JOIN USTry traditional dishes for Ugadi
Ugadi is just a couple of days away. It’s also a time to spend with family and gorge on some traditional home-made delicacies.
Ugadi marks the beginning of Chaitra, the first month, in the Hindu Lunar calendar. The spirit of the festival is to leave the past behind and embrace a new start. After the customary morning ritual of an oil-bath, wearing new clothes, and prayers, it is mandatory to treat one’s taste buds to Bevu-bella (neem and jaggery) which symbolises the bittersweet combination in life.
The flavours of life are brought out through a variety of dishes prepared on this day. Each ingredient signifies something special. For instance, neem stands for a combination of bitterness and happiness, jaggery for sweetness, green chillies for its hot spicy taste, salt for fear, tamarind juice for its sourness signifies disgust, and lemons or mangoes for the tang which symbolises surprises that life has in store.
Metrolife puts together some lip-smacking traditional dishes made exclusively for Ugadi.
Dry Fruits Payasa
Perfect dessert dish that satiates one’s craving for sweets.
Ingredients
Rice
Coconut Milk
Poppy seeds
Jaggery
Dry fruits
Moong Dal
Cardamom
Method
Boil rice and Moong Dal separately
Add 2-3 spoons of ghee and fry the dry fruits till it turns golden brown
Extract milk out of grinding coconut and poppy seeds
Add the milk to simmer rice and dal to proper consistency
Add powdered jaggery according to taste
Powder cardamom seeds and add to the mixture
Simmer the entire mixture
Add the fried dry fruits as topping.
Unripened Mango Rice (Mavinakai Chitranna)
A tangy dish that’s perfect for all the mango lovers.
Ingredients
Rice
Unripened mangoes
Lemons
Cooking Oil
Mustard seeds (sasive)
Bengal Gram (Kadlebele)
Split Black Gram (Uddinbele)
Curry Leaves
Coriander
Green chillies
Turmeric
Salt
Method
Boil rice
Boil Bengal Gram and Spilt Black Gram in water for a few minutes
Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, coriander, chopped green chillies, and little turmeric and fry it with cooking oil.
Add the above fry to boiled rice which is mixed with grated Unripened mangoes and squeeze a little lemon juice and add salt as required.
Kosambari
This crunchy healthy salad will leave you feeling fresh.
Ingredients
Moong Dal
Cucumber
Green chillies
Coriander
Grated carrot
Mustard seeds
Asafoetida (Ingu)
Curry leaves
Method
Soak Moong dal in water for 15 minutes, and drain the water therafter.
Add cucumber, grated carrot, few green chillies, and salt in a bowl.
Fry mustard seeds, little asafoetida (Ingu) and curry leaves with cooking oil
Add the fried ingredients to the mixture in the bowl.
BeeleHolide
Holige or obattu is one of the most loved sweet dishes during this time.
Ingredients
Jaggery
Toor Dal
Cardamom
Grated coconut
Maida
Turmeric
Cooking Oil
Method
Make a soft dough of maida, a pinch of turmeric, and sufficient water. Add required amount of cooking oil and let it rest for two hours.
Boil the Toor Dal in water.
Boil jaggery, grated coconut, and two or three cardamom in a separate vessel, till it partially hardens. Do not add water to this mixture.
Mix the partially hardened mixture and boiled Toor Dal to make small balls out of them.
Dip the balls in maida and flatten it on the plastic sheet smeared with a little bit of cooking oil so the balls do not stick to it.
Roast it on a pre-heated pan.
Channadal Vada
Any form of Vada is a scrumptious snack.
Ingredients
Channa dal
Garlic
Ginger
Green Chillies
Onion
Mint leaves
Coriander leaves
Method
Soak Channa Dal for two to three hours
Coarse grind garlic, ginger, green chillies, onions, mint leaves, and coriander leaves
Mix the above ingredients with Channa to shape it accordingly and deep fry.
Beans Palya
This dish is rich in fibre, vitamins, and minerals.
Ingredients
Beans
Mustard Seeds
Bengal Gram (Kadlebele)
Split Black Gram (Uddin bele)
Green chillies
Grated coconut
Salt
Method
Fry chopped bean, mustard seeds, Bengal gram, split black gram, green chillies, and grated coconut in cooking oil.
Add little water and salt to this mixture. Serve hot.
Obattinsaaru
Finishing your meal with hot steamed rice and a spicy curry is what happy endings are about.
Ingredients
Left-over filling of Holige (Belekattu)
Tamarind
Red chillies
Rasam powder
Cumin seeds (Jeera)
Pepper
Garlic
Mustard seeds (sasive)
Asafoetida (Ingu)
Curry leaves
Jaggery
Salt
Method
Roast red chillies, tamarind, jeera, garlic, and pepper in ghee
Grind the above ingredients into a paste after adding salt and rasam powder
Add this to Belekattu water
Deep fry Asafoetida (Ingu), curry leaves, and mustard seeds
Boil a small quantity of jaggery and add it to the mixture.