SECOND YEAR NOTES- ANDHRA CUISINE

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 mere mention of Andhra and Hyderabadi cuisine brings before the mind’s eye a wholesome meal accompanied by hot tasty pickles or ‘Biryani’ accompanied by an appetising aroma.
But there is more to the cuisine of the State with each of the three regions — Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana — having its distinctive style of cooking. Chillies and spice are used in abundance but this need not deter food lovers from indulging themselves in a feast. By and large, the cuisine is vegetarian but the Moghal influence in the Deccan made ‘Moghlai’ cooking popular.
Andhra Pradesh has the second-longest coastline in India of 970 kilometres and can be broadly divided into three unofficial geographic regions, namely Kosta (Coastal Andhra),Uttaraandhra (North Coastal Andhra), Telangana and Rayalaseema.
Not many know that the flag of the earlier Hyderabad state actually had a kulcha or bread emproidered on it. They hangs a tale which goes back to the first Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah I, a brilliant general who was sent from Delhi to Hyderabad to Emperor Aurangzeb in 1713. before leaving Delhi, he went to meet Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Aulia who invited him to share his meal. He ate some of the kulcha (unleavened bread), and the saind pressed him to take more. After taki8ng seven kulchas he said he was most grateful but could take no more. He wrapped them in a yellow cloth and was about to leave when the saint blessed him, saying, ‘you and your decendants will rule the Deccan for seven generations.’ And so it came to be! During the rule of the seventh nizam, the state of Hyderabad became a part of Andhara Pradesh. Like the cloth in which he had wrapped the kulchas, Asaf Jah had a yellow flag for the state of Hyderabad.
Over time, people from different regions and various have settled in Andhra Pradesh and enriched its cuisine. Parsis, Kayaths, Marwaris and Anglo-Indians, among others, brought with them their traditions and their food helped create the cultural ethos that is the special charm of Secundrabad and Hyderabad, the twin cities.
A special favourite of festive occasion is Bakra Khori which is a bakra or lamb stuffed with a chicken and hardboiled eggs and surrounded by biryani.
Chigur ka salan would be produced, made with the fresh young leaves of the tamarind tree, cooked chopped spare ribs of lamb and succulent breast meat. Many professional cooks still avoid cooking on a gas stove, especially for banquets. Chulhas are made outside of mud and brick, and they cook on wood and charcoal! A traditional banquet menu consist of a variety of dishes eaten in courses- kababs of lamb meat, dum ka murg, a baked chicken with rich flavouring, a tomato kuttu with hard-boiled eggs, bagharey baingan or mirchi ka salan which are eaten with soft sheermal roti. A biryani of the first rice cooked with lamb is served along with boorani which is made of curds and chopped onions and vegetables. Sometimes kulthi ki kut which is a curry of horse gram(chana dal) may be served instead of tomato kuttu. There is a great variety in the kababs too, which are served garnished with springs of mint, finely sliced rings of onions and slivers of lime on the sides. There could also be a rich korma of chicken or lamb, or raan mussallam which is a leg of lamb cooked with rich spices. The dessert could be shahi tukre or khubani ka meeta served with cream.
Badam ki jaali are flat rounds about four inches in diameter with an almond and sugar base. Ashrafi sweets are made of the same base material, but look like coins with traditional calligraphy imprinted on them.
Macchi Kaman is a very famous. Freshly cooked seekh kabab with mint chutney finely sliced onions and slices of lime would be prepared and served with hot spongy bread called Kulchas, or ulte tava ki roti, large, very fine chapattis cooked on a overturned curved griddle. These would be served on leaf plates held together with tiny thorns or twigs.
Various kababs and pathar gosht, bagharey baingan, mirchi ka salan, machli ka mahi khaliya and dum ka murg are nerver good as when they are cooked in Hyderabad on charcoal or wood fires.
The influence of various cuisine is evident in practically every dish made in our homes these days. The ordinary loaf of bread which is now available in cities and towns all over India is the base in Hyderabad for our version of bread pudding, a very special dessert called double ka meetha, and shahi tukre, made from double roti, the regular loaf of bread. The British curry puff and the mulligatawny soup which was originally a rasam or pepper water made in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and other southern areas are other such hybrids. In another instance of cultural exchange we have local recipe for making Worcestershire sauce, whereas tamarind from India is used in the sauce made in England.
Traditional telengana cooking is as exciting in its appeal to the palate and in its sophisticated blending of tastes. This ethinic cuisine takes its special flavour from two ingredients: tamarind and hot chillies. The tamarind is a great favourite all over Andhara and is used extensively in numerous forms. Its fresh new flowers and tender leaves called chigur are curried, and the fruit is used to make chutneys as well as cooling drinks. Tamarind is also anti-helminthic and thus gets rid of worms in the intestines. Apart from tamarind, like the other essential ingredient in Andhra cooking is the red chilly.
Kooraivikaram, the flaming stick, the very hottest red chilly is grown in Guntur, and is used extensively in Andhra. The cuisine of Guntur is amongst the ‘hottest’ in terms of its chilly content. A chutney made from these freshly plucked red chillies, pounded fine and mixed with fresh brown tamarind pulp and salt, is a speciallity of the area. The chillies of Reshampathi are used to make the best avakkai (mango) pickle.
The gongura also known as ambada, is another very popular Andhra speciality. This is the leaf of the rozelle or hiscus sabadariffa plant which grows in well in Andhra. Gongura is cooked with the meat or with chana dal and is also made into a pickle which can stay for over a year. Asafoetida or hing is used extensively to give a special flavour to Andhra food. Asafetida is a gum-resin derived from the roots of the umbelliferous plants of the ferula genus, plants that were originally from Afganisthan and Persia. Its sulphur compound creates a strong odour. A typical formal vegetarian Andhra Meal would include a pulihora or vegetable pulao, one savoury dish of okra, brinjal or beans of any variety, one vegetable curry of yam and carrots or a dhapalam of several vegetables, one lentil dish with lots of gravy, a pulisu which could have bottle gourd and tomatoes in it, followed by a light rasam to be eaten with plain boiled rice and a dish of curds. Rasam used to be made in lead containers to impart a particular flavour, but now the use of aluminium or lead for cooking is not encouraged as they are believed to do harm to one’s health. The menu seasoned with mustard and salt and garnished with freshly grated coconut.
A formal non-vegetarian meal includes on dish of biryani or pulihora or vegetable pulao, one dish of chicken or meat with rich savouriy ingredients, or a kabab, one seafood dish(optional), one curry of chicken or meat with gravy, a dish of lentils (dal) with gravy, which could have vegetables in it, two leafy or green vegetable dishes , one of which could be okra, broad beans or cluster beans or beans of any variety, or it in season, jackfruit, a dish of poriyal and one dish of rasam, which is light and very liquid, served and eaten with plain boiled rice. If biryani is served, there is also boorani, which is curd with chopped vegetables or else a dish of plain curd.
Accompaniments to both meals would include vadialu crispies, papaddom (crisp, fried thin wafers of savoury gram flour or rice flour), green chillies soaked in curd, dried and fried crisp, called majiga mirpakayalu, achar or chutney, or both. Dessert is likely to be payasam and jehangiri jalebis or laddoos or shahi tukre.
The food of the rich coastal belt of Machlipatnam, Vishakapatnam and kakinada is quite different from that of the dry areas of Rayalaseema; it includes fish, and the food has more coconut and has less chillies. The food of Kurnool and Cuddappa is biased towards the vegetarian. The most favoured oil here is the sesame (gingerly or til) oil. A meal could consist of curd, boiled rice, the avakkai mango pickle, with a little of the sour green leafy Gongura, or puntikura as it is known in the Telengana region, which is often cooked with Bengal Gram. The Rajus who are Kshattriyas, has slightly different food. They are non-vegeterian and their food contains more garam masala.
The Kapu or Reddy communities of Telengana have a variety non-vegeterian food. They serve the traditional sweets such as padrapeni, a light flaky sweet, the bakshalu made of boiled, mashed and fried lentils inside a pastry or a payasam of milk, sugar and rice with cardamoms.

FAMOUS PREPARATION FROM ANDHRA PRADESH:

·        DUMPUDU MAMSUMN: sautéed 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 a