ITC Master Chef Sakala Sankara flew in from ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad last week to give us a taste of the rich, spicy and fiery cuisine of the state of Telengana. Flavors of Telengana, part of ITC’s Kitchens of India initiative was on till 21st February at the Eden Pavilion!
The menu was changed everyday during the course of the festival and Chef Sankara brought in a good mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian items. Being the carnivore that I am, I gorged on chicken, fish, prawns, mutton and liver on the day of the tasting. From the menu, these are the dishes I loved.
- Karjam Vepudu – This spicy fried lamb liver dish with onion, chilli and curry leaves was a major reason why I was so excited to go for the festival. I saw the picture in T2 and was literally salivating. Between the eight of us, we finished off three plates of this dish so you can very well imagine how good it was!
- Royyala Vepudu – Buttery soft melt in the mouth prawns cooked in a thick onion and tomato gravy. I had two servings of this
- Gongoora Mamsam – Hot and spicy mutton curry cooked with roselle leaves. The mutton was soft, succulent and cooked to perfection. The roselle leaves added a unique fiery and tangy flavor to the dish which made it so delicious
- Velluli Kodi – A garlic flavored chicken curry
- Ragi Sangati – Balls of steamed rice and millet mixed with ghee. Ragi Sangati is paired with gravies
- Chapa Pulusu Pulao – A spicy and tangy fish pulao
- Pachadis – Chutney/condiment that accompany all Telengana meals . There were three types, brinjal + tamarind, raw mango + garlic and tamarind+peanuts
- Basundi – Sweet thickened milk flavored with cardamom and nutmeg. Similar to our Bengali Payesh.