Ugadi Festival Food: 6 Dishes on the Traditional Plate

Ugadi is the Kannada and Telugu new year, and in Karnataka the day is marked with a special meal. The festival falls in March or April, on the first day of the lunar month of Chaitra. The idea behind the Ugadi plate is balance: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and spicy flavours, just like the year ahead.

Read more about the festival's history on Wikipedia. Here is what goes on the plate.

6 dishes on the Ugadi plate

1. Bevu-bella

The first thing eaten on Ugadi. Tender neem flowers (bevu) are mixed with jaggery (bella), and sometimes tamarind, raw mango and pepper. The bitter-sweet taste is meant to prepare you for life's ups and downs.

2. Holige or obbattu

The star of Ugadi food. A thin flatbread stuffed with a sweet filling of chana dal and jaggery, or coconut and jaggery, cooked on a tawa and served warm with ghee or milk.

3. Chitranna

Lemon rice with a tempering of mustard, chana dal, peanuts, green chilli and turmeric. It is quick to make and uses cooked rice, like our rice bath.

4. Kosambari

A fresh salad of soaked moong dal with cucumber, grated carrot, coconut and lemon, finished with a light tempering.

5. Mavinakayi chitranna or gojju

Ugadi comes at the start of mango season, so many homes make raw mango rice or a sweet-sour raw mango gojju.

6. Payasa

A milk or jaggery-based pudding, often made with vermicelli or rice, to end the meal on a sweet note.

Planning your Ugadi menu

Make the holige filling a day ahead so it firms up and is easier to roll. Kosambari and bevu-bella take minutes and can be made in the morning. Cook the rice early so it cools before you make chitranna. If you want a savoury side, vangi bath or bisi bele bath both suit a festival table.

Conclusion

Ugadi food is about balance more than abundance. Make one new dish from this list this year and start a family tradition. Find more festival and everyday dishes in our recipe index.

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