Typical Breakfast in Telangana

Typical Breakfast in Telangana

Breakfast may include light and tasty preparations such as idli, vada, upma and dosa. People also savour milk, tea or coffee with breakfast. Variations in dosa range from atukula dosa (dosamade from poha), wheat upindi upma with curd,godhuma uppindi upma (upma made from broken wheat flour), upma made from sooji, saggubiyyam(sago) upma, punukulu (deep fried dish) etc. 

Presentation of Food on the Platter

Lunch and dinner time is when the entire family gets together and relishes traditional cuisine. Dishes are served on porcelain or stainless steel plates known as kancham. In rural households, food is served on banana leaves known as arati aaku. These arati aaku or banana leaves are also used during festivals. Sometimes many banana leaves are joined or sewn together to form a large plate known as vistari! Even small restaurants serve meals on such banana plates in several cities. These banana leaves may be fresh or even sun dried ones known as ariti mattalu. 

Irani Cafes in Hyderabad

There are a number of Irani Cafes in Hyderabad. People love to come to these cafes especially to have special tea which is both milky and sweet! People of all age groups visit these Irani cafes. They come here just for a tete-a-tete with their friends savouring osmania biscuits which are really tasty. Tea can be had with other snacks such as samosas and mirchi bhajjis. To be safe, you must have mineral water bottle in these cafes. Cost of tea, samosas, a plate of mirchi bhajji is about INR 3 each. Biscuits are INR 5 per plate. 

Dum Pukht cooking is especially used for preparing Hyderabadi Biryani and other vegetarian and non vegetarian pulao dishes. It is a slow method of cooking which dates back to 16th century and was introduced in India by the Mughals. 

Handi (round spherical clay pot) is used for Dum Pukht cooking which is a Persian word meaning baked or air (steam) cooked. Smaller version ofhandi is known as handiya. The lid of the handi is sealed with flour so that the aroma of spices used do not escape and the rice is cooked by the steam formed inside the container. 
Par-Cooking: Handi is placed on open wood fire, spices are sautéed and raw materials like rice and vegetables are added only to be half cooked.Dum Cooking: minimum water is added to par-cooked food kept in handi. The lid is sealed with kneaded flour. The flames are put out and thehandi stays on a bed of hot charcoals! The steam thus created cooks the biryani rice.

Telangana Cuisine Preparations during Bathukamma Festival

Bathukamma is a floral festival of Telangana. It is celebrated during September-October every year for nine days during Durga Navarathri.  It is followed by Boddemma, a 7-day festival which marks the beginning of Sarath ritu.

Each day of the festival marks offering ofnaivedyam (food offering). These include sesame seeds (nuvvulu) with rice flour (biyyampindi) or coarsely ground wet rice known as nookalu. Bellam (jaggery), flattened parboiled rice (atkulu), boiled lentils (mudapappu), wheatlet pan cakes (uppidi pindi atlu) etc. are prepared and offered as naivedyam during the festival. Ninth day of Bathukamma known as Saddula Bathukamma is marked by cooking of five types of rice dishes: 
Perugannam saddi (curd rice)Chinthapandu pulihora saddi (tamarind rice)Nimmakaya saddi (lemon rice)Kobbara saddi (coconut rice)Nuvvula saddi (sesame rice)Ingredients of various dishes prepared during the festival are corn, sorghum, bajra, black gram, wheat, rice, cashew nut, jaggery and milk. Maleedais prepared by mixing roti and jaggery and distributed to everyone present at the end of the event.

There is no doubt that Telangana has a rich cuisine. People eat meals in a traditional way, sitting on the floor and on banana plates using their hands. Meal time is an elaborate family affair.  Nevertheless, urban population has taken to eating on stainless steel plates and dining tables. However, the traditional spiciness and flavours remain the same!