apple cubes and stir well. Cover with a lid. After 5 minutes, add the remaining ingredients other than salt and mix well. Cover with lid and let it cook on medium flame for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, apples will become soft. Mash it lightly using spoon and stir together. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes and chutney is ready to serve. 

This chutney can be served with bread, or used as a sandwich spread.  You can also have it as a side dish with chapati.

Peanut Flax Seed Ladoo (जवस शेंगदाण्याचे लाडू)

I make these laddoos very often. They are good substitute for cereal bars. Ever since I read about goodiness of flax seed, I was searching for recipes that include flax seed. I found the laddoo recipe on this website. I have modified the recipe a bit to include more dry fruits like pistachios, almonds, cashew nuts. These laddoos are easy to make and are ideal for travel food and/or office snack.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup peanuts
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
2 tbsp Flax seeds
8-10 Pistachios
7-8 Almonds
3/4 cup Jaggery (as per taste)
1 tsp cardamom powder
A pinch of salt

Servings:
Makes about 25 small laddoos.

Dry roast peanuts in a kadhai on medium flame. When they are fully roasted, they turn slightly brown and give a nice aroma. Transfer peanuts to another bowl. Now in the same kadhai, roast sesame seeds. Stir continuously to prevent sesame seeds from burning. They roast quickly in about a minute or two. Take it out and add flax seeds to the pan. Stir them and cover the kadhai with a lid as flax seeds start cracking once heated. Take the flax seeds off the heat and next roast pistachios for about 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously. Lastly roast almonds in the kadhai for 1-2 minutes. Once all the ingredients are cooled down, grind them together with jaggery and cardamom powder and salt. I did not grind the powder very fine; instead I prefer coarse powder.

These laddoos do not need any ghee for binding. The oils from flax seeds, peanuts serve as binding agents. I add other dry fruits like cashew nut powder, dry date powder (Kharik) etc for added flavour and nutrition.