The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Hyderabadi biryani, gongura pacchadi... umm... one heady mix this!

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 07, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Hyderabadi biryani, gongura pacchadi... umm... one heady mix this!

W. Chandrakanth

Hyderabad: The forthcoming AICC plenary venue at Gachibowli Sports Stadium, near here, will see flavours of Telugu cuisine wafting across to the delight of delegates.

The food committee headed by Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy is leaving nothing to chance in planning the main course. "Simple, yet memorable," is the mantra adopted by the committee. Though an endless variety of crisp snacks, including Chinese, finds mention in it, the luncheons and dinners are bound to be dominated by typical Andhra and Hyderabadi cuisine specialities.

Hyderabad biryani is, of course, an integral part of the spread, but it's all going to be `dum ka' mainly. Chicken curry, however, is `pure Andhra' variety. As for vegetarian stuff — as it was originally planned — it begins with `Andhra maata' (mother of all) as `gongura pacchadi' is called and plates could be `sajaoed' with `gummadi vadiyaalu,' `appadalu,' `saggubiyyam vadiyaalu' and `oora mirchi (mirchi soaked in butter milk with a dash of salt and dried and fried).'

South Indian speciality `rasam' will be there too, but to the accompaniment of `ulava chaaru,' it is said. `Vepullu,' deep fried curries, will be jostling for space on the serving table along with `mirchi bujjis and aloo bajjis. For those who don't prefer the fried stuff, there is always a choice of gravy curries — mirch ka saalan and the inevitable bagaara baigan. Another variant of `baigan' and an age-old traditional `gutti vankaya koora' along with coconut rice and the typical `pulihora' will be luring the guests to have a go at them. Vegetable bullets, samosas, curry puffs and spring rolls constitute the snacks along with sandwiches.

Pickles — both `aava and dosa' — will be offered to the spicy tongues. Rice comes `saada' as well in `jeera, mixed and pulao' styles. Tandoori, naan, rumali rotis and pooris with subzi are the variants of Indian bread. Qubani ka meetha and double ka meetha along with ice-creams and gulab jamoons help one wrap up the meal.

Six food courts to be set up

A 200-strong catering army lined by a leading food agent and 600-strong serving and cleaning staff will be on the job. Six food courts are being opened for convenience of the guests and the media while a separate base kitchen camp will operate from behind the venue to cater to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh