An evening in the old city before dinner
A short walk through the pols of Ahmedabad, timed so you reach our door hungry.
Undhiyu season and the Uttarayan weekend
From December to February the menu follows the winter vegetables. Here is what changes and when.
Winter is the best time to eat in Ahmedabad. From the middle of December the markets fill with surti papdi, small purple brinjals, purple yam, sweet potatoes and fresh green garlic, and that is when undhiyu appears on our Sunday thali.
Our undhiyu is cooked the Surti way, with vegetables stuffed and layered with a green masala of coriander, coconut and green garlic, and methi muthiya added near the end. It takes four hours, which is why it is on the festive thali rather than every day. In January we also add it to the Gujarati thali on Saturdays.
Uttarayan, on 14 January, is the busiest day of our year. The whole city is on its terraces flying kites, and most families order food to eat up there. We open the takeaway counter at 8 am that day and sell undhiyu by the kilo, along with jalebi, puri and chikki. Orders for 14 and 15 January close on 10 January, because we need to buy the vegetables in advance.
Other winter dishes worth looking for: lilva kachori with fresh pigeon peas, ringan bharta cooked on coals for the Kathiawadi thali, and gajar halwa with the Sunday sweets. By the end of February the papdi is gone, and so is the undhiyu.
