Ugadi - Telugu New Year 2010

Dear Friends,

Today is the Telugu New Year.

Though I am not a Telugu yet we do celebrate it as I was born and brought up in Hyderabad.

Memories of mangoes flooding the market, the maamidi pachadi we used to make and relish on this day comes to my mind.

This single dish has four tastes - sweet, sour, bitter and salt.
It is a must to have this on a new year's day as its believed that our lives have all experiences and we should not shy away from any of those.

mangoes are sour.
fresh neem flowers are slightly bitter.
jaggery an ingredient used to make this dish is sweet.
salt is added to balance all these above.
there are chillies - popularly green chillies are preferred as it imparts a unique taste to this sweet sour dish.

mangoes are cut leaving the seed out.
oil in a pan is heated and a teaspoon of mustard and methi seeds are spluttered, some green chillies and a teaspoon of fresh neem flowers are suated for a few minutes.
then we tip in the mango bits, add some water, a pinch of turmeric, salt to taste and allow it to cook for a few minutes until mangoes are all done.
then we add 3 or 4 tsps of crushed jaggery.
if one wants to thicken it, rice flour is dissolved in water and batter added.
this then is the beginning of the basant season - a season of colors and flowers all around. spring time it is. the weather is just right. not too cold nor too hot.
this also marks the beginning of the basant navaratri where the goddess is prayed for well-being of all.

another must have is the chitra annam.
which is cooked rice mixed with a spicy tamarind paste with roasted peanuts.
its very popular and is served as a divine offering at most temples including Tirupathi.

then there is the sweet dish is actually a sweet indian stuffed bread.
the stuffing is usually jaggery, coconut, cardamom or any other ingredient as per family traditions.
the bread dough is made and rolled out. the sweet stuffing in then filled in and the bread flattened into roundels to be cooked over a hotplate using clarified butter or any preferred oil.

Cheers!

Mahalakshmi