A still from the seriesOf bite-sized, juicy succulence

The ‘Pakodi Street’ is on the way to JNTU Kukatpally Housing Board Colony. The specialty is that they only cater to non-veg lovers. A little ahead of Cinepolis Mall on the way to Forum Mall from Kukatpally, Pakodi Street begins at the lane where the landmark is Pochamma Gudi (local deity temple); it is located at the entrance of the path.

Drive or walk in and the blow of fried masala will strike your nose. At the same time, the fried spices in the oil might even make you cough, but that shouldn’t be a restriction to reach the carts selling chicken Pkodhi, prawns and fish fried in the true Andhra style.

Around eight to 10 carts set up their stall in this lane every evening at 7 pm and they sell till their steel tubs full of marinated meat and fish become empty. One of the carts that have the most number of people was ‘Sri Laxmiamma Talli Chicken Pakodi’ run by Jalil and his father Ramesh Garu.

Jalil is the newest member to join the cart business in the lane and in fact it is the most popular cart compare to others. It could be because the fact is he has a modified food cart with an in-built exhaust system, clean counters to cook and shining steel vessels to hold the marinated meat.

He says that for past 18 years his father is working there; they have been able to meet the demands of street food lovers. So, what’s the special dish of Jalil’s cart? “We sell non-veg pakodis in pure Andhra style. It is deep fried, crispy and spicy. I use a special masala combination and call it ‘navaratna mix’,” he explains.

Nuran khan shares, “I sell kabab, tikka, Lolipop, hariyali tikka. I also work with Jalil bhai. I recently joined his business. His mother Laxmi prepares all the items at home and mixes it with the special masala then brings it here.”

There’s no menu card that’s passed around. The items are popular and you just place your’s one by one. There were many items he shared with us those are chicken pakodi with bone or boneless, chicken leg piece, wings, prawns fry, fish fry, kamju fry and raw fish. The meats are bite sized, crispy deep fried and the Navaratna mix makes it “oh so tasty”.

Next comes the prawn pakodi, with a generous pinch of lemon and freshly sliced onions on the side, with special Pudine ki Chatni will brings the delicious taste to our taste buds.

The prices start from Rs 100. The costliest item that he sells is a single Tilapia (fish) for Rs 400 and each item, which he sells, is measured with kilo grams.

“We are working here for nine years and we sell only chicken items. We sell Gaudawari chicken, talli chicken, bone, boneless pakodis in our stall.

In our cart each item’s rate is Rs 100. We purchase up to Rs 3,000 a day. It makes a good profit to us. A huge number of customers come here every day,” says Ramu, who sells only chicken item in his cart.

A few customers standing in front of the cart were asked their views on the dish they were taking. Srikant, a regular customer of ‘Laxmiamma cart’ shares, “I’m coming here for six years. I like it so much. I mostly take boneless chicken and popular chicken Pakodi. It’s really tasty and spicy which change our mouth taste.”

“I come here twice a week. The taste is very good. I always take chicken pakodi, leg piece and prawns pakodi home. Every food item has its own magic recipe, which cannot be replaced by other item.

It does take a lot of effort to get the dish ready. Price is regional only it is not costlier. A middle class family can afford to buy these items. Apart from that I love it a lot,” adds Srinivas.