ANDHRA PRADESH

Andhra Pradesh is a South Indian state sharing its

border with Maharashtra, Chattisgarh and Orissa. The
rich heritage and culture of Andhra Pradesh are
reflected in the culinary skills of its people. The ere
ention of Andhra and !yderabadi cuisine brings
before the ind"s eye a wholesoe eal accopanied
by hot tasty pickles or Biryani accopanied by an
appetising aroa.
#ut there is ore to the cuisine of the State with each
of the three regions $ Coastal Andhra,
Rayalaseema and Telangana $ ha%ing its distincti%e
style of cooking. Chillies and spice are used in
abundance but this need not deter food lo%ers fro
indulging thesel%es in a feast. #y and large, the
cuisine is %egetarian but the Moghal influence in the
&eccan ade 'Moghlai" cooking popular.
Andhra Pradesh has the second(longest coastline in
India of )*+ kiloetres and can be broadly di%ided into
three unofficial geographic regions, naely ,osta
-Coastal Andhra.,/ttaraandhra -0orth Coastal Andhra.,
Telangana and 1ayalaseea.
0ot any know that the flag of the earlier !yderabad
state actually had a kulcha or bread eproidered on it.
They hangs a tale which goes back to the first Nizam
of !yderabad, Asaf 2ah I, a brilliant general who was
sent fro &elhi to !yderabad to 3peror Aurang4eb in
5*56. before lea%ing &elhi, he went to eet !a4rat
0i4a(ud(din Aulia who in%ited hi to share his eal.
!e ate soe of the !l"ha -unlea%ened bread., and
the saind pressed hi to take ore. After taking se%en
kulchas he said he was ost grateful but could take no
ore. !e wrapped the in a yellow cloth and was
about to lea%e when the saint blessed hi, saying, 'you
and your decendants will rule the &eccan for se%en
generations." And so it cae to be7 &uring the rule of
the se%enth ni4a, the state of !yderabad becae a
part of Andhara Pradesh. 8ike the cloth in which he had
wrapped the kulchas, Asaf 2ah had a yellow flag for the
state of !yderabad.
O%er tie, people fro different regions and %arious
ha%e settled in Andhra Pradesh and enriched its
cuisine. Parsis, #ayaths, Mar$aris and Anglo%
&ndians, aong others, brought with the their
traditions and their food helped create the cultural
ethos that is the special char of Se"!ndra'ad and
Hydera'ad, the twin cities.
A special fa%ourite of festi%e occasion is Bara #hori
which is a bakra or lab stuffed with a chicken and
hardboiled eggs and surrounded by biryani.
Chig!r a salan would be produced, ade with the
fresh young lea%es of the taarind tree, cooked
chopped spare ribs of lab and succulent breast eat.
Many professional cooks still a%oid cooking on a gas
sto%e, especially for ban9uets. Ch!lhas are ade
outside of ud and brick, and they cook on wood and
charcoal7 A traditional ban9uet enu consist of a
%ariety of dishes eaten in courses( kababs of lab
eat, du ka urg, a baked chicken with rich
fla%ouring, a toato kuttu with hard(boiled eggs,
bagharey baingan or irchi ka salan which are eaten
with soft sheermal roti. A 'iryani of the first rice
cooked with lab is ser%ed along with 'oorani which
is ade of curds and chopped onions and %egetables.
Soeties !lthi i !t which is a curry of horse
gra-chana dal. ay be ser%ed instead of toato
kuttu. There is a great %ariety in the kababs too, which
are ser%ed garnished with springs of int, finely sliced
rings of onions and sli%ers of lie on the sides. There
could also be a rich kora of chicken or lab, or raan
m!ssallam which is a leg of lab cooked with rich
spices. The dessert could be shahi t!re or h!'ani
a meeta ser%ed with crea.
Badam i (aali are flat rounds about four inches in
diaeter with an alond and sugar base. Ashra)i
sweets are ade of the sae base aterial, but look
like coins with traditional calligraphy iprinted on
the.
Ma""hi #aman is a %ery faous. :reshly cooked
seekh kabab with int chutney finely sliced onions and
slices of lie would be prepared and ser%ed with hot
spongy bread called ,ulchas, or ulte ta%a ki roti, large,
%ery fine chapattis cooked on a o%erturned cur%ed
griddle. These would be ser%ed on leaf plates held
together with tiny thorns or twigs.
;arious kababs and pathar gosht, bagharey baingan,
irchi ka salan, achli ka ahi khaliya and du ka
urg are ner%er good as when they are cooked in
!yderabad on charcoal or wood fires.
The influence of %arious cuisine is e%ident in practically
e%ery dish ade in our hoes these days. The ordinary
loaf of bread which is now a%ailable in cities and towns
all o%er India is the base in !yderabad for our %ersion
of bread pudding, a %ery special dessert called do!'le
a meetha, and shahi t!re, ade fro do!'le
roti, the regular loaf of bread. The #ritish curry puff
and the m!lligata$ny so!* which was originally a
rasa or pepper water ade in Andhra, Tail 0adu
and other southern areas are other such hybrids. In
another instance of cultural e<change we ha%e local
recipe for aking =orcestershire sauce, whereas
taarind fro India is used in the sauce ade in
3ngland.
Traditional telengana "ooing is as e<citing in its
appeal to the palate and in its sophisticated blending of
tastes. This ethinic cuisine takes its special fla%our fro
two ingredients> taarind and hot chillies. The
taarind is a great fa%ourite all o%er Andhara and is
used e<tensi%ely in nuerous fors. Its fresh new
flowers and tender lea%es called "hig!r are curried,
and the fruit is used to ake chutneys as well as
cooling drinks. Taarind is also anti(helinthic and
thus gets rid of wors in the intestines. Apart fro
taarind, like the other essential ingredient in Andhra
cooking is the red chilly.
#oorai+iaram, the flaing stick, the %ery hottest red
chilly is grown in ,!nt!r, and is used e<tensi%ely in
Andhra. The cuisine of ?untur is aongst the 'hottest"
in ters of its chilly content. A chutney ade fro
these freshly plucked red chillies, pounded fine and
i<ed with fresh brown taarind pulp and salt, is a
speciallity of the area. The chillies of Resham*athi are
used to ake the best a+aai -ango. pickle.
The gong!ra also known as abada, is another %ery
popular Andhra speciality. This is the leaf of the rozelle
or his"!s sa'adari))a plant which grows in well in
Andhra. ?ongura is cooked with the eat or with chana
dal and is also ade into a pickle which can stay for
o%er a year. Asa)oetida or hing is used e<tensi%ely to
gi%e a special fla%our to Andhra food. Asafetida is a
gu(resin deri%ed fro the roots of the ubelliferous
plants of the ferula genus, plants that were originally
fro Afganisthan and Persia. Its sulphur copound
creates a strong odour. A typical foral %egetarian
Andhra Meal would include a pulihora or %egetable
pulao, one sa%oury dish of okra, brin@al or beans of any
%ariety, one %egetable curry of ya and carrots or a
dha*alam of se%eral %egetables, one lentil dish with
lots of gra%y, a *!lis! which could ha%e bottle gourd
and toatoes in it, followed by a light rasam to be
eaten with plain boiled rice and a dish of curds. 1asa
used to be ade in lead containers to ipart a
particular fla%our, but now the use of aluiniu or lead
for cooking is not encouraged as they are belie%ed to
do har to one"s health. The enu seasoned with
ustard and salt and garnished with freshly grated
coconut.
A foral non(%egetarian eal includes on dish of
'iryani or *!lihora or +egeta'le *!lao, one dish of
chicken or eat with rich sa%ouriy ingredients, or a
kabab, one seafood dish-optional., one curry of chicken
or eat with gra%y, a dish of lentils -dal. with gra%y,
which could ha%e %egetables in it, two leafy or green
%egetable dishes , one of which could be okra, broad
beans or cluster beans or beans of any %ariety, or it in
season, @ackfruit, a dish of *oriyal and one dish of
rasa, which is light and %ery li9uid, ser%ed and eaten
with plain boiled rice. If biryani is ser%ed, there is also
'oorani, which is curd with chopped %egetables or else
a dish of plain curd.
Accopanients to both eals would include +adial!
"ris*ies, *a*addom -crisp, fried thin wafers of
sa%oury gra flour or rice flour., green "hillies
soaed in "!rd, dried and fried crisp, called ma(iga
mir*aayal!, a"har or chutney, or both. &essert is
likely to be *ayasam and (ehangiri (ale'is or
laddoos or shahi t!re-
The food of the rich coastal belt of Ma"hli*atnam,
.ishaa*atnam and ainada is 9uite different fro
that of the dry areas of RayalaseemaA it includes fish,
and the food has ore coconut and has less chillies.
The food of #!rnool and C!dda**a is biased towards
the %egetarian. The ost fa%oured oil here is the
sesae -gingerly or til. oil. A eal could consist of
curd, boiled rice, the a%akkai ango pickle, with a little
of the sour green leafy ?ongura, or puntikura as it is
known in the Telengana region, which is often cooked
with #engal ?ra. The Ra(!s who are ,shattriyas, has
slightly different food. They are non%+egeterian and
their food contains ore gara asala.
The #a*! or Reddy counities of Telengana ha%e a
%ariety non(%egeterian food. They ser%e the traditional
sweets such as *adra*eni, a light flaky sweet, the
'ashal! ade of boiled, ashed and fried lentils
inside a pastry or a *ayasam of ilk, sugar and rice
with cardaos.
FAMOUS PREPARATION FROM ANDHRA PRADESH:
DUMPUDU MAMSUMN: sauted lamb, liver and kidney
delicacy, specialty of Talengana.
CHINTAKANYI: lamb/ mutton chops with tamarind.
KOBARI KODI/ MAMSUMN PULUSU: chicken / lamb
simmered in coconut gravy.
KODI KURA MUNAKAI: chicken with drumstick in a spicy
tamarind- flavored gravy.
MAMSUMN MUNAKAI PULUSU: a lamb and drumstick
curry thickened with rice flour.
PODI MAMSUMN: spicy fried mutton from Telengana.
CHAPA PULUSU: fish curry.
EGURU PETHELU: curried crabs.
THOTIKURA PETAKAYA: spinach or similar green leafy
vegetables with dried prawn.
ARTIKAI KURA: curried raw bananas with coconut.
GUTTI WONKAI: stuffed brinjal with coriander in tangy
sauce.
PAPPU DOSAKAI: a bottle gourd and engal gram delicacy.