Ugadi Pachadi Recipe and Significance » Dashana Veg Recipe

First, Ugadi (also known as Yugadi) is the New Year for the people of South Indian states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Maharashtra, there is an aka Gudi Padwa on the same New Year day. Generally, both these festivals fall in the month of ‘Chaitra’ of the Hindu calendar, which is late March or early April. Ugadi Pachadi, a type of drink, is one of the traditional dishes prepared at the same time. I have shared a simple recipe here so you can try it at home.

What is Ugadi Pachadi?

Ugadi Pachadi is a festive drink which is basically a combination of 6 different flavours, corresponding to 6 different emotions in humans. The significance of Ugadi or Gudi Padwa festival is also based on this.

Other cultures also celebrate this day in different contexts such as Cheti Chand for the Sindhis, Sajibu Nongma Panba for the Manipuris, and Nepi for the Hindu community in Bali, Indonesia.

Although, Ugadi Pachadi is a more common festival in South India, others have their own traditional dishes to celebrate this day.

Traditionally, Ugadi Pachari is the first food offered to the deities on this special festival, after which devotees take it as a prasad to seek blessings from them.

Apart from the health benefits of this festive drink, Ugadi Pachadi also signifies that one should embrace life with all its aspects. That is, it is not only sweet or a bed of roses, but also with sourness and obstacles.

Ingredients for Ugadi Pachadi

As I mentioned, since there are 6 flavors in Ugadi Pachadi, it must have 6 distinct ingredients that bring out these flavors in this particular dish.

The combination of these flavor profiles creates a unique drink-like preparation, which is delicious, refreshing and healthy and like an elixir.

Ugadi Pachadi adds 6 ingredients of different flavors, which are further associated with 6 human emotions:

• Tamarind – sour taste – unpleasantness
• Jaggery – sweet taste – joy or happiness
• Ripe or unripe mango – tangy, astringent taste – surprising
• Neem flower – Bitter taste – Sorrow
• Black pepper – spicy, hot taste – anger
• Salt – salty taste – fear

How is it made?

Preparing Ugadi Pachadi is not really difficult. All you have to do is gather the ingredients and follow the recipe to make the perfect drink for your celebration.

Some ingredients like neem flowers can be difficult to source, but don’t worry. I have shared more about options later in this section.

To make Ugadi Pachadi first you need to make tamarind pulp by soaking tamarind in water for few minutes. To the tamarind pulp, the rest of the ingredients are added and mixed.

There is no set ratio in this Ugadi Pachadi recipe and you can always add more or less of the 6 ingredients as per your choice.

This recipe gives you a balanced preparation with 6 flavors. Usually fresh tamarind and fresh jaggery are used.

In this post, I have shared a very simple, easy and quick way to make Ugadi Pachadi. It’s also completely vegan and gluten-free.

alternative

India’s blazing summer is the season of neem blossoms and mango blossoms. So, at this time in India, the essential ingredients of this Ugadi Pachadi are both neem flowers and mangoes are easy to find.

However, if you are outside India, use a bitter ingredient such as soaked fenugreek seeds (methi bij) or dry fenugreek powder (methi powder) instead of neem flowers.

Since this spice is also used to add a bitter taste to food, it is a good substitute for neem in this recipe.

In place of black pepper powder, you can also add red chili powder or green chilies. I always use black pepper in the Naivedyam food offered to the deities. So, I added black pepper powder to the Ugadi Pachadi recipe as well.

Also, I think chillies are not native to India. So, any kind of ancient food development must be spiced with black pepper, not pepper.

Step by step guide

How to make Ugadi Pachadi

1. Soak 1 teaspoon of tamarind in ¼ cup of water for about 40 minutes to 1 hour. Then, strain the tamarind pulp and keep aside. Put this tamarind pulp in a bowl.

2. Then, add ⅓ cup of water.

3. Add ¼ cup chopped jaggery.

4. Mix very well with a spoon, so that jaggery dissolves.

5. Then, add finely chopped raw mango. You can add banana, roasted chickpeas, dry fruits and coconut.

6. Then, add the neem flowers. If neem flower is not available, you can add soaked fenugreek seeds or fenugreek powder.

7. Add ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder. You can also add green chilli or red chilli powder instead of black chilli powder.

8. Season with ¼ teaspoon salt or as needed. Mix very well.

9. Offer Ugadi Pachadi as Naivedyam to your deities. Then, serve it to your family.

Helpful Tips

1. You can reduce or increase the amount of any one of the 6 Ugdi Pachadi ingredients as per your preference and preference.
2. Bananas, roasted chickpeas, dry fruits, almonds and coconut can also be included in this recipe.
3. If you don’t have neem flowers, add soaked fenugreek seeds or fenugreek powder.
4. In place of black pepper powder, you can also add finely chopped green chilies or red chili powder.
5. The Ugadi Pachadi recipe can be doubled or tripled as per your requirement.

More Ugadi recipes to try!

Please be sure to rate the recipe on the recipe card or leave a comment below if you’ve made it. For more vet inspiration, sign up for my email or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

This Ugadi Pachadi recipe has been updated from the archive first published in March 2017 and republished in March 2023.