Bathukamma is a festival women celebrate in Indian state of Telangana. It is a nine day festival, starting on Bhadrapada amavasya and concludes on Durga ashtami in Ashwayuja masam (month), which usually falls in September – October. The last day of the festival is saddula bathukamma or pedha bathukamma. Girls and women celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm, specially in villages and towns. While most of India celebrates navratri, in Telangana it is bathukamma. Depending on the region, different prasadalu (offerings) are prepared for the deity on saddula bathukamma.
In Karimnagar region we prepare five varieties of powders or laddu. Roasted sesame seeds with sugar/jaggery, rice flour laddu, moong dal laddu and chana dal laddu or besan laddu. I can’t recall the other one but in recent years, urad dal laddu has become a common preparation. Urad dal was not a common ingredient in Telangana kitchens decades ago as is was not a common crop in the area. However, the health benefits of the dal conquered the kitchens of the region. Besides the laddu, pulihora and daddojanam are also common prasadalu.
In Warangal area however, it is five varieties of rice dishes. For today’s festive thali I followed Warangal norm and prepared pulihora, nuvvula annam, kobbari annam, daddojanam and paramannam. Even in Karimnagar region, we do prepare pulihora and daddojanam on saddula bathukamma but the main prasadam that is distributed among women is however, the five varieties of powders prepared with lentils and seeds using sugar.
Though I made these rice dishes as part of thali theme, I did not arrange them in thali. I have one big thali and used it for my day 1 and day 2 posts. The other platters I have are not big enough to fit all five bowls.
Saddula bathukamma, festive thali –
Nuvvula Annam – Sesame seeds flavored rice
Kobbari Annam – Spicy grated coconut flavored rice
Chintapandu Pulihora – Tamarind flavored rice
Daddojinam ~ Perugannam – Yogurt rice
Paramannam ~ Bellapannam – A sweet rice dish with jaggery and flavored with cardamom powder
This day in 2014: Fresh Garbanzo Beans Pulao and Tomato Yogurt Pachadi
cookingwithsapana says
That is indeed an exotic looking festive thali . All of the rice bowls looks so scrumptious. Nicely presented too.
Priya Suresh says
Festival thali is always the best and those variety rices are my kind of foods, mouthwatering here.
Vaishali says
Omg ! Five variations of rice ! What a super treat , would love to dig in .
Kudos on these amazing thalis.
Kalyani says
Wow ! That surely is a treat…. I love flavoured rice in most forms 🙂
Nalini says
One of my favorite thali,we do make variety rice Thali for so many festivals..
Rajani Harish says
Lovely spread Usha. The thali is indeed festive 🙂
gayathriraani says
We do make variety rice for many festivals here. All these dishes surely have a place in that festive thali. This looks so inviting and feeling nostalgic..
Harini-Jaya R says
I have never prepared 5 rice dishes as part of a festival thali. And it was good to know about the tradition of Saddula Bathukamma