It was some 1 year ago, I was chatting with my friend Aruna and as usual we started discussing about food. She asked me if I have tasted the popular Gujarati dish Undhiyu. Though I had heard about this dish and tasted it before, I had not cooked it myself. So Aruna sent me the recipe. But just one week before our discussion, I had bought frozen Undhiyu mix – which comes with all the frozen vegetables and muthiya. So I tried the recipe with the same mix and it was great. I forgot about this recipe after that.
Last week I was watching a cooking show on TV. They were showing Undhiyu and I wanted to try it immediately. This time, instead of buying the frozen pack, I bought all the vegetables separately and made the muthiya etc at home. When it was done, our whole apartment was filled with amazing aroma.
For the most part, I followed Aruna’s recipe. I made few changes which I followed from Sanjeev Kapoor’s site and Nupur’s version. I have seen the usage of green peas in masala only in Sanjeev Kapoor’s version. I did not use coconut at all because I was out of my coconut stock. I wasn’t sure it would come out good. But the final dish was lip-smackingly good.
Vegetables:
4 small purple eggplants
4 small potatoes
4 big pieces of plantain
8 tendli(ivy gourd)
1/4 cup surti papdi (whole tender avrekayi)
1/4 cup purple yam(ratalu)
For paste:
1/4 cup coriander leaves (I used along with thick stems)
4 green chillies
1 tea spn jaggery
1 tbl spn lemon juice
1 tea spn ginger
1 tea spn garlic
1/4 cup fresh peas (I used 1/2 cup peas)
1/4 cup coconut (I did not use this)
1 tea spn coriander seeds
1 tea spn cumin seeds
A pinch turmeric
Salt
For Muthiya:
1/4 cup fenugreek leaves
1/8 cup wheat flour
1/8 cup besan
1 tea spn chilli powder
A pinch turmeric
Salt
Oil
Tempering:
Oil
1/2 tea spn ajwain
A pinch asafoetida
Method:
In a bowl, take the muthiya ingredients. Add a little water to make a dough. Make small balls from the dough. Deep fry the balls and keep it aside. (I used a deep kadayi and used just about 1/4 cup oil and fried the muthiya on a medium flame).
Grind the paste ingredients without adding too much water.
Make deep cross into eggplants, plantains and stuff the paste into them. (I also stuffed potatoes).
String the surti papdi. If they are too big, cut them into two. Cut tendli into 4.
Heat oil (I used the oil remaining from frying muthiya) and add ajwain, asafoetida.
Now slowly add all the vegetables and add remaining paste over the vegetables. Add about 1/4 cup water (Usually oil is used, I used water).
Cover and cook on a medium flame. Since I used frozen yam, I didn’t add it at this stage, since it becomes paste if cooked for long.
When the vegetables are almost done, add muthiya (and yam if it was not added before).
Cook for 2-3 mins and take off the heat. Do not mix too much after adding muthiyas.
Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 45mins
hi,
thankyou very much for the recepi. i was waiting for this recepi from you, i will surely try it out and let you know. thanks once again…..:)
Wow, i am drooling, looking at the pictures. My fav fav dish. I can have it all time, just love it. During winters season, fresh tuvar, surti papadi and kand are avble in plenty in Mumbai and Gujarat. It is mostly there in wedding reception dinner during season.
Never added peas to the paste. Will surely try it your way. Sure it will taste good.
Great dish Shilpa..quite similar to Kerala’s Avial..would love to have it with rotis!!
Looks so yummy.. I am so tempted to try this out. Does the eggplant make it bitter?
Shilpa: J, normally eggplants are not bitter. Only few are exceptions. So no, they don’t make this dish bitter
Shilpa, I never made undhio as it involved soooooo much! U r known n popular for undertaking such difficult dishes, simplifying them n presenting so beautifully! Lovely stepwise pics! Great directions!
Looks very nice.Undhiyo!!Great recipe.I will be freed tomorrow from my exams and stuff.I will try for this weekend and let you know.
Best regards,
Sindhura
http://sindhura-bayleaf.blogspot.com
Hi Shilpa,
Wow awesome idea…excellant creativity.,,,
will try this dish this weekend …
Thank u very much shilpa..
I tasted this the last time I was in India and it tastes awesome, your undhiyo looks perfectly delicious will give it a try soon 🙂
Hey Shilpa…
Thanks a lot for including this popular Gujarati Dish here. Being gujarati – I can tell you one thing for sure – its called Undhiyu – not Undhiyo.
Shilpa: Thanks Jayashree. I will update it. I followed what Sanjeev Kapoor has mentioned in his recipe.
I am sure this turned out great… but no one can make Undhiyu like Gujarati’s. I am from Gujarat and the authentic Undhiyu is only available there. I would suggest you learn from some Gujarati friend. They know it best.
This is nothing but a FLASE PRIDE. I am a Konkani and my wife has adopted the receipe for Undhoyu from a Gujarathi neighbour. And I swear No one can make such Authentic Undhiyu minus all the negative points like overglowing oil in original Undhiyu. So Aruna is absolutely right.
For Tina
Whatever is the specialty cuisine of a particular region, it is the people of that region who make it THE BEST. But others do try right? We Indians have the urge and the need to learn.
Punjabis make authentic Choley and Rajma, can others do the same way, may be similar to their taste. South Indians make excellent Idli, dosa, sambhar. Others may make it but not similar. Same with other regions of India.
Whatever is posted here is what the blogger has made her own way, may not be the authentic version, but she does give it a try and post for the benefit of her readers.
Request you not to post such comments which will offend others.
Looks very good, Shilpa! I haven’t made undhiyo – just eaten it greedily each time. 😀
You seem to have a fan from Planet Gujarat. She could take a page out of your book, Shilpa, and expand her horizons. BTW, the best undhiyo I have ever had was made by a friend’s husband who hails from Chennai. Imagine how many myths that shatters!
To Aruna, I did not mean to be offensive… I was just saying that if she wants to learn the authentic version, she should learn if from a Gujarati… thats all.
Shilpa,
I salivated over this recipe when I first saw it on Nupur’s blog as I do now over yours. I’m intimidated by the involved process to try it at home. Maybe I should look for the frozen mix.
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Hi, I am regular visitor of your site.
I have a suggestion – Gujaratis use Tender garlic (Leela Lasan in Gujarati / Oli Lasun in Marathi) and they sprinkle it on cooked Undhiyu.
Further, if you add Saunf (Badishep in Marathi) while preparing muthiyas it will further enhance the taste.
Once again thanks Ma’am for the awesome recipes..
Regards,
Thanks a lot for posting oondhiya or undhiyu. I have tried the same from tarladalal.com. she has steamed the muthias. they were good and healthy too. i would like to contribute receipes too , iam happy with this website pl reply
Shilpa: Nirupama, this is a personal blog and I do not have an option for reader contributions as of now. Thanks for the offer though.
Hi Shilpa, This is a new one for me. Looks very tempting. I would like to try it though improvised, like a malai kofta types without the thick cut veggies. For Muthiya- can this be steamed? I quite like this new idea of another kind of veggie ‘meatball’. The peas gravy is also very unique to me. Thanks for posting.
Shilpa: Probably you can try baking them or like Nupur did, shallow fry them.
hi shilpa,
thankyou very much for the recepi. it turned out very well. i am requestig you to post malai kofta ASAP. thankyou very much. i visit ur site everyday.
Shilpa, undhiyu is one dish that I am afraid to prepare! Nice job-
A fantastic mix of veggies….i love gujrathi food! never knew they use so many veggies for this particular recipe….
Shilpa,
You are such a patient cook and I appreciate your honesty when you post the recipes even when they don’t come out as planned. I was exhausted just reading the process. Of course I cheat and have a store bought undhiya masala powder that I use in dishes. That is good enough for me!
Also the correct spelling is “temper” not tamper as you have posted. Please correct this.
Shilpa: Thanks Ms. My English is very weak and I appreciate you taking time to correct. I have updated the post.
Hi Shilpa,
I used to wonder what this Undhiyu was all about whenever I used to see the frozen mix at all the Indian stores. Wow it must be a great dish, have to try—-though it looks like there is lot to do you have made it look easy.
Thanks as usual,& will get back to you again to let you know how it tasted and how it was recieved by the ever hungry family.
Pratima
Hi Shilpa, Came across your website accidentally a couple of days back. Am not a great cook (infact i dont like cooking) however your recipes along with stepwise pics are extremely helpful….and i have been hooked to this site since then 🙂
Thank you.
I had tried this dish longtime back in the year 1995, when an article on Gujurat Gastronomy in TARANGA – Kannada Weekly Magazine (Gujurathi Aduge Vaibhava by Smt. U B Rajalakshmi – November 13, 1994 Page 14 & 15) was published. However, she had skipped the Muthiya part and came to know about it until I bought the book in the year 2001 -VEGETARIAN WONDER FROM GUJURAT by Aroona Reejhsinghani (Page 99 & 100). We tried her version with Muthiya. Her method is to make small oblong shaped balls of muthiya and to steam it. We did so in the same year and never tried it again until I read your post. We tried your version also and it was the best than the earlier ones, for the reason that Muthiya was DEEP FRIED this time and as it is avrekayi season. My Aayi says that this site is great and we can learn a lot from it.
Shilpakka, in the Kannada version (Translated by Smt. Vidya D V Murthy) of the Marathi cuisine Book RUCHIRA, the Author Smt. Kamalabai Ogale, has concluded Undhiyo (sounds so in the Book page 314 and 315) recipe by giving an information that in Gujarat, that to in the rural part, Undhiyu is prepared in an Handi like earthen pot, closing it and then covering it with a mesh like plate, by doing so it enhances the taste. I told this to my Aayi and to prepare next time in an earthen pot, her answer was MADKETH NAAK RAY (not in an earthen pot).
Undhiya in Gujarati means upturned and the dish Undhiya is cooked in a pottery device which is overturned hence the name.
Wow, looks yummy.. will definitiely try over the weekend !!
Dear Shilpa,
Your recipe is awesome, would suggest you to try without tindli and raw banana and instead of ratalu try using sweet potato. Will definately try ur recipe tomorrow as my frens are at my home and i love cooking.
Thanks once again.
Ashit
Hi!!!!
Being gujrati food lover, never found perfect recipe like yours. This is absolutely perfect recipe.
Thank you
hi shilpa,
Whilst I was working with HSBC, this was my favourite dish tat they served us for lunch, i especially loved the muthiyas in it, and over the years hav been searching for a wasy recipe to prepare, i’m glad i’ve finally found it, i can’t wait to give it a try, thanks so much bye
Hi Shilpa
i really appreciate your recepi
I tried your recipe and it was the best Gujrati dish I ever made. My kids loved it. Thanks a lot.
Hi Shilpa,
I try out Oondhiyu in this way.
Ingredients: 2 potatoes,3 brinjals,50 gm sweet potatoes,50 gms suran,50 gms yam,green peas,50 gms surti papdi,1 raw banana,oil,1/4 tsp hing,1/2 tsp turmeric,2 tbsp chilly powder,3/4 tbsp dhania jeera powder,1/2 tsp badi saunf,1/2 tsp akwain,salt
For Muthiya,
1/2 cup methi
1 cup gram flour,1tsp red chilli powder,
1 tsp dhania jeera powder,
hing,
turmeric powder,
1 tsp sugar,
1 to 2 tsp lemon juice,
salt to taste
Making Muthias:
Mix all the ingredients.Make round balls and deep fry in oil.After they cool pressure cook them by giving 2/3 whistles.
For making oondhiyu;
Cut the vegetables into big pieces.Fry the vegetables(excepting green peas and papdi).Heat oil and add badi saunf,ajwain,hing and turmeric.Add papdi and green peas.
let it cook.Then add all the vegetables and muthiyas.Add the remaining masalas and add some water.cook it for a while.
I learnt it from my friend hema and it had come out well.
Your recipe looks good and i want to try it.Particularly the paste part.
Shilpa ,just by deep frying does it comes out well?Is steaming not required?
Aparna
Yes, the recipe that I have posted is tried and tested many times and it comes out very well.
I mean the muthiyas
aparna
Hey, The recipe is good, but there is no tendli in undhiyu..
I tried your recipe and it turned out excellent. Thanx for the recipe. Have linked you to my recipe on my blog.
Made this last night myself. My only mistake was giving more weight to the vegetables than the paste in my recipe. That said, OMG, this is an incredible dish! The flavors are really superb. I just love the cilantro and fruity sweetness emanating from the dish. This is my first time cooking with unripened plantains. My family is from Venezuela and I’m used to having these very ripened, waiting until they turn black adn sometimes even allowing mold to form, then frying them in some oil and eating them alone or with parmesan cheese. Using them in this recipe was really a wonderful idea and lent a nice fruitiness to the dish. I heard some that the skin of the plantain could be used as well to impart flavor. Perhaps the plantains leaves might work better? Esp. if boiled in some water, reduced, and thrown into the mix….
very tasty….
hi!
am a designer and working on a menu-card for a restaurant called oondhio. Knowing stepwise how the popular dish comes about, step-by-step was a big help in making the logo! cheers! 🙂
hi Shilpi
I have long been wished to know it’s recipie. thanx a lot.
lov u
yummy….
my all tome favorite sabji….