Food has always been Andhra Pradesh’s strength. Their fertile land, the access to the rich coastal belt (some places even have the sea and a river flowing through them, so they get fish from both) and the wide range of vegetables has only made the variety of food richer. But over the years ingredients and recipes have managed to get lost. We’re growing into a bigger place, moving faster and are so busy that one of the first things that gets affected is our food. Back in the days, when most people stayed in joint families, everyone got together to cook. Each one brought their expertise to the table. I remember when a simple tradition like making pickle was almost like a festival. Women of the family would get together, and pickle-making became a celebration, but who has the time for that now?
Families have become smaller, couples are busy and there is hardly any time to patiently cook. As a kid I remember my grandmother patiently grinding the dosa batter in a rubba-rolu (grinding stone). She would push the ingredients into the middle of the stone and grind it to a mash, that way she got a feel of how the batter felt at each stage. Today, your mixers have taken that place and for those who don’t have time for using a mixer, readymade batter is available. So, it isn’t really a surprise that many dishes that were made on a day-to-day basis slowly disappeared from the lives of people.
There is no time to start preparing these dishes, so convenient food like readymade curries, chutneys and even sambar and rasam powder are available. When all it takes is opening a packet, heating and eating, many, obviously, will prefer it to cooking food from scratch. What else can be the factor that contributes to recipes disappearing? Seasonality. The food in Andhra Pradesh has always been one that was prepared according to the season. In summer you would get the chinta chiguru (tender leaves of tamarind) which is one of the most important ingredients in many dishes, people would buy a whole lot of those leaves.
Then you have the teasel gourd, a smaller non-bitter version of the bitter gourd that is found during the monsoon season only. Andhra weddings were a feast to reckon with. There is something called the banthi bhojanam, a traditional feast where the food was served on banana leaves, weddings these days don’t have that. Very rarely do I get to hear someone asking for that or even hosting traditional Andhra recipes.
You can find a chaat stall, but to find a simple curry like the gummadikaya bellum pulusu is a rarity. Recipes like kanda bachali kuura (yam and spinach dish), the arati dooda (vegetable made from the stem of the banana tree) are not that easily made at home these days. The non-availability of ingredients and once again, not finding the time to buy them from the market or to prepare them, slowly meant that only a handful of homes prepared these dishes and that number is steadily dwindling.
— Chef Chalapathi Rao is the owner of Simply South By Chef Chalapathi Rao
Gummadikaya bellum pulusu
Ingredients
500 gm red pumpkin
150 jaggery
100 gm tamarind
50 ml refined oil
20 gm mustard
10 gm jeera
5 gm fenugreek
50 gm onion
100 gm tomato
25 gm ginger-garlic paste
5 gm turmeric powder
10 gm chilli powder
A sprig of curry leaves
Method: Boil red pumpkin chunks with tamarind extract, jaggery, salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Heat oil in a thick bottom vessel, add mustard, after they splutter add jeera and fenugreek. Add curry leaves, dry chilli, then onions. Saute till transparent, fry well, add ginger and garlic paste and tomato chunks. Add cooked pumpkin with masala, check seasoning. Garnish with coriander. Best eaten with rice.
— Recipe by Chef Challapthi
Kanda Bachali Koora
Ingredients
½ kg yam
50 bachali aaku (Malabar spinach) leaves
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 green chillies
A pinch or two turmeric powder
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp cumin powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
For the tempering
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp chana dal
3 red chillies
A pinch of asafoetida
Method
Peel and cut the yam into equal sized cubes. Boil them for 20 minutes and cover for another 10. Wash and chop the Malabar spinach leaves. Set aside. Heat oil in a kadai, add all the ingredients meant for tempering one by one, along with green chillies. Let it splutter a bit. Then add the spinach leaves and cook until they wilt. Add the tamarind pulp. Season with salt, sugar, turmeric and red chilli powder. Mix well. Now add the boiled yam cubes. Mix everything until blended. Reduce heat to low and cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add some cumin powder and stir before serving.
— Recipe courtesy food blogger Siri
