Veggie Foodie

Undhiyu

Ingredients:

Vegetables

• 10 baby potatoes OR 3 medium sized potatoes
• 5-6 mini brinjals (eggplant)
• 2 plantain (raw banana). Alternatively, you can use 2 regular but unripe / partially ripe bananas
• 1 medium size sweet potato
• 150g fresh or frozen (half of 340g / 12oz packet) kand (Indian purple yam)
• 150g fresh or frozen (half of 340g / 12oz packet) suran (elephant foot yam)
• 340g fresh or frozen (340g / 12oz packet) vaal papdi fresh
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (340g / 12oz packet) tuvar lilva (pigeon pea). If hard to find, use edamame
• 1 cup green peas or vaal beans fresh or frozen (optional)

Note: Do NOT use frozen Surti papdi. It’s very hard to cook and very fibrous!

Leafy greens

• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen tightly packed methi leaves
• 1 cup fresh or frozen green garlic

Optional

• 20-25 Methi Muthia (see recipe here)

Paste

• 3-4 serrano chili
• 2 inches ginger (equivalent of 2 tbsp ginger paste)
• 5-6 large garlic cloves (equivalent of 3-4 tbsp garlic paste)

Masalo (stuffing)

• 8 tbsp (½ cup) fresh or frozen (half of 340g / 12oz packet) grated coconut
• 1 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp coriander powder
• 3 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp asafetida
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp lime / lemon juice
• Chili-ginger-garlic paste made earlier

For cooking

• 4-5 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seed)
• 3 tbsp sesame seeds

For garnishing

• 2-3 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seed)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp asafetida
• 3 tbsp grated coconut
• 3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Partially cook all the hard-to-cook vegetables

• Raw banana – Peel, cut into 1 inch pieces and pressure cook (1 whistle). If using regular partially ripe banana, do not peel… just cut into 1 inch pieces and put aside
• Tuvar lilva – Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes
• Vaal papdi – Cook in boiling water with ½ tsp soda bicarb for 3 minutes

Prepare the chili-ginger-garlic paste

Prepare the masalo by mixing all its ingredients in a bowl

Prepare vegetables

• Potatoes – If using small potatoes, make cuts and stuff with the prepared masalo. If using large potatoes, peel and cut into about 1 inch pieces
• Eggplant – make cuts and stuff with the prepared masalo
• Sweet potato – peel and cut into 1 inch pieces

Prepare masalo-mix by combining the remaining masalo with the leafy greens and semi-cooked tuvar lilva

Cooking

1. Heat oil in a large pan
2. Add 2 tsp ajwain seeds 
3. Add 3 tbsp sesame seeds
4. After the seeds crackle (1-2 minutes), layer with the stuffed potatoes and eggplants
5. Gently turn the vegetables so that they are covered in oil and seeds. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes till they are halfway cooked. At regular intervals, gently turn them so that they don’t burn
6. Layer with sweet potato, kand, suran, partially cooked raw banana
7. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and half of the masalo-mix on this layer
8. Add a layer of vaal papdi, ½ tsp salt  and all the remaining masalo-mix
9. Evenly layer with the methi muthia
10. Gently add 1 cup of water along the sides of the pot
11. Cover and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat till all the vegetables are fully cooked

Cooking in Instant Pot

1. Put Instant Pot on sauté mode and heat the oil in its pan
2. Add 2 tsp ajwain seeds 
3. Add 3 tbsp sesame seeds
4. After the seeds crackle (1-2 minutes), layer with the stuffed potatoes and eggplants
5. Gently turn the vegetables so that they are covered in oil and seeds
6. Layer with sweet potato, kand, suran, partially cooked raw banana
7. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and half of the masalo-mix on this layer
8. Add a layer of vaal papdi, 1/2 tsp salt  and all the remaining masalo-mix
9. Evenly layer with the methi muthia
10. Gently add 1/2 cup of water along the sides of the pot. If you are using frozen vegetables, they will release quite a bit of water during cooking process. Also, you don’t lose much water when cooking food in Instant Pot. So, put just enough water to build pressure in the pot to cook under pressure… about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup. Note that there needs to be sufficient water to build pressure in the pot. Also don’t overfill the pot beyond the max mark!
11. Put the Instant Pot on mode to cook under pressure on medium heat for 15 minutes

Garnishing

1. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a small frying pan
2. When the oil is hot, add ajwain seeds and sesame seed. When they crackle, turn off the heat. Add 1 tsp asafetida and gently stir.
3. Evenly pour the oil over the undhiyu, sprinkle the shredded coconut and chopped cilantro leaves

Enjoy with puri or fulka rotli / poories

Notes:

• You can make undhiyu a day before your get-together / event. Once its cool, you can keep it in the fridge overnight. To reheat it in Instant Pot, put the pot on 1 minute cooking and then let it be under Keep Warm mode till ready to serve / eat

Serves: 8-10

Somethin extra:

You can spice up your undhiyu even further by adding the following chutney:

Undhiyu chutney

Ingredients

• 5-6 large garlic cloves (equivalent of 4-5 tbsp garlic paste)
• 2 inches ginger (equivalent of 2 tbsp ginger paste)
• 3-4 serrano chili
• 1 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup mint leaves
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1-2 tbsp sugar
• 2-3 tbsp lime / lemon juice
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1/4 cup gathiya (for example, https://www.shopindianeats.com/products/deep-papadi)
• 1-2 ice cubes, to keep the chutney cool in the grinder… this will help maintain its fresh green color

Method

1. Blend the ingredients in a blender to fine paste
2. Enjoy with undhiyu or even with dhokla / handvo