Ugadi Pacchadi

Ugadi is a Telugu festival, which marks the start of a Telugu calendar year. Ugadi is termed from ‘Yug’ (era / year) and ‘Adi’ (start) derived from Sanskrit. This new year day generally falls in the months of March or April, and is celebrated even in most other parts of South India.

The day usually begins with ritual showers followed by prayers. Then comes all the more important aspect of the festival, which is to eat Ugadi Pacchadi.

Ugadi Pacchadi is a symbolic eating of a dish made with six tastes. This special mixture consists of

Neem Flowers for bitterness, Jaggery and ripe banana pieces for sweetness, Green/Red Chilli for its hot taste, Salt for saltiness, Tamarind Juice for its sourness, Raw Mango for its tang. Each of these tastes signifies Sadness, Happiness, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Surprise respectively. It is believed that one will have to experience all of these emotions with equality in their life time.

Ingredients

¼ cup of chopped raw fresh mango

2 tbsp margosa flowers (neem tree flowers)

¼ cup grated jaggery

3 ripe bananas, mashed

2 tbsp tamarind paste

red chili powder to taste

salt to taste

Margosa Flowers

 Method

Pluck the flowers from neem sprigs and mix all the ingredients to form a sauce like consistency. Mashed banana is to get the base of the sauce. If you do not like it, you may avoid adding banana.