Ugadi Wishes – the food and the festival

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Updated – March 4th, 2009

Indian food Kitchen Blog wishes all of you a happy Ugadi.

“Yuga Ugadi Kaledaru Kaledaru Ugadi Marali Baruthide” – As each year passes on with the Ugadi (new year), it will always return to ring the new year bells.

This article features facts about Ugadi and also the popular recipes.

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Ugadi is celebrated in the Southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and in the South-Western state of Maharashtra as Gudi Padwa

Ugadi Habba (festival) in Karnataka

Ugadi is celebrated with great fervour in the states of Karnataka and Andhra as they usher the new year in. In Karnataka Ugadi starts with the special poojas and distribution of “Bevu-Bella” in Kannada. Bevu means Neem and Bella is jaggery. Bevu-Bella siginfies the mixture of bitterness and sweetness that we all need to undergo.There’s also lot of shopping this season….Before the day of Ugadi people throng to markets to purchase new clothes, flowers, sweets…the list is endless.

Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh

In Andhra similar celbrations take place but a special neem dish called Vepapootha Pachidi is prepared out of neem flowers. In both states colourful Kolams or rangolis adorn housefronts. Great care is taken by women on Ugadi’s eve to clean and draw unique and creative rangolis.

Maharashtra also celebrates this festival as Gudi Padva

Maharashtra, too has its share of Ugadi celbrations; Celebrated as Gudi Padwa. Here an inverted pot is ercted on a bamboo stick. The pot is decorated with silk and vermilion. This is then worshipped to celebrate the new year.

Like Karnataka and Andhra, Neem and jaggery are distributed as prasadams. Shopping for new clothes, colourful rangolis adorning houses mark the specialities. Shrikhand is also prepared and is part of the Maharashtrian ‘Gudi Padwa Menu’.

Apart from all these festivities, Kavi Sammelans are arranged in different places. Kavi sammelans are where poets gather and render there poems to people.

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Food and Recipes for Ugadi

The popular recipes and food menus for Ugadi in Karnataka, Andhra and Maharashtra are Holige (Poli, obbatu), Kosumbari, Payasam (Kheer), Shrikhand, Gaarelu, Uddina Vade ( Vada/Vadai) to name a few.

Here are some special Ugadi recipes; No matter whether you celebrate the Ugadi or not try these dishes and let Ugadi bring happiness and glory to you all.

Holige / Puran Poli / Bobbatlu (all the three Ugadi celebrating states)

Photo Credit: chinnunchinnu

Ingredients

For filling :

• 2 cups bengal gram dal
• 2 cups grated jaggery
• cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp

For the dough:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or wheat flour)
• a pinch of salt,
• 1/2 cup oil water,
• some rice flour for rolling polis.

Method

1. Sieve all purpose flour and salt twice.Make a soft and pliable dough with water and some oil.
2. Keep it under a wet cloth for an hour.
3. Boil bengal gram with plenty of water. Drain it while it is still hot. Use colander for this purpose.
4. Now add jaggery to this hot boiled bengal gram and cook on a medium flame.
5. Keep stirring constantly so that it will not burn or stick to the vessel.
6. The exact consistency is reached when it leaves sides of the vessel and gets thicker. Remove from the heat now. Allow it to cool and grate in a puran machine or a grinder. This helps remove the lumps.
7. Then add cardamom powder and mix. Now Puran is ready.
8. Knead the dough with hands. Use oil as well as water for kneading. Make round balls (about 2 inch. dia.) of this dough.
9. Roll one ball a little bit and make a flat disc.
10. Place some puran (about twice the quantity of outer dough) in the center of this flat disc. Seal the ball tightly.
11. Roll again to make thin puran polis of 6 to 7 inch. diameter.
    Use rice flour for smooth rolling.
12. Heat a flat griddle.
    On a medium flame, roast one side.
    Flip it and roast another side.
13. Do not flip the sides over and over.
    Roast till golden brown.
    Smear ghee on top and serve hot.

Khus- Khus Payasam (from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andra)

Photo Credit : Shah Alam

Ingredients

• Khus Khus – 1/2 cup
• Sugar/jaggery – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 1/2 cup
• Water – 1/2 cup
• Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp

Method

1. In a dry pan roast the poppy seeds just for a minute and take off from fire. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Now wash the seeds well for couple of times and then soak them in water for 1 to 2 hours.
3. In a blender add the poppy seeds along with coconut and grind it into a very fine smooth paste adding little water.
4. Take a deep bottomed vessel and bring the milk mixed with water to a boiling point.Add the sugar and mix well until it gets dissolved completely.
5. Keep stirring the milk in between and boil for 4 to 5 minutes.Now add the paste along with cardamom powder and allow it to boil for further 5 to 8 minutes.
6. After adding the poppy seeds paste keep stirring the content regularly so that it gets mixed with milk giving a very good flavor.
7. You can also filter the payasam in a colander/muslin cloth to get the refained liquid but it’s optional.
   For better taste use jaggery. You can adjust the proportion according to your taste.
8. Famous dessert from karnataka & also good dessert during summer time as poppy seeds works as a cooling agent.

Gaarelu (An Andhra ‘vada’ specialty)

Photo Credit: Charles Haynes

Ingredients

• 1 cup split bengal gram
• 6 greenchillies
• 1 1/2 inch ginger
• salt to taste
• few curry leaves
• few coriander leaves
• oil for frying

Method

1. Soak split bengal gram for 5 to 6 hours.
   Drain the water from it and grind it in the food processor along with ginger,salt and green chillies by adding very little water; the batter must not be too hard or too thin.
2. The consistency must be such that gaarelu can be made.
3. Take oil in a deep frying pan and heat it hot. in a plastic sheet, take a small amount of batter and flatten it with your fingers with a little hole in the middle.
4. Take that from it and fry it until golden brown.

Kosambari

Photo Copyright: Chivani

Ingredients

• Moong dal, green gram split, 50 gms
• Channa dal, bengal gram, 50 gms
• 4-5 green chillies
• coriander leaves a small bunch
• freshly grated coconut. 2-4 tblsp
• Fresh cucumber and carrot (optional) lime.
• Mustard – 1 tsp

Method

1. Soak 50 gms each of Moong and Chnna Dals separately for one hour. Grate the coconut to provide one handful of turi (grated material).
2. Drain the water from both dals. Peel one cucumber and cut it into small pieces of the size of a pea (optional).
3. Chop two green chilli. Keep one spoon of oil in a kadai warm it and put mustard.
4. Wait till they split, then put the chopped green chillies, turn around and put a pinch of hing (kayam, asafetida). Put the entire thing onto the dals.
5. Add salt to taste and then squeeze the juice of half a lime (green variety).
6. Turn around and then put the grated coconut.
7. Adding cucumber or the carrot is purely optional and is not in any way necessary.
8. It does alter the taste slightly. Cucumber makes the kosumbari a little watery and therefore it must be consumed rather quickly (half to one hour).
9. Salt tends to bring out a lot of water from cucumber.

Uddina Vada (from Karnataka)

Ingredients

• Urad Dhal – 1 cup
• Green Chilly – 2
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Ginger – small piece
• Cooking Oil – for frying

Method

1. Soak the dhal in water for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
2. Then, wash and rinse and grind into a smooth batter along with the salt, chilly and ginger.
3. Add minimal water. Take a small ball of batter and flatten it out in the palm of the hand or on a plastic wrap/sheet.
4. Heat up the oil and when it is hot enough, test with a small blob of the batter. It should rise immediately to the surface of the oil.
5. When the oil has reached such heat, add the flattened balls and fry until it turns golden brown in color.
6. Drain the excess oil and serve hot with Sambhar or Chutney.

Mango Shrikhand (from Maharashtra)

Photo Credit: mswine
Ingredients

• 1 mango (ripe to medium ripe)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup grated coconut
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 quart whole milk yoghurt
• 2 tsp water
• a pinch saffron

Method

1. Put the saffron in a pan, add cardamom powder and water & heat it on simmer while stirring and remove the heat.
2. Whisk the saffron mixture into the yoghurt. Put this yoghurt mixture in a coffee filter or a strainer lined with cheese cloth and set it over a bowl.
3. Let drain in the refrigerator for an hour.
4. Transfer the yoghurt to a bowl and add sugar to it.
5. Beat the yoghurt 2-3 min.
   Pour into bowls and refrigerate it until very chilled.Mean while,toast the coconut over low heat until golden.
6. Serve the shrikhand topped with mango cut into thin slices and coconut.

Related Links, recipes and articles:

Karjikai Recipe- A Ugadi festival sweet from Karnataka

Video: Bobbatlu / Obbatu / Holige

Video: Carrot Kosambari

Video: Rice Payasam

Ugadi Greetings at 123greetings.com

More about Ugadi festival at tajonline.com

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