Cooking for Beginners recipes, structured

Undhiyu

Winter vegetables stuffed with green masala and steamed under a lid with fried fenugreek dumplings. Nothing is stirred from start to finish.

Prep
45m
Cook
1h
Total
1h 45m
Serves
6
Effort
Involved
Scale
6
Units

Method

Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.

3 cups Grind the green masala coarse, with no water at all 10m Pulse it. A smooth purée goes muddy brown as it cooks. Stuff the slit vegetables with the green masala 20m Cut a deep cross but leave the base intact so each one holds together. Layer everything in the pot with oil and a splash of water, seal, and cook on low without stirring 55m Beans at the bottom, stuffed vegetables above, muthia on top so they steam rather than boil.
1 cup
5
4cm piece
6 cloves
1 tbsp
2 tbsp
1 tbsp
2 tbsp
2 tsp
6 Slit the vegetables into crosses and keep them in cold water 15m Water stops the aubergine and yam browning while you work through the rest.
8
200 g
1
1
2 cups Bind a stiff dough and roll into small dumplings 10m Barely any water. The squeezed fenugreek brings most of the moisture it needs. Fry the methi muthia until firm and deep brown 15m Fry them properly. Underdone muthia dissolve into the pot and thicken it into sludge.
1 cup
1/4 cup
2 tbsp
1/4 tsp
1 tsp
1 tsp
1 tbsp
2 tbsp
3/4 tsp
for deep frying
300 g
1 cup
1/2 cup
1 tsp
1/4 tsp
1/2 cup
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, and the rightmost cell is the last thing you do. Steps account for 2h 5m of hands-on and cooking time.

  1. Grind the green masala coarse, with no water at all

    10m
    • fresh coriander 3 cups
    • fresh coconut 1 cup
    • green chillies 5
    • ginger 4cm piece
    • garlic (optional) 6 cloves
    • ground coriander 1 tbsp
    • sesame seeds 2 tbsp
    • caster sugar 1 tbsp
    • lemon juice 2 tbsp
    • salt 2 tsp

    Pulse it. A smooth purée goes muddy brown as it cooks.

  2. Slit the vegetables into crosses and keep them in cold water

    15m
    • baby aubergines 6
    • baby potatoes 8
    • purple yam 200 g
    • sweet potato 1
    • raw banana 1

    Water stops the aubergine and yam browning while you work through the rest.

  3. Stuff the slit vegetables with the green masala

    20m
    • from 1 Grind the green masala coarse, with no water at all
    • from 2 Slit the vegetables into crosses and keep them in cold water

    Cut a deep cross but leave the base intact so each one holds together.

  4. Bind a stiff dough and roll into small dumplings

    10m
    • fresh fenugreek leaves 2 cups
    • gram flour 1 cup
    • wholemeal flour 1/4 cup
    • fine semolina 2 tbsp
    • ground turmeric 1/4 tsp
    • red chilli powder 1 tsp
    • caster sugar 1 tsp
    • lemon juice 1 tbsp
    • neutral oil 2 tbsp
    • salt 3/4 tsp

    Barely any water. The squeezed fenugreek brings most of the moisture it needs.

  5. Fry the methi muthia until firm and deep brown

    15m
    • from 4 Bind a stiff dough and roll into small dumplings
    • neutral oil for deep frying

    Fry them properly. Underdone muthia dissolve into the pot and thicken it into sludge.

  6. Layer everything in the pot with oil and a splash of water, seal, and cook on low without stirring

    55m
    • from 3 Stuff the slit vegetables with the green masala
    • from 5 Fry the methi muthia until firm and deep brown
    • surti papdi 300 g
    • fresh pigeon peas (optional) 1 cup
    • neutral oil 1/2 cup
    • carom seeds 1 tsp
    • asafoetida 1/4 tsp
    • water 1/2 cup

    Beans at the bottom, stuffed vegetables above, muthia on top so they steam rather than boil.

Cooking with the lid on and the spoon down

Undhiyu is a steamed dish that looks like a braise. Very little water goes in; what cooks the vegetables is the moisture they release themselves, trapped under a tight lid and circulating as steam at just about 100°C. That is gentle enough that stuffed aubergines stay whole over an hour, which they would not in a pan you kept stirring. The generous oil is structural rather than indulgent — it coats each piece and stops the cut surfaces sticking to the pot in the absence of liquid.

Notes

  • Layer by density. Beans and peas take the direct heat at the bottom, soft vegetables sit above them.
  • If it catches, add a few spoonfuls of hot water down the side, and still do not stir.
  • Traditionally eaten with puri, and the leftovers are better than the first serving.

Try butter, 30 minutes, braise, or an ingredient you need to use up.