By Bornika Das
Ugadi Festival is celebrated as New Year with much grandeur in South Indian regions namely Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and some parts of Goa in the western region of India. This year, the festival has fallen on March 22. Like every other festival, food remains to be an integral part of the festival. Take a look at the dishes to try in Ugadi:
It is one of the beverages and is a traditional dish made during the New Year’s celebration in Southern regions of India. It is basically a concoction of six varied flavours corresponding to the six different emotions possessed by humans. It is the first dish to be offered to deities.
It is a special dish made during Ugadi. The distinct feature of the dish is that it has a sweet, flavoured stuffing that is coated with rice-lentil batter and then deep-fried. It is considered to be a vegan dish.
You can have this as the main dish during Ugadi. It is a crunchy, flavourful, tasty, and tangy dish and is easy to make. Lemon juice, fried nuts, and aromatic herbs when added to steamed rice give an amazingly spicy, tangy, and nutty flavour.
Curd Rice is one of the most popular recipes in South India and can be made into a special dish for Ugadi. It is an easy, filling and delicious recipe which fights the hot climate of South India. Curd is mixed with cooked rice and herbs and tempered with spices.
It is a creamy, sweet porridge made with rice, yellow moong lentils, jaggery and flavoured with green cardamom, cashew, raisins, and ghee. Often this is offered as ‘prasad’ in many temples.
This is a South Indian variant of the North Indian suji ki halwa. This popular dish is made with rava or suji, sugar, ghee, saffron, nuts, and dry fruits. The sweet dish melts in the mouth and is orange in colour. Make this sweet treat in Ugadi.
This is South Indian breakfast snack recipe that is widely eaten in South India. This is donut-shaped lentil fritters that are fluffy, crispy, soft, and delicious. It is made with black gram lentils, spices, and herbs. Medu Vada can be paired with sambhar or coconut chutney.
It is a cooling drink from South Indian cuisine. It is made with lemon juice, jaggery, ginger powder, cardamom powder, and black pepper. It is a soothing drink to gulp this Ugadi.
It is one of the popular salads in South India. It is healthy, nutritious, and fulfilling. It is Moong Dal Kosambari with which veggies like carrots and cucumber can be added. Also, seasonal fruits like raw mango can be added.
It is a creamy, sweet vermicelli pudding extremely popular in South India. It is either made with milk or coconut milk. This is made by simmering roasted or fried vermicelli in milk and finished off with sugar and ghee-fried nuts and dry fruits.