Undhiyu

Uttarayan in Surat, and the winter vegetables are all in at once: surti papdi, tuvar lilva, ratalu, small brinjals. The name comes from undhu, upside down, because villages used to bury a sealed clay matlu of vegetables mouth-down in a pit of embers and leave it there all night. Surat and Kathiawad have been arguing about the right version for a long time. This is the Surti one, green with coriander and coconut, eaten with hot puri and jalebi.

A dish with this many vegetables needs an oil that does not fight them. Wooden cold pressed groundnut oil is the Gujarati kitchen's own oil, pressed slowly in a wooden ghaani, and its round nutty flavour carries the green masala and binds the whole pot together. It is also what makes the methi muthiya taste like Surat rather than like a plain fritter. Our Stone Ground Red Chilli Powder goes into the masala for colour and warmth. Undhiyu is generous with oil by design, so use one you would happily eat off a spoon.

The one rule is patience with the flame. Undhiyu is steamed, not stirred. Low heat, lid tight, and shake the pot by its handles every ten minutes instead of putting a spoon in. Every time you lift the lid you lose the steam that is doing the cooking, and stirring turns the papdi and yam into a mash.

How to make it

1. Make the green masala. Mix the coriander, coconut, sesame, peanut powder, the ginger-garlic-chilli paste, all the spice powders, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a bowl. It should be a thick, damp, spoonable paste. Taste it. This is the flavour of the whole dish, so adjust the salt and lemon now.
2. Make the muthiya. Mix the wheat flour, besan and chopped methi with 3 tbsp of the groundnut oil, a pinch of turmeric, ½ tsp chilli powder, ½ tsp salt and a squeeze of lemon. Add water a spoon at a time to make a stiff dough. Roll into 12 small ovals. Shallow fry in groundnut oil on medium for 4 to 5 minutes till golden and firm. Drain and keep aside.
3. Stuff the vegetables. Push about 1 tsp of green masala into each slit brinjal and each halved baby potato. Toss the papdi, lilva, ratalu, sweet potato and raw banana with the masala that is left.
4. Heat the remaining 5 tbsp groundnut oil in a wide, heavy pot on medium. Add the ajwain, cumin and hing and let them sizzle for 20 seconds.
5. Lower the flame. Layer the vegetables by how long they take: papdi and lilva at the bottom, then ratalu, sweet potato and raw banana, then the stuffed potatoes, and the stuffed brinjals on top. Do not stir. Sprinkle ¼ cup water down the side of the pot.
6. Cover tightly and cook on low for 30 to 35 minutes. Shake the pot by its handles every 10 minutes instead of stirring. Do not lift the lid more than twice.
7. Check the ratalu with a knife. When it goes in with no resistance, tuck the fried muthiya in on top, cover, and cook another 8 to 10 minutes so they soak up the juices.
8. Switch off. Rest with the lid on for 10 minutes. Fold once, very gently, from the bottom up. Finish with fresh coriander and a squeeze of lemon.
9. Serve hot with puri, and jalebi or shrikhand on the side. That is how Surat eats it.

Tips

• Do not cut the muthiya. They are not a garnish. They soak up the masala and give undhiyu its chewy bite, and Surti cooks will tell you the dish is not undhiyu without them.
• Make ahead: the green masala keeps 3 days in the fridge and the muthiya can be fried a day earlier. On the day, the cooking is only about an hour.
• Substitution: outside winter, use flat green beans for papdi, frozen tuvar lilva, and suran or ordinary yam for ratalu. Skip the raw banana rather than replacing it.
• Storage: best eaten the same day. It keeps 2 days in the fridge but the papdi softens. Reheat covered on low with a splash of water, never in an open pan.
• If it turns to mush, you stirred it. Next time shake the pot instead, and add the softer vegetables to the top layer only.