Why this recipe works
Undhiyu is a celebration of winter vegetables, yam, potato, raw banana, beans, brinjal, cooked slowly with muthia, little dumplings of gram flour and fenugreek leaves. A fresh green masala of coriander, coconut and chilli binds it all. It is essentially a vegetable-and-legume feast in a single pot.
Ingredients
Method
-
1
Make the muthia: a dough of besan and chopped methi leaves, shaped and lightly steamed or fried.
Why methi and besan: the fenugreek greens add a gentle bitterness and iron, and the gram-flour dumplings bring plant protein to a vegetable dish.
-
2
Grind the green masala of coriander, coconut, chilli and ginger-garlic, and toss it through the cut vegetables.
-
3
Layer the masala-coated vegetables and muthia in a heavy pot with a little oil and turmeric.
-
4
Cover and cook low and slow (traditionally upside-down, hence undhiyu) until everything is tender and melded.
An honest word
Undhiyu is a genuinely nutritious feast: a wide variety of vegetables plus protein from the gram-flour muthia and fenugreek greens. The one thing to keep in proportion is the oil, festive versions can be generous, and if the muthia are deep-fried they add more. Steam or shallow-fry the muthia and keep the oil modest, and it is a wonderfully varied, wholesome winter dish.