My Food Story: Celebrating the magic of Gujarat’s mellow winters with ‘Undhiyu’

Undhiyu is a traditional Gujarati mixed vegetable dish, cooked mainly in winter using seasonal, plant-based ingredients like brinjals, raw bananas, sweet potatoes, Surti papdi, and methi muthiyas. It is flavoured with a spicy-sweet green masala made of coriander, coconut, garlic, green chilies, sesame, and jaggery. Slow cooked with tempering of mustard, cumin, and fenugreek, Undhiyu is rich, earthy, and best enjoyed with puri or rotis during festivals and family feasts.

Undhiyu (Mixed Winter Vegetables)

Ingredients

Surti papdi (flat green beans)

Val papdi (broad beans)

Lilva (fresh pigeon peas)

Small brinjals (baby eggplants)

Raw bananas (peeled & chopped)

Kand (Purple yam)

Sweet potatoes

Potatoes

Green Masala Paste (The Heart of Udhiyu)

Fresh coriander leaves

Green garlic (Haraa lehsun) – seasonal & key to flavour

Green chilies

Ginger

Garlic cloves

Grated coconut

Lemon juice

Sugar

Salt

Cumin seeds

Sesame seeds (optional)

Asafoetida (heeng)

Fenugreek dumplings (Muthiya)

Fenugreek (Methi) leaves – finely chopped

Wheat flour and chickpea flour (Besan)

Salt

Sugar (optional)

Turmeric powder

Red chili powder

Coriander-cumin powder

Mustard seeds

Carom seeds (Ajwain)

Asafoetida (Heeng)

Oil (traditionally peanut or vegetable oil)

Method

Cut vegetables like Surti papdi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, raw bananas and purple yam. Mix fenugreek leaves (Methi), chickpea flour and spices. Shape into small rolls and fry. Make green masala with coriander, green chilies, garlic, ginger, coconut, and spices. In a deep pan, layer vegetables, masala, and muthiya. Cook slowly on low flame. Sprinkle lemon juice and coriander. Serve hot with puri or roti.

My Food Story is a collection of stories and recipes that celebrate India’s traditional plant-based ingredients sourced from local biodiversity. You can see these recipes on our interactive dashboard (https://www.cseindia.org/page/myfoodstory).

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Ketan Shah is a recipe specialist from Gujarat