Flavoursome food for the fest

Ugadi special

Food is a major part of any festival and with the regional festivities, it is no different. While Ugadi’s around the corner, Bangaloreans are ready to bring in the new year with the different tastes signifying the different facets of life.

Sudha Iyengar, a homemaker from RT Nagar, says that she loves making varied items for the occasion. “It’s one of those times when the family comes together and joins in the festive spirit. I like making everything possible and make items like puliogre, palya, obattu, kosambri, panaka and chomai,” she says.

Sudha adds that despite some of the items being hard to make, she takes the extra effort. “I also make shavige payasa especially for ­­­­my daughter,” she says.

Many like Sujatha Sriram make special items for their family as part of the festivity. “Firstly, jaggery and neem flower are offered as the prasad. My son loves fried items and gulab jamun, so I prepare these for him,” says Sujatha. She details that the food is consumed on a banana leaf and is served in a pattern, where the serving starts with salt. “Then kosambri is served, followed by two other dishes, chutney, payasa, chitrana and then finally rice, ghee and sambhar. Everyone sits together for the meal, a mantra is chanted and then everyone eats the meal together,” she details. Sujatha says that like for most people obattu, made of dal and
coconut are the main preparation for the festival.

For many like Jyothi N, a Teluguite, cooking special food for the festival is all about pleasing the family and giving them a break from the routine food. “A mixture of sweet and sour, which is made as prasad by using neem flowers, jaggery and mango, are the items prepared for the day. Then other items like oligalu,
mango rice, kajaya and rava unta are served as aku bojanam on banana leaves. The toughest dish to make is kajaya, which is made out of rice flour and jaggery,” she says.

Jyothi says that the most memorable moment is when family sits together to have the food.

“I love making oligalu, as my son loves it with ghee and milk,” she says.
Ugadi is about accepting and inviting different flavours into one’s life, says A Jayasree, a Telugu Brahmin. “We make a navarasa mixing nine different items like salt, tamarind, neem flower, jaggery and
offer this along with fruits and flowers to the lord,” she explains.

   Jayasree says that for this festival, obattu, chitrana and payasa are a must. “We prepare kadlai payasa, which is a simple traditional payasa made with coconut, jaggery and elaichi. Other items like pachadi, kosambri, palya, kootu, maavinkai chitrana and aam vade are also prepared,” she says. Ask her what she’s making specially this Ugadi and Jayasree says that she will be making carrot
halwa obattu this time.