SIX FLAVOURS OF LIFE
- kirtidodiedo
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
o Ugadi (means start of a new year) for Telugu/Kannada speakers
o Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra
o Vishu (means equal referring to the equinox) for Malayalis
o Baisakhi in North India and
o Puthandu in Tamilnadu
All these festivals mark the Hindu Solar New Year and the start of a new cycle with different customs and dishes. In essence, they are different cultural expressions of the same astronomical event of the Sun’s transition from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern hemisphere.
As in all Indian festivals, the day begins with an early morning oil bath, wearing new clothes, decorating homes with mango leaf torans, and drawing vibrant rangolis at the entrance of one’s home. Some folks visit temples while many others open the new “Panchangam” – the annual almanac and read from it
I skipped all of the above except adorning the doorway with mango leaves and went straight to the tasty treat - The Ugadi Pachadi, which symbolizes that life is a mix of different experiences that should be accepted with equanimity. It is a very special delicacy made in Andhra & Telangana. It doesn’t involve any cooking and pretty simple to assemble, once you’ve got all the ingredients ready.
The toughest is the hero of the dish – the fresh neem flowers. The flowers are obviously high up on the trees, so they need to be shaken down and collected in a cloth held at the bottom, unless you have somebody willing to climb the giant trees. Now these tiny flowers come with even tinier and very fine stems which need to be removed.
That’s the big one done. Next is all the various fruits and dry fruits you want to add to this delicious fruit punch – I use pomegranate, apples, grapes, cashewnuts, almonds and raisins. Optional and in small quantities, you could add chopped banana, chikoo and pineapple too.
Recipe of the six-flavour dish - Ugadi Pachadi
A quintessential dish made with neem flowers (bitterness), jaggery (sweetness), salt (saltiness), tamarind (sourness), chili / black pepper (spiciness), and raw mango (tanginess/ astringent
Ingredients – quantities not specified as all can be altered to suit taste buds and appetite; in my family of 5, we can drink up a few glasses each!
Neem Flowers – as many as you can pluck
Tamarind – enough to make a sour syrup
Jaggery – not to sweet, remember the hero is the Neem flowers
Black pepper or green chilli – how much can you handle?
Raw mango – yummy! Its early in the season – so you might just get a few in your garden or the neighbour’s
Salt – to balance the taste just right!
Fruits – Apple, Pomegranate, Grapes, (Optional- Banana, Pineapple, Chikoo)
Dry Fruits – Cashewnuts, Raisins, Almonds
Method:
Get a nice big vessel ready with a long handled ladle
Wash and Soak the Tamarind, extract the pulp and add jaggery to it. Mix well to dissolve the jaggery
Add in the rough ground peppercorns (optionally fine chop a few green chillies)
Peel and fine chop the raw mango
Now, chop all the other fruits and dry fruits also
Add salt to taste and water and give it a nice big stir
Add the neem flowers – they will float on top, so while serving give it a good stir again
Serve chilled, preferably with a teaspoon so you can eat all the yummy fruit
On your next visit to Arbor Road Estate – Ugadi Pachadi might just be the Welcome drink on the Menu
