Happy UGADI(repost)

First of all....HAPPY UGADI to you all............

For those who don't know about UGADI.....Ugadi is telugu new year day which comes on first day of first month(chaitra Sudda padyami) in telugu calender.It's the spring festival .Usually winter is followed byspring bringing blooms to plants that are barren.Similarly even a person's life filled with hardships will ultimately bloom into happiness...that's the spirit of ugadi.



Usually UGADI day begins with ritual showers,prayers to god followed by eating ugadi pachadi.Ugadi pachadi is a mixture of six tastes (shad ruchulu) ......symbolising life is mixture of happiness,hardships/sorrow,anger,fear,disgust,surprises but we have to accept them all as a whole .Main ingredients in UGADI PACHADI are neem flowers (bitterness),raw mango (tangy),tamarind juice(sour),jaggary/sugarcane pieces(sweet),pinch of salt(salt),green chili/red chili(hot).

I still remember my childhood days ....we used to have a big neem tree in our front yard from which we(atleast half of the village along with us) used to get neem flowers...skillfully separate the petals ...and use them in ugadi pachadi...(..memories..)

If we go through telugu magazines during ugadi we can come across numerous jokes on ugadi pachadi but really it doesn't taste bad at all..(of course my mom uses very little salt and green chillies)

The other thing we usually do on UGADI is listening to panchanga sravanam (alamnac) . Usually temple poojari used to come to the house and recite raasiphalalu from panchangam.But now we have it conveniently at the click of remote button or mouse..but don't we miss the human interaction????

Link to raasiphalalu 2010

And here is the recipe for ugadi pachadi...(of course the recipe differs from family to family)

Ingredients:

1-2 tsp neem flowers,

1/2 cup green mango peeled and diced,

2 medium ripe bananas,

1/2 cup tamarind juice (put tamarind in water and extract juice),

3tbsp putnala pappu(roasted channa dhal),

pinch of salt,

1 green chili or pinch of red chili powder,

1tbs grated jaggery

method:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients until they are mixed well like salsa.Offer to god and enjoy...

souces :wikipedia,eenadu