Gujrati Mixed Vegetable Sabzi / Undhiyo

Undhiyo is a very colorful vegetable sabzis from Gujrat. It consists of multiple vegetables stuffed with green paste made of coconut and herbs and is cooked over slow flame for long time. Undhiyo also called "Undhiyu" is usually made during the winter season when vegetables are available in plenty. 
It is one of my favorite vegetable dish. I had asked the caterer to make Undhiyo as one of the vegetable sabzis as part of my wedding lunch. He made a great non-garlic version and it was a great hit. Such is my love for Undhiyo. Some people think that it takes a lot of time to make Undhiyo and a lot of oil is used in the process. Both of these facts are not true. I made Undhiyo with very less oil and it was prepared little more than an hour. I used frozen suran, surti padpi and ratalu as they are not available in the markets here. I also used beans, peas and carrot which may not traditional Undhiyo vegetables. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
1 carrot
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup beans
1/2 cup ratalu or red yam
1/2 cup suran or Indian yam
1 cup surti papdi
1/2 cup surti val
1 raw banana
5-6 small eggplant
1 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon sugar or gur
lemon juice
2 tablespoon oil
salt for taste
5 tablespoon coriander leaves for garnishing

For the Chutney masala:
1 cup grated coconut
2 cup chopped coriander leaves or cilantro
3-5 thai green chilies (or as per taste)
1 inch ginger root
4-5 garlic pods or fresh green garlic (optional--don't use it if someone doesnt like garlic)
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Muthia:
2 cups coarsely chopped methi or fenugreek leaves
1 cup besan or chick pea flour
2 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped thai green chili
oil for frying
salt for taste

Method


For the muthia, mix all the ingredients well. Heat oil till very hot and using a tablespoon drop the muthia mixture into the hot oil. Fry till well done on both sides. Drain the oil on a kitchen paper. Make the muthia's when you are cooking other vegetables.

For the chutney masala, grind all the ingredients-coconut, coriander leaves, ginger, chilies and salt into a coarse paste. Add as little water as possible.

For the Undhiyo:
Now for the undhiyo, peel the banana, potato and carrot and cut them into 1 inch pieces. Leave the eggplant whole with its stalk and cut an X mark on the bottom of the eggplant. I used frozen and cut suran, ratalu, so I didnt have to peel and cut them.

Mark the banana, eggplant, carrot and potato pieces with an 'X' sign with the knife. Cut each potato into 4 pieces. Fill the chutney masala paste into all these pieces. (Keep some 4-5 tablespoon chutney for other vegetables.) Sprinkle lemon juice on these vegetables so that they don't get brown and oxidize. In a pan add 2 tablespoon oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida. One the mustard seeds start to splutter, add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder and pepper. Stir well and add the cut and stuffed banana, potato, eggplant and carrot. Cook on a low flame for around 15 minutes till the vegetables are 1/2 cooked. Meanwhile, in another pan add 1 teaspoon oil and add surti papdi. Stir fry on high heat for 2-3 minutes and drain on kitchen paper. Stir fry surti val and beans also in similar way. In the same oil stir fry ratalu and suran for 2-3 minutes each. Add the surti papdi, val, suran, ratalu, beans and peas in the same pan as other vegetables and sprinkle the remaining chutney. Add salt, sugar and lemon juice for taste and cook for another 20-30 minutes till all the vegetable are well cooked. Add the muthia and cook again for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice or roti.




Preparation time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Serves: 3-4