Last Updated:March 30, 2025, 07:35 IST

Happy Ugadi 2025: Explore 5 must-have traditional food items that beautifully blend diverse flavours to mark the occasion.

Happy Ugadi 2025 Telugu New Year: Also known as Yugadi or Samvatsarādi, Ugadi is a Hindu festival that marks the New Year in states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. The name combines ‘yug’ (era) and ‘adi’ (new), symbolising new beginnings and the onset of the planting season.

The festival is celebrated with vibrant traditions such as creating geometric rangoli patterns, adorning doorways with toran (mango leaf garlands), wearing new clothes, and performing puja to seek blessings for prosperity.

ALSO READ: Happy Ugadi 2025: Best Wishes, Images, Quotes, Greetings And WhatsApp Status Messages To Share On Telugu New Year

Adding to the festive spirit, a variety of delectable dishes are also an essential part of the celebrations. This year, Ugadi will be celebrated on March 30. Here are five traditional foods that beautifully blend diverse flavours to mark the occasion. Check out the recipes!

Ugadi Pachadi (Chutney)

The centrepiece of the Ugadi celebration is the Ugadi Pachadi. This mandatory dish combines six tastes which represent life’s emotions: sweet (jaggery), sour (raw mango), salty (salt), bitter (neem flowers), spicy (chilli powder/pepper), and tangy (tamarind). As per a common belief, the taste which one gets with the first bite, they might experience the same in the coming year.

Recipe:

1. To make Ugadi pachadi, you need to wash the tamarinds and soak them in 1/2 cup of warm water till they softens.
2. Then, grate some jaggery in one cup of water and stir it till it melts.
3. Following this, you can strain the water into another bowl to remove any bigger, undissolved pieces.
4. Then, filter the tamarind pulp into the same bowl.
5. Add neem flowers, chopped small pieces of raw mangoes as per taste, salt and chilli powder/pepper to the bowl and mix well.
6. The chutney is ready to savour with other dishes.

Bobbatlu (Puran Poli)

This sweet flatbread is another popular item in Ugadi celebration. It typically consists of wheat flour, chana dal, maida, jaggery or cane sugar, cardamom powder and/or nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, ghee and water.

Recipe:

1. To make Bobbatlu, you need to make a dough with 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida), ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅓ cup water, and 5 tablespoons oil. After kneading it properly for 7-8 minutes, cover and keep it aside for half an hour.
2. Then, take overnight-soaked 1 cup chana dal and 2.5 cups water, and put them inside the pressure cooker until it’s cooked well.
3. Then, grind the cooked chana dal and add 1 cup chopped jaggery, ½ teaspoon green cardamon powder and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder to it.
4. After heating 1 tablespoon of ghee in the pan, add the prepared chana dal-jaggery mixture to prepare the stuffing.
5. Then, make medium-sized balls from the dough and fill the mixture inside.
6. Finally, sprinkle some rice flour on the stuffed-Bobbatlu, put them on the tawa to fry until one side is brown. Then, gently flip and roast the second side of the flatbread till golden.
7. At last, spread some ghee or oil on top before serving hot.

Pulihora (Tamarind rice)

It is another Ugadi festive dish which is made with rice, coconut, peanuts, chilli, turmeric, salt, and other spices. Pulihora can be beautifully served and savoured with sambar or raita. Another version of Pulihora is Mango Chitranna or Mango rice, in which the ingredients are simply changed with grated raw mangoes

Recipe:

1. To make Pulihora, you need to soak Tamarind in hot water to extract almost 250ml of Tamarind juice.
2. Then, wash the rice and cook it with two cups of water. Then, leave the rice to give out its steam.
3. When the rice is cooked, add turmeric powder, oil, green chillies, curry leaves, and salt as per taste.
4. Then, grind mustard seeds, and add them to oil to roast them alongside fenugreek seeds, red chillies, ginger, curry leaves and a little salt to a soft paste. Also pour the tamarind extract and add grated jaggery to it until it becomes a thick paste.
5. Once the paste becomes thick, mix it well in the rice.
6. For the second seasoning, add mustard, groundnuts, chickpeas and black gram to ¼ cup oil.
7. After roasting them, add red chillies and curry leaves to it.
8. Finally, add them to the rice and give it a good fry altogether, and your Pulihora is ready to serve.

Poornam Boorelu (Sweet dumpling)

It is a popular sweet in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Poornam Boorelu’s typical ingredients of this dish include chana dal, jaggery or dark brown sugar, dry grated coconut, ground cardamom, urad dal and rice for the dosa batter and salt.

Recipe:

1. To make crispy Poornam Boorelu, you need to first soak urad dal and rice in enough water for 4 to 6 hours. Then, grind them to a smooth batter.
2. For the sweet filling, you need to cook chana dal with water in the pressure cooker until they are tender.
3. Afterwards, when the cooked dal is cold, mash it into a paste. Add coconut and cook the mashed paste on a tawa for a few more minutes.
4. Then, divide the filling into equal-size balls when it gets cold, dip it in the covering batter, and deep fry it until golden brown on all sides.

Medu Vada (Donut-shaped soft vada)

Those who love South Indian foods, can never say no to a crispy lentil fritter served alongside Sambar dal. It is typically made from urad dal and flavoured with onions, chillies, curry leaves, ginger and asafoetida.

Recipe:

• To make Medu Vada, you need to soak urad dal overnight. Then, grind it to make a smooth batter. At times, it is also mixed with onions, chillies, curry leaves, ginger and asafoetida for a better taste.
• It is then shaped with hands in donuts and fried until crispy on the outside and fluffy inside.
• Serve it with coconut chutney or sambar dal.

Other traditional Ugadi foods include Garelu or minapapappu punugulu (fritters), Annam payasam (Rice kheer), Chalimidi (Kannada sweet), Vadapappu (moong dal), Panakam (sweet drink), Perugu garelu (Dahi vada), Burfi or Mysore pak, and Ladoo.

Location :

Andhra Pradesh, India, India