Bevu Bella | Ugadi PachadiBevu bella – a super-simple Ugadi (New Year) special pachadi, more like a drink prepared with six different ingredients. Here is my mom’s bevu bella recipe with a short video.
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Ugadi | Yugadi
Ugadi or yugadi is Kannada/Telugu New Year is the New Year’s Day for the people of Karnataka, Andhra, and Telangana. The New Year is celebrated in other states, too, under different names. In my Ugadi festive thali post, I mentioned that Yugadi means Yuga (age) + adi (beginning). The Ugadi day is the beginning of the new age/year.Along with several other delicacies, we also make this simple bevu bella, aka Ugadi pachadi.
Bevu bella
Bevu in kannada means neem flower, and bella is jaggery. This recipe varies from family to family, and this is how my mom makes it, and I am sharing the same here. The ingredients used in bevu bella symbolize different emotions/experiences – sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise. Having this Ugadi pachadi on New Year’s day signifies that we should accept all emotions and experiences equanimity.
Ingredients used and their significance
We add these six ingredients.
- Dried Neem Flowers for bitterness, signifying sadness. You can add fresh ones too. In the US, it’s hard to source fresh ones, so I opt for dried ones.
- Jaggery for sweetness which signifies happiness.
- Green chili for its heat signifying anger.
- Salt for saltiness signifies fear.
- Tamarind paste/juice for its sourness signifying disgust.
- Raw mango for its tang signifying surprise.
Typically we take a small amount of these ingredients and mix it with ⅓ to ½ cup of water and offer it to God as neivediyam and have a tbsp of it after the pooja.
Watch me make bevu bella
PS – I have added ½ cup water but in the video, I have mentioned ¼ cup. It’s a typo. Add water to taste. We have a very small amount and there is no set measure.
How to make bevu bella
- Heat a small pan or the tempering kadai, add the ¼ tsp neem flowers, and dry roast it for 45 to 60 seconds.
- Add all the ingredients and ¼ cup of water to a bowl and mix well. Ensure salt and jaggery have combined well. That’s it; the pachadi is ready.
Recipe notes
- You can add finely chopped raw mangoes, but my mom usually grates them or pounds them to blend well in the pachadi.
- Use fresh neem flowers if you can source them.
- Instead of tamarind paste, you can also use a small piece of tamarind. Soak it in ¼ cup of water and extract the juice. Use that as the base liquid for the pachadi and add the other ingredients.
Explore other simple Ugadi-special dishes
While you can make an elaborate Ugadi feast, when time is pressing, I make these four dishes along with bisibelebath.
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📖 Recipe
Bevu Bella | Ugadi Pachadi
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1 tsp = 5ml; 1 cup = 240ml;
- ¼ tsp dried neem flowers; you can use fresh ones too
- 1 green chili slit into two
- ¼ tsp jaggery
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp tamarind paste
- 2 tbsp raw mango grated or crushed
- ⅓ to ½ cup water.
Instructions
- Heat a small pan or the tempering kadai, add the ¼ tsp neem flowers, and dry roast it for 45 to 60 seconds.
- Add all the ingredients and ¼ cup of water to a bowl and mix well. Ensure salt and jaggery have combined well. That’s it; the pachadi is ready.
Video
Notes
- You can add finely chopped raw mangoes, but my mom usually grates them or pounds them to blend well in the pachadi.
- Use fresh neem flowers if you can source them.
- Instead of tamarind paste, you can also use a small piece of tamarind. Soak it in ¼ cup of water and extract the juice. Use that as the base liquid for the pachadi and add the other ingredients.
- Add water to taste. We have a very small amount and there is no set measure.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Update Notes: Earlier posted in 2015, now updated the post with video, recipe card and new pictures.
interesting to learn about the symbolism of the dish
Wow! What an authentic recipe! Never knew about this. Thanks for sharing in detail..
That is one traditional pachadi with all flavors, symbolizing life.
We used to eat only the neem flowers and the bella. But this will love to try out.
We make Ugadhi pachadi the same way — except we add red chili powder instead of green chili and also include banana in it.
Never tasted this before..Bookmarked, will try soon..
Let me know how it turned out.
That’s one festival dish that we get to taste once a year!..good one to record..
Yeah. We do it only during the festival… thanks
Must try this, looks delicious.
Thanks Sneha
I have tasted this never tried..love ur kukuma sizhimil
Thanks da.. Its a must for us during Ugadi.
Love the kumkum bharani as we call it. Ugadi special pachadi has all the 6 flavors in there.
Thanks Harini
this is a traditional recipe I can have it like that the full bowl my favorite Ugadi recipe
he he.. yeah true. Thanks
Ages i had this pachadi, makes me nostalgic.
:-) Glad it made you nostalgic. Give it a try
nice…very different pachadi …. our is a bit dried version :)
Each and every house hold their own way na.. sometimes amma does it bit dried too. But to drink as theertham this would work and I prefer it this way.. ;-) ;-)
Ugadi pachadi, have not tasted in years. It does have flavors in it. Yum.
Thanks Usha
Very unique pachadi .Looks so nice.
Thanks Sapana
I wait all year around to have this Ugadi Pachadi. It is my “favouritest” ritual of the year!
:-) Me too. Love the reason behind the recipe. Thanks Aruna