Udupi cuisine Facts for Kids

Udupi cuisine is a special type of food from South India. It's named after Udupi, a city on India's southwest coast. This cuisine is a big part of the food from the Tulunadu region.

What makes Udupi cuisine unique? It's completely vegetarian! Its roots come from the Tulu Ashta Mathas of Udupi, which were started by a wise person named Madhvacharya.

Udupi dishes are mostly made from grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits. There are many different kinds of dishes. A cool thing about this food is that it uses ingredients found right there in the local area.

Long ago, people followed a tradition called chaaturmasa vrata. This meant they couldn't eat certain foods during specific times of the year. This rule might have helped people get creative and invent many new dishes in Udupi cuisine! For example, pumpkins and gourds are key ingredients in sambar. This is a tasty stew made with ground coconut and coconut oil.

Did you know the famous Indian dish dosa might have started in Udupi? That's what some experts believe. Another important part of an Udupi meal is Saaru, a spicy pepper soup. You'll also find dishes made with jackfruit, special leaves called colocasia leaves, and raw green bananas. Don't forget the mango pickle, red chillies, and salt!

Some special Udupi foods include Adyes (which are like dumplings) and ajadinas (dry curries or stir-fries). There are also many kinds of chutneys, including one made from the skin of the ridge gourd!

Popular Udupi Dishes
A Full Udupi Meal Experience
More Popular Udupi Foods
- A Quick Look at Udupi Dishes
Udupi Restaurants Around the World
Images for kids
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Popular Udupi Dishes

Udupi cuisine has many delicious and unique dishes. Here are some you might enjoy:

Ale bajji
Bhaji
Kosambari (a fresh salad made with lentils)
Paayasa (kheer) (a sweet pudding)
Saaru or rasam (a spicy soup)
Spiced rice
Tallu or Ajethna or ajadina (a dry curry)

A Full Udupi Meal Experience

When you have a full Udupi meal, it's a special experience! The food is served on a fresh plantain leaf, which is usually placed on the ground. Each dish has its own special spot on the leaf.

Everyone eating is expected to start and finish their meal at the same time. It's a tradition that no one gets up in the middle of the meal, even if they've finished. To start and end the meal, people say "Govinda", which is a name for Lord Vishnu.

Here's what a typical Udupi meal might include, served in a specific order:

Abbhigara or Ghee (clarified butter)
Salt
Pickle
Kosambari (a seasoned salad)
Bajji or chutney
Ajethna
Pathrade
Spiced rice (chitranna)
Happalla
Steamed rice
Saaru (a spicy watery soup)
Menaskai
Koddel
Majjige Huli, Puli kajippu
Sweets like laddu, holige or Kesari bhath, Jalebi
Fried items like bonda, chakli, vada
Paramanna or Kheer (pudding) or Payasa
Buttermilk/curd

The exact dishes can change depending on the occasion, what people like, and how much money is spent.

More Popular Udupi Foods

Here are some more well-known dishes from Udupi cuisine:

Buns (Mangaluru Buns): A sweet, fried dish made from flour and banana.
Idli, dosa, Masala dosa, neer dose, uppu huli kara dosa: Different types of pancakes and steamed cakes.
Gashi or Ghasi: A thick, gravy-like dish made with peas or pulses and coconut.
Kadubu
Kashi halva: A sweet dish made from musk pumpkin, jackfruit, banana, or bottle gourd.
Kodhel or sambar: A type of sambar made with lentils, coconut, and your choice of vegetable.
Mangalore bajji or Golibaje: Delicious deep-fried balls of batter.
Menaskai: Often made with a fruit called Amtekai or ambade.
Patrode: Colocasia leaves dipped in batter and steamed.
Putnis
Pelakai appa: Fried dumplings made from jackfruit.
Pelakai halwa: A sweet made from jackfruit.
Puddings or parammanna or payasa or kheer: Sweet desserts.
Saaru or rasam: A type of rasam made with lentils and tomato.
Sajjige and bajil: Upma made from coarse semolina and seasoned beaten rice.
Sweet dishes like sajjige, maddi, manni, kaai holige, undae (laddu).
Uddinahittu: Mashed urad flour or potato mixed with curd and seasoned.

A Quick Look at Udupi Dishes

Food item	Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian	Main Ingredients	How it's Made	Fun Fact
Masala Dosa	Vegetarian	Rice, Lentils (black gram)	A thin pancake cooked with ghee, stuffed with spiced potatoes.	Invented by Udupi hotels!
Patrode	Vegetarian	Colocasia leaves, Rice	Spiced rice flour is spread on colocasia leaves, then rolled and steamed.	Very popular during the rainy season.
Kotte kadubu	Vegetarian	Rice, Lentils (black gram)	Batter is steamed inside jackfruit leaves.	Moday is a similar dish steamed in screw pine leaves.
Neer Dosa	Vegetarian	Rice	A very thin, soft pancake made from rice flour.
Undla kai	Vegetarian	Rice	Steamed balls made from rice.	A dish often eaten in the rainy season.
Shyavige or Othu shyavige	Vegetarian	Rice, Grated coconut	A type of vermicelli made from rice.
Goli Baje	Vegetarian	Maida (flour)	Small, deep-fried balls of batter.	Also known as Mangalore bajji.
Halasina Kadabu	Vegetarian	Rice, Jackfruit	Ground rice and jackfruit are steamed together.
Thambuli	Vegetarian	Coconut, buttermilk, brahmi leaf		Often enjoyed as a side-dish with meals.

Udupi Restaurants Around the World

You can find Udupi restaurants serving this special cuisine all over India and even in many other countries! In the past, these restaurants were often run by cooks and priests who learned their skills at the Krishna matha in Udupi.

As Udupi cuisine became more popular, many other people started their own restaurants. Most Udupi restaurants are family-run businesses. This means ownership often passes down from one family member to another. Over time, Udupi restaurants have also added other vegetarian dishes from different parts of India to their menus.

One of the first big Udupi restaurant owners was K. Krishna Rao. He started working with food by helping at ceremonies at the Sri Krishna Temple. In 1922, he moved to Madras and worked in a hotel kitchen. It's believed he was the one who invented the famous Masala Dosa! In 1939, Rao opened his first hotel, Udupi Sri Krishna Vilas, which is now called Old Woodlands.

Another well-known chain of Udupi restaurants is the Dasaprakash group. It was started by K. Seetharama Rao. He left his job in Mangalore to join his brothers' snack food business in Mysore in 1921.

In 1923, a big flood hit Udupi. This caused many people to move to bigger cities looking for work. Because of this, there was a need for affordable places to eat. Many famous Udupi restaurants, like Dasaprakash in Mysore and Udupi Sri Krishna Bhavan in Bangalore, were set up to meet this need. These restaurants were vegetarian and hired people from Udupi.

Cities like Mumbai, Madras, Mysore, and Bangalore became popular places for people from Udupi to move. Many Udupi restaurants, such as Ramanayaks and Cafe Madras, opened in Matunga in Mumbai in the 1930s and 1940s. In the years that followed, Udupi restaurants spread to every corner of India. Eventually, they even crossed national borders and reached cities around the world where Indian people live.

Images for kids

Puli koddel is one of the traditional and authentic Udupi dishes made specially during the festive season in the temples.
Goli baje, or Mangalore bajji, Udupi cuisine
Spiced curd rice
Malpuri, a Udupi dessert
Idli served in an Udupi restaurant

Udupi cuisine facts for kids

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