On a gastronomical journey...

A Sunday which was very different from normal Sundays... A trip which is very different from any other trips that I have taken till date...

I have been in Hyderabad for the last 9 years, however, had not got much opportunity to taste authentic food of the area. Hence, when TOI launched the passion trail, I could never let go of the opportunity. 

On Sunday, 31st January, I along with 11 other foodies and TOI representatives Sreeram and Sankalp, decided to take a food journey to taste authentic Telangana food. We met at TOI office in Banjara Hills around 5.45 am. While the rest of the world had fitness on its mind, we chose a rather gluttonous route!! Our group consisted a melange of  foodies - chefs, food bloggers, restaurateurs, food critics and people like us (who just loves to eat).

Foodies in front of TOI office

Our first stop was Shah Ghouse, an Irani restaurant in Tolichowki. Over plates of tandoori roti, naan-roti (square pieces of soft bun), paya curry, gurda curry, keema, khichdi khatta and tomato chutney, the breakfast was an assault of spicy food, which we are normally not ysed to in the morning. We ended breakfast with the humle Irani chai and Osmania biscuits. Now it is time to guess, what else was on the menu for the day!!

Khichdi khatta

Paya curry

Naani-roti

Irani Chai 

For lunch, we traveled 200 kms to Beerpul village, which is after Karimnagar. Here, the owner of Sreedevi foods (home cooked food served in AP, Telangana for 17 years and is the first woman entrepreneur in the state) and her family arranged for lunch under a 500+ year old banyan tree. Food was cooked in traditional fashion in earthen utensils on wood fire. It was a picturesque location and completed the rural experience for us. The most amazing part was the entire family getting into the act and serving each and every dish. We learned that currently the entire family (which contains approximately 200+ members) live in Hyderabad and only comes to the village for special occasions. However, due to TOI request, they made a family outing where the current generation assembled to help their aunt with the food preparation and serving lunch for us. The bonding in the family was very evident and it was quite impressive to see such humility in every member.

500+ year old Banyan Tree which was our lunch spot

Beerpur family who served us lunch

We first tasted kallu / toddy which was also a first time for me. This is a non-alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms and coconut palms.  There were snacks like Makka Gudalu (a corn snack served with a delicious coarse green chilli chutney), kudumulu (steamed rice balls), poornalu (a jaggery sweet), atukulu chudwa and Sarvapindi (a flattened fried flour snack) that whet our appetite. 

Kallu / Toddy

Atkulu Chudwa

Poornalu

Kudumulu

Sarvapindi

The main course had whopping 15 dishes being served - Menu included Karapu Annam,  Pappu Charu (tamarind dal), Bajji Pulusu (brinjal fry), Budida Gummadikaya Kura (pumpkin curry), Bendakaya Baaji (bhindi fry), Thalakaya Kura (mutton curry), Meka Mamsam (meat curry), Ambali, Perugu, Neyyi, Chintakaya tokku, Pataklu (cheniga pappu boti), Boli pelala muddalu, Jonna rotelu, Natu-kodi pulusu (country chicken curry), China chepala Pulusu (fish curry). Some of these are actually lost recipes of Telangana - known by very few today.  

Bendakaya Baaji

 

Telangana on my plate

After such a heavy breakfast and lunch, it didn't feel like I could eat another bite. The four hour drive back to Hyderabad was hardly an exercise, but it gave our taste buds time to prepare for the final culinary onslaught. Our final destination was Aish Restaurant in The Park, Somajiguda.  From a rural lunch to a fine dining experience - what more could we have asked for!! The staff warmly greeted us to the dining hall where a play of chrome with Nizams' pictures and mirrors create a contemporary ambience. Chef Mandar had personally customized the menu for us. 

Dinner started with a watermelon mocktail, followed by starters which ranged from the unique Tootak (semolina pastry with a duet of potato and sweet potato filling), to murgh mutabbak (a revival chicken, egg and cheese kebab), dum gosht ke kebab and chicken and black pepper broth. Main course included a rare and lost recipe, Chironji ka dalcha (buchania seed and mutton stew), sufiani pulo and zaffrani bakarkhani (pyaz ka kulcha). It was a dinner fit for the kings!! In a fitting end to the highly calorific meal, we were served two desserts - Gil e bisht (a rice and almond pudding) with sugar kissed rose petals and angoor ka khatta (grape shorbet) created with liquid nitrogen - poured on it and stirred vigorously by the chef, while we watched awe-struck!!

Murgh Mutabbak

Tootak

Gul e bisht with sugar kissed rose petals

Making of Angoor ka khatta with liquid nitrogen

With the culinary journey that I took on this day, it just did not satisfy my taste buds, it satiated me visually as well. Dining under the massive banyan tree is something I would cherish forever.  From breakfast to dinner, the day was a kaleidoscope of delicacies that ranged from rich Deccani delights to typical Telangana savories. My heartfelt thanks to Sankalp and the TOI team for making this such a memorable experience!!

Road Trip to Nagarjuna Sagar

It has been a month since we purchased our Honda Jazz and this time, the plan was definitely to go for long drives. So, when my hubby's friends at office planned for a day outing to Nagarjuna Sagar, we just couldn't let go. Nagarjuna sagar is one of the largest masonry dam in the world and supplies water and electricity to Telangana and other parts of the State. We started leisurely around 9 am and after breakfast near our office which was the meeting point, we started on our way to cover the 152 km journey.

Us ready to roll in the new Honda Jazz

We reached there by 1:30 pm, driving slowly and enjoying the scenery on the way, stopping at places to take pictures and have a cup of tea. The road is nice but has villages on both sides, so drive carefully as there are no dividers on the state highway. We stopped at the bridge from where you can get a full view of the dam and clicked some pictures. However, this was not the time, when water is released and hence it was completely dry.

Us posing in front of the dam

The dam - Dry as no water is released

On reaching, we first decided to take the boat ride to reach Nagarjunakonda or hill of Nagarjuna. As per a combo of mythology and history Nagarjuna was a Buddhist monk whose monastery was situated where the current Nagarjunakonda island in the Nagarjuna Sagar Reservoir is situated. When the water in the reservoir rose most of the historical items were submerged except for the ones that were rescued and kept in the museum specifically built for the purpose on the top of the island. There are motorboats running that operate between Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir and the island of Nagarjunakonda. Each one way journey is around 45 minutes and  you can spend as much time exploring the island and the museum as you want to as long as you take the last ferry back, unless you want to spend the night alone on the island (which by the way is not allowed due to security reasons so you better not miss the last boat around 5:30 pm). 

Nagarajunakonda from the waiting ramp

We purchased tickets for the boat ride and the museum and waited for the arrival of the boat in the hot sun. There were a lot of fish in the water and it was interesting to watch to see them dive for the bread crumbs the travelers were throwing at them. 

A big fish with the bread crumb

For some reason the staff is totally negligent about how many seats to fill in the boat and they were calling people to board even when it was full completely. It is when the boat arrives all hell breaks loose; there is no system of queue or ladies and kids first. No body waited for the coming passengers to get down and on the small path between the boat and ramp there were more than 200 people pushing and shoving each other.  If you have muscle and besharmee you can get in the motorboat. If you have civic sense and are travelling with kids be ready to miss your boat. There was a group of Nepalese tourists and it was amazing to see old men and women from the group shoving and pushing to get to the boat faster than the younger crowd around.

Mad rush for the boat

Us during the boat ride

We arrived suitably shaken and stirred on the island and were a witness to the great Indian rush to get out of the boat once again. Immediately after the boat docking platform there is a steep ascent to rise to the hill. Remember Konda means hill in Telugu and Nagarjunakonda means the hill of Sage Nagarjuna. As mentioned earlier, the museum and the island are home to artifacts found during excavation work when the Nagarjuna Sagar dam was built and they were later moved on top of the hill to save them from drowning. We slowly climbed the steep incline to reach the top of the hill where museum is situated. 

Guide for the entire island

I was very happy to note the well maintained gardens and monuments around us. The island as such is not very big, but there are various Buddhist excavation sites on the island that are now maintained by Archaeological Survey of India. We headed straight to the museum as it was fairly hot to walk around in the hot sun. Photography is not allowed inside the museum to protect the thousands of year old artifacts from fakes being created using pictures. The museum is fairly elaborate - Scenes showing life of the kings and general public during days when Buddhism was a predominant religion in most part of India are depicted in stone. However, I felt it would have been great if there were some detailed descriptions about each of the artifacts to understand them better. The great relief inside the museum was the huge standing fans that gave enough air to cool us down after the scorching heat.

By the time we finished the tour of the museum, we were ravenously hungry and headed straight to the canteen for some egg fried rice and cold drinks. A word of caution here - the food here is absolutely tasteless and it is better for travelers to have food on the mainland. We did not visit much of the monuments in open due to heat. 

Relic monuments at Nagarjunakonda

The return journey was even more painful as we had to sit outside on concrete to wait for the boat and when the boat arrived it was worse than Kumbh Ka mela.  I hope some authorities who are responsible for these boats do a better management on how people board and disembark from them otherwise one day in chaos major accident can happen. However, the boat ride was definitely enjoyable and we could see the sun setting in the background.

Setting sun as captured from the boat

By the time we returned to the mainland, it was getting dark and time for us to head home. Also, we decided to skip Ethipothala waterfalls as the locals mentioned there is hardly any water at this time of the year. The return drive was more difficult than the onward journey. As mentioned earlier, there is no divider on the state highways and vehicles come in full speed with high beams on, as there is no light on the road. This makes it difficult to drive and you have to be really careful. While we reached Nagarjuna Sagar in 3 hours, the return journey took us around 4 hours because of this. We returned home, tired but content after an enjoyable day.

PS - If you have time and no fear of the water, try a ride on the coracles which is a round boat :)