There are many styles of cooking in Telangana. In the villages, people still employ traditional methods in cooking. This includes wood-fired and Masonry's ovens.
Staple food
in its cuisine, there is special place for roti's made from millets, such as jonna rotte, sajja rotte, or Sarva Pindi" and Uppudi Pindi. In Telangana a gravy or curry is called Koora and Pulusu in based on Tamarind. A deep fry reduction of the same is called Vepudu. Kodi pulusu and Mamsam vepudu are popular dishes in meat. Gutthi Vankaya , Aloogadda koora & fry are some of the many varieties of vegetable dishes. Telangana palakoora is a spinach dish cooked with lentils eaten with steamed rice and rotis. Peanuts are added as special attraction and in Karimnagar District, cashew nuts are added. Popular Telangana curry dishes include Boti and Thunti Koora made out of Red Sorrel leaves. Potlakaya pulusu, or Snake gourd stew is one of the daily staple dish. Sakinalu is the most popular snack made of rice flour during festivals like Dusshera and Sankranthi makes it very delicious and one of its kind fritters of South India.
Ingredients
The locally found ingredients are mainstay in the cuisine. Fresh vegetables like tomatoes, brinjal, bitter gourd, pulses, tamarind play a big role in the vegetarian dishes. The dishes based on goat and lamb are preferred over chicken in the dishes. As the region does not have a coast, only fresh water fish like korra matta is occasionally prepared.
Vegetarian food
In Telangana regions Tamarind, red chilies and Asafoetida are predominantly used in Telangana cooking. Roselle is a major staple used extensively in curries and pickles.
Sadhulu – varieties of Rice, mainly cooked for Sadhula Bathukama Festival different flavors are as follows- Sesame, Groundnuts, Bengal Gram,Coconut, Tarmarind, Lemon, Mango, yogurt
Guddalu – prepared with different beans, Blackeye beans, corns, Chana, Sprouts along with some spice and onion
Kallegura – mixed vegetable curry generally prepared during Sankranthi Festival
Sakinalu – rice flour Snack
Garije – a sweet filled with a combination of either sugar or jaggery, with lentils.
Pickles
Roti Thokkulu – generally, they are prepared by semi fry the vegetables and grind it on a stone grinder tools, or in a mixer with adding tadka to it.
Mamidikaya thokku
Chintakaaya thokku
Chintapandu thokku
Usirikaya thokku
Munagaaku thokku
Non-vegetarian food
Ooru Kodi Pulusu: Telangana’s special flavorful country chicken curry.
Sugar madugulu is a sweet made with milk and butter with sugar coating, and pharda pheni' is another sugar-coated crispy wafer sweet. Boondi laddu and Ravva laddu are popular sweets. Saboodana kheer with poori is also a popular sweet. Recent years has seen a resurgence of Telangana cuisines in restaurants around Hyderabad with the availability of Telangana thali dish for lunch.
