Restaurant at Nandhini Hotel, Basavanagudi

The celebrated Andhra Cuisine is a product of many rich influences like the glorious history and culture of its zestful and vigorous land. It has its roots in the Southern cooking tradition with each of Andhra Pradesh’s three regions namely-the Coast, Rayalseema and the Telangana having their own distinctive cooking styles. The Nawabs brought with them the Deccani style of cooking which drew influences from the Mughlai cuisine. As time passed the two cooking traditions influenced each other leading to the culmination of the Andhra fare as we know it today.

While the fiery chillies and peppers and the staple use of rice in the cuisine can be attributed to the original Southern style of cooking, the dollops of ghee, use of fresh fruits instead of dried ones and the non-vegetarian specialities are all typical Nawabi traits.

All in all there is no dearth of variety for foodies as far as Andhra cuisine is concerned. Whether it’s the traditional Andhra meal served on a plantain leaf with the quintessentially spicy & tangy vegetable sambhars, gravies, Avakkai, Gongura pickles and chutneys to be relished with rice, or the mouthwatering array of biriyanis, top of the list being the Hyderabadi Biriyani, the kebabs, kormas, khichris or kulchas Andhra cuisine is a lip-smacking treat all the way.