UgadiPachadi is a special festival food which has become synonymous with the Andhra Pradesh festival Ugadi, which is celebrated as the New Year by the Telugu people. About UgadiPachadi, it can be said that, this dish is made of Neem flowers, raw pieces of mango, new jaggery, pepper powder, coconut and tamarind. 6 tastes of Ugadipachadi are sweet, bitter, sour, pungent, salty and spicy.

Ugadipachadi importance lies in the fact that it is a combination of the six basic ingredients, jaggery, tamarind, neem, mango, chilli and salt that reflect the various emotions of life, such as happiness, disgust, bitterness, surprise, anger and fear respectively.

Ugadi Pachadi Health Benefits:

The basic ingredients of this dish, Ugadipachadi are neem, jaggery, tamarind, mango, chilli and salt and all these ingredients contribute to health benefits.

Neem:

• All the parts of the Neem tree, such as flowers, bark of the stem and leaves have medicinal properties.
• Neem helps to treat various skin infections, malaria, viral fever and diabetes.
• Neem also kills intestinal parasites.
• When neem is consumed with tamarind and raw mango, it increases the immunity of the body and prepares it to fight against infections.

Raw Mango:

• It provides relief from acidity and chest burn.
• It increases the secretion of bile and cleans the intestine of bacterial infections.
• It improves the elasticity of blood vessels and helps in the formation of new blood vessels.

Jaggery:

• It detoxifies the liver by flushing out harmful toxins from the body.
• It is loaded with anti oxidants selenium and zinc, which prevents the free radical damage and increases the immunity of the body against infections.

Tamarind:

• It aids in digestion and eases the stomach from discomfort.
• It reduces inflammation throughout the body, improves skin condition and lowers cholesterol.

Authentic Ugadi Pachadi Recipe: Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons of peeled and chopped raw mango pieces.
• 1 tablespoon of Neem flowers.
• 3 tablespoon of jaggery
• 1 teaspoon of tamarind pulp
• Red chilli powder and salt, according to taste.

Method:

The tamarind is soaked in warm water till it softens. Add the jaggery to another one cup of water and wait till it melts and strain and keep aside. Mix all the ingredients together and the basic version and authentic Ugadipachadi dish is ready. Many variations of this dish is prepared. One variation of this dish is Ugadipachadi recipe with banana. This is a tastier version of the dish. Along with chunks of banana, cashews, raisins and fried gram are also added. Ugadipachhadi Andhra style recipe incorporates certain variations like addition of mustard seeds and grated coconut pieces.

Thus, UgadiPachadi is the most popular dish of this festival, not only in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but also in Maharashtra as well.