My Specials for Ugadi ..

Today we are celebrating Ugadi(yuga-means era or year+adi-means start/new) ,the Telugu New Year Day, which is the first festival of our Telugu calendar and it is a special festival for all Indians especially for Andhra,Maharastra,karnataka people.Our Andhra festival is known by different names in different states of India like “Gudi Padwa” in Maharastra and “Ugadi” in Andhra Pradesh and "yugadi" in Karnataka.It invites the dawn of Vasanth Rutu (Spring Season),which is considered the first season of the year (Chaitra Maasam) .

This day is considered very auspicious to start new ventures.It is generally held that Brahma created the world on this day. Also Lord Vishnu is said to incarnate himself, as Matsya. Brahma is the chief deity worshipped this day. On Ugadi the predictions are made for the New Year among abt our health,politics,buisness etc. With the coming of Ugadi, mango season is in full swing with fresh green mangoes .People also decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves which signifies prosperity and general well-being and draw colorful floral designs in front of the houses. The women prepares special dishes to mark the occasion.I have taken all these info from net.

Ugadi pachadi/pickle:significant tradition of Ugadi is beginning the new year with the preparation of savoring a unique flavored pachadi (chutney),this pachadi is a kind of a drink with all flavours explains the essense of our beautiful life.This drink is the mix of sweetness,sournes,bitterness,spicyness,pungent and last saltyness(shadhruchulu/ six tastes).This chutney is a symbolic reminder of the myriad facets of life both joy and sorrow and prepares one to face both good and bad in the year to come or in a sense prepares us for the year ahead. We should take both happyness and sorrow equally in our life and take it as in the part of life and should enjoy every part of it..... ofcourse telling is easy..but its very hard to follow ..i knew it..:)

Ugadi Pachadi is a special preparation prepared in every Andhra home on Telugu New Year’s day.Its made with fresh tamarind,jaggery(bellam),fresh mangoes and neem flowers (vepa poota).One can add coconut and bananas n other fruits also.The sweetness of jaggery,the sourness of tamarind,the bitterness of neemflower and the pungent flavor of the green mango skin,spice of the chilli powder ,and lastly salt form the shadhruchulu or six tastes of the ugadi chutney.

I made today the special pachadi,mango pulihora with the use of raw mango along with other special foods Poornam/sweet balls and moong dal vada.

Ugaadi pachadi/Ugadi pickle:

Ingredients:

raw fresh mango (cut into small pieces along with skin)-1 cup
margosa flowers (neem tree flowers)-1 tbsp
grated jaggery-1/4th cup
tamarind -small lemon size
red chilli powder-1/4 th tsp
salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Wash the tamarind and soak it in water for abt 10 min and squueze the juice from it.

2.Mix all the above ingredients to tamarind juice to form sauce like appearence.Add little water if required.

3.You can also add small pieces of ripe banana,pomogranite seeds,grapes,oranges along with the above ingredients.But i dont like them to add.

Today i dont have neem buds/flowers..so i have addded bitter gourd pieces.

Elders will say that,Ugadi Pachadi is a healthy where the Neem flowers , new tamarind, jaggery and fresh raw mangoes contain nutrients that cleanse our body and it prevents any illness.
Mango pulihora:

Ingredients:

rice(raw)-1 cup
grated green mango -1 to 2 cups(It may vary with the sourness of the mango)
green chillies - 4 pieces( slit lengthwise)
peanuts -1/4th cup
chana dal-1 tsp
urud dal-1 tsp
cumin seeds-1/2-1tsp
mustard seeds-1/2-1 tsp
curry leaves-10
dried red chilli-4
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
oil-3 tsp

Preparation:

1.Peel the skin of mango and grate the mango using grater. usually for 1 cup of rice it takes 1/2 cup of tangy grated mango..sometimes the mango may not be that sour..so adjust the grated mango to your taste depends on sourness of mango.

2.Cook the rice seperately in electric cooker or outside.The rice should be dry and grains should be seperate n it shouldn't be mushy.

3.Take a pan, heat oil in it. Add all seasoning ingredients along with peanuts and fry all ingredients until light golden brown color.(first add cuminseeds,urud dal,chana dal,green chillies,peanuts,dry red chillies and curry leaves) and switch off the stove.

4.Take hot cooked rice in a big bowl,add some curry leaves to this hot rice..so that it smells good then add grated mango to hot rice ,and cover the grated mango with hot rice.Once the rice is cooled little bit,take little oil in your hand and mix turmeric to oil in your hand and add that to your rice and keep it aside.Becoz of adding this grated mango and turmeric to hot rice,the raw taste of mango and turmeric will be gone.

5.Once the rice is cooled,and all the above fried ingredients to it and add salt to it and mix well.

6.serve hot.This is very easy to prepare and tastes very good.

Sweet Balls (Poornam) Recipe:

Ingredients :

rice - 1/2 kg
white lentils/black gram dhal/urud dal - 1/4 kg
chana dal/bengal gram dhal - 150 gms
jaggery - 150 gms
cardamom - 10
salt - 1 tsp
oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1.First soak the rice and black gram dhal for five to six hours or one day before you want to make.

2.Wash and soak chana dal in water and Boil the chana dhal in water in pressure cooker and keep it for 4 to 5 whistles.

3.Grind the rice and black gram dhal like a paste and add salt to it and take the batter into a seperate bowl.

4.Mash the boiled chana dal/bengal gram dhal and add jaggery and elaichi(powder the seeds ) and cook it till dry. Dont add water here ,we have to cook till all the water in the mixture is evoparated and when you think the mixture is too thick ,then you can able to make the balls with it,switch off the stove.

5.After cooling the above dal mixture,divide the dal mixture into even sized portions.Shape each portion like a ball (size as you like,usually lemon size balls).

6.Take the oil in frying pan once the oil is heated enough,take the dal ball and dip it in the batter and take that covered batter ball and slide it into the oil,fry the covered dal ball till light golden brown color.

Moong dal Vada/pesara garelu recipe is already there in my prev posts..

Today most of the dishes ..my husband helped me..especially he made mango pulihora..without applying turmeric all over the rice ..anyway taste is good:)

Once again..I wish you and your family a very happy & prosperous Ugadi friends ...