HYDERABAD: Standing amid a widespread lunch buffet at Novotel Hotel at Hitex in Madhapur on Wednesday, Doolla Yadamma, a chef extraordinaire from Karimnagar, told Deccan Chronicle that being invited to cook for the Prime Minister was not something she had ever imagined.
“I never ever thought or even dreamt I would be doing something like this,” said Yadamma, betraying excitement and nervousness.
Yadamma’s services, for the big Telangana lunch on July 3 at the BJP’s national executive meeting, were requisitioned by the state party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
She said, “Sanjay sir is close to me... but I never thought I would be cooking for the Prime Minister.”
Sanjay, she said, had told her once that he would take her to Delhi and introduce her to people as a great cook from Telangana.
On Wednesday, Yadamma went around a food spread prepared by the chefs and culinary director of Novotel G. Kailash, who attentively listened to her evaluation of each dish. She was accompanied by her son Venkatesh, who is learning the intricacies of the craft.
Sampling ‘Dosakaya Pachchadi’, she said “this should not be a paste, you should see and taste the cucumber pieces”, while remarking “the paneer pieces should be squeezed to get the moisture out before cooking”, after tasting a curry.
“It is not what Telangana food tastes like. Some of the curries, although made with different vegetables, taste the same,” she said.
Following the sampling, a war-room-type meeting ensued, where Yadamma, Sanjay, and BJP food committee head Chada Suresh Reddy sat down with the chefs to discuss a revised menu.
Asked if she will be supervising the cooking for the July 3 lunch, Yadamma said, “I will do the cooking, grinding the masalas, adding them to the different dishes. I will have one chef assisting me to help oversee the entire preparation.”
She said she would be back at the hotel the night before the big day.
