Hyderabad: Book on unique aromas of Telangana released

Hyderabad: An authentic book on the aromas of Telangana from a different perspective has brought out by chef Sudhakar N Rao, Director/Principal of Culinary Academy of India, after researching about the Telangana cuisine. He belongs to the region. He explored the food of Telangana and his idea was to simply identify rural, home style original cooking styles and recipes. He's travelled to all the districts over a period of two years.

He said he had taken the authentic recipes from the ladies for the regular common dishes made in the houses and just altered it to suit the hotel and the restaurant menu preparation styles. Through this endeavour, he is confident that he would be able to bring back Telangana cuisine as a mainstream cuisine for the hotel and restaurant industry. Chef Rao says that the salient feature of the Telangana Cuisine is that the authentic recipes and methods of cooking were handed over from generation to generation simply by word of mouth with no proper documentation at all. It is so fascinating to know that millets were and are the staple food in many parts in Telangana.

Chef Rao says that in childhood he himself would have `Taidala Ganji' which when had along with butter milk is considered a coolant during summers. He could arrive at the conclusion that the ancestors of the region placed a lot of emphasis on the wholesomeness of the local diet. Food as medicine was a central part of the culture and was always been designed to suit seasonal climatic changes. The rotation concept of different foods for different times of the year was practised to keep the body strong and in condition in order to continue daily activities. All such foods and their recipes were collected by him and his team from respected village elders of the entire region.

The uniqueness of this book – Aromas of Telangana – is that each recipe has a QR Code and the reader can see the video and try the recipe.

The book was released on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebrations of Culinary Academy of India by Vemula Prashanth Reddy , the Minister for Roads & Buildings, Legislative Affairs & Housing, Chef MAnjit Singh Gills, the president of Indian Federation of Culinary Associations, Chef Soundarajan, the general secretary of Indian Federation of Culinary Associations.