Happy Ugadi! Mango Rice

Happy Ugadi Everyone!

This past Saturday (3/21) was Telugu New Year also known as Ugadi. It is usually celebrated with the reading of the New Years' almanac and traditional foods. Like Ugadi Pachadi whose ingredients represent different experiences that we all deal with in one year's time: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Surprise and Fear. This year, we celebrated Ugadi together with family Friday night, which also happened to be the First Day of Spring...and it snowed. We had a great time minus the snow!

The table spread consisted of: Mango Rice, Plantain Bajji, Green Bean Poriyal, Potato fry, Ugadi Pachadi, Mixed Veggie Curd Salad, Sambar, Cauliflower Roast, Masala Vada and Cabbage Vada. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the table, but to be honest the meal didn't hang around long enough for a photo...which I'll take as a compliment. :)

Anyway, the real hit of the night was the Mango Rice. Green mango is suppose to signify surprise in the Pachadi, and we definitely had a surprise in the form of 6 inches....that's right 6 inches of snow on the First Day of Spring!
This rice dish was just the right amount of savory, spicy, and tart, evoking happy thoughts of the warmer weather  to come. It was a perfect way to bring in the New Year, and celebrate the coming of Spring!

Here is my recipe for Mouthwatering Mango Rice:


Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 Cups Basmati Rice
1 Cup Raw Peanuts, shelled
4 tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
1 Dried Red Chili
4 Green Chilies chopped
1 tsp Ground Turmeric
1/2 tsp Asafetida powder (Hing)*
5 Tblsp Dried Grated Coconut
3 Cups Grated Green Mango
1 Cup Cilantro Chopped
1 tsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tblsp Ghee
A few Curry Leaves
*If you don't have Asafetida you can use 1 tsp Onion Powder

Directions:

Prep Work: Cook the rice. Grate the Mango.

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a skillet and slowly roast peanuts till light brown and fragrant.

2. Add 3 tsp of Mustard Seeds, some Curry Leaves, Green Chilis Turmeric, and the Coconut, stir until seeds start to pop. Then add the grated mango and stir till fragrant 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the cooked rice and mix throughly.

4. Heat Ghee in a small frying pan, when hot add the remaining mustard seeds, dried red chili, cumin seeds, and a few curry leaves. When seeds start to pop add this whole mixture to the rice mix. Stir and add chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!