Undhiyu – Instant Pot
Undhiyu, a Gujarati delicacy made with lots of vegetables coated with spices, fresh coconut, sesame seeds, peanuts, cilantro, garlic, ginger and oil, made in Instant pot for ease
It is a Gujarati mixed vegetable dish that is a regional specialty of Surat, India. The name of this dish comes from the Gujarati word “undhu”, which translates to upside down. Since the dish is traditionally cooked upside down underground in earthen pots, termed “matlu”. They are fired from above. It is a seasonal dish, since certain vegetables like papdi, purple yam, fenugreek leaves (for muthia) and fresh green garlic are widely available near South Gujarat coastline, including Surat, Navsari and Valsad regions, during the winter. These are spiced up with a dry spice mix which includes cilantro, ginger, garlic, green chili, sugar, freshly grated coconut, peanuts and sesame seeds. The mixture is slow cooked for a long time, with some vegetable oil and a very small amount of water just enough to steam the root vegetables.
The finished dish is dry, individual chunks of vegetables that are coated with spices and oil but retain their shape. It is garnished with chopped cilantro leaf and lemon or lime juice before serving.
It is a time consuming process. Also not everything like underground cooking set up and earthen pots (matlu) are not available in our modern kitchen. However there are many other ways to make it, like in pressure cooker, slow cooker, one pot etc. I gave it a try in an Instant Pot. Since it would be same as cooking into Indian style pressure cooker but with consistency and safety! Preparing for Undhiyu is a good amount of work. But once you have all the spice mix and vegetables prepared, it would take only 6 minutes to cook in an IP.
I like to make this dish in big batch and freeze it in few double zip lock bags. It reheats very well and tastes the same after being frozen! My family absolutely loves Undhiyu with some phulka roti, gujarati dal and plain rice. Hope yours does too!
Happy and Healthy Eating!
Undhiyu – Instant Pot
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 12 oz Surti Papdi frozen or fresh
- 12 oz Surti Papdi Lilva frozen or fresh
- 12 oz Indian Violate Yam Fresh Ratadu is preferred, Frozen if cannot find fresh
- 2 Purple Potatoes Medium sized, if no available, use regular potatoes
- 3 Baby Potatoes With skin, skip if using regular potato instead of purple potatoes mentioned above
- 1 Sweet Potato big Japanese or Indian sweet potato, if using skinny Indian sweet potatoes, use 2-3
- 4 Small Indian Eggplants ravaiya
- 2 Large Ripe Bananas
- 7-8 Methi Muthiya pre-made from Indian Store, see notes to make them at home
Spice Mix
- 1 cup Chopped Cilantro
- 1 cup Chopped/Grated Fresh Coconut
- 1 cup Coarsely Ground Peanuts without skin
- ½ cup White Sesame Seeds
- 2 tbsp Green Chili Paste spicy thai green chilis or serrano peppers
- 2 tbsp Ginger Paste
- 2 tbsp Garlic Paste
- 2 tbsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1½ tbsp Kashmiri Red Chili Powder if using spicy red chili powder, use 1 tbsp
- 1 tbsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Turmeric Powder
- ⅔ cup Peanut Oil
Other
- 4-5 tbsp Oil for cooking
- 1 tsp Carom Seeds ajwain
- ¼ cup Cilantro for garnishing optional
Instructions
- Mix all the spice mix ingredients listed above along with ⅔ cup of peanut oil or more if preferred, in a big bowl and keep it aside.
- If using frozen papdi and lilva, run them through extra warm water 2-3 times and let it sock in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain all the water out once done. This will help to get rid of the weird smell you get sometimes from frozen papdi and lilva.
- Wash all the vegetables and get rid of as much water as possible.
- Peel all the potatoes (except baby potatoes) and yams (except Frozen Indian Violate/Purple Yam). Cut them into medium sized chunks. Keep it aside.
- Wash eggplants and remove stems. Make couple of cuts into each eggplant so the eggplant can hold the stuffing. Stuff each eggplant with the prepared spice mix. Keep them aside. Do the same for bananas, if you preferred them cooked and soft, if not follow last few step, referring to banana.
- Add all the other prepared vegetables into leftover prepared spice mix. Mix it very well making sure all the vegetables are coated with the spice mix. It is best to let it marinade for couple of hours or more, but you can certainly skip the waiting part.
- Add 4-5 tbsp of oil to a pressure cooker, either Indian style or an Instant Pot. Add carom seeds (ajwain), once they start to fragrant and turn brown, add asafetida (hing).
- Add half of the vegetables mix (not eggplant and banana). Mix it well with oil.
- Place all the stuffed eggplant on top of it.
- Add rest of the coated vegetables with all the spice mix into the pot, on top of the eggplants.
- Rinse the big bowl that you had vegetables and spice mix in with ¾ cup of water. Add that water to the pot. Yes, it sounds odd but I would hate to waste any of the incredible spice mix, and I think it adds some extra flavor to Undhiyu. Trust me with it!
- If you prefer banana cooked and soft, place them on top of last layer of the vegetable mix, along with methi muthiya. If you prefer not so soft banana, skip the banana step.
- Close the lid and secure the valve.
- When ready, Cook it on high pressure for 6 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes once the cook time is over. After 10 minutes, release rest of the pressure manually.
- If using Indian style pressure cooker, do 3 whistles and let the pressure release naturally.
Skip below 4 steps if you cooked stuffed bananas and muthiya along with the Undhiyu
- If you are saving the banana until end to get not so soft consistency, at this step Place some stuffed banana pieces and half of the methi muthiya at the bottom of a wide serving bowl.
- Once all the pressure is released, open the Instant Pot lid carefully and scoop out half of the Undhiyu in the serving bowl on top of the banana pieces and methi muthiya that we placed earlier. PLEASE DO NOT MIX OR STIR cooked undhiyu.
- Place the rest of stuffed banana pieces and methi muthiya on top of the Undhiyu layer. Scoop out rest of the undhiyu from the Instant Pot on top of the second layer of banana and methi muthiya layer.
- Cover the Undhiyu bowl tight for 5-10 extra minutes. This will partially cook the bananas only by using some heat.
- Serve it hot with puri, bhakhri, phulka roties or any flat bread. I like to eat it by itself!
Notes
1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup semolina 1/2 cup Fresh Methi leaves, finely chopped (more if you like it bitter) same spices listed above under (Spice Mix), you would have to eyeball the measurement 3 tbsp full fat desi yogurt 3 tbsp oil 2 pinch baking powder Mix all the above and use enough water to make firm dough. Cover it for 10 minutes. Make tiny baseball shaped muthiya and deep fry them on medium heat till golden brown.