HYDERABAD: We Hyderabadis love our street food, and the delicacies available here have tremendous variety. Be it the chaat, the dosa and idli or the patthar ke gosht and chicken 65, you have stalls all over the city dishing out some delightful fare. The fish and seafood lovers have their favourite street kiosks too. Though these are not as ubiquitous as the other versions of street food, a few stalls draw their customers not just from the neighbourhood but from all across the city.
These stalls source different fresh fish varieties ranging from pomfret, tilapia, anchovies, rohus to prawns and crabs, marinate them in a spicy masala often with a lot of red colour and sell them after deep frying on a hot tawa.
Royal Fish, one of the best-known fried fish stalls is located close to Charminar. Look for a crowd gathered around a nondescript stall very close to Hotel Shehran serving some delicious fish dishes. They also serve fish cakes or tikkis served with a lime wedge and onion slices. The aroma of fried fish makes it easy to locate the shop, and the items here taste extremely delicious, though many prefer to wipe off the excess oil before enjoying the soft fish meat.
Another popular stall at Kavadiguda near Tank Bund is also called The Royal Fish Stall. In the evenings this place serves fried fish, with varieties such as rohu and pomfret. A boneless version is also available. The prawns here have many takers, and if you do not visit them early you may not be able to lay your hands on them.
On Sanjeev Reddy Nagar main road, Baba is running a fish stall for the past twenty-five years. Eager customers throng around his tawa where varieties of fish are deep fried and served on newspapers. A chutney and powdered masala applied on the fried fish enhances the taste. Apart from pomfret, which is the highest selling fish here, another niche delicacy in demand is the fish head fry.
A lane close to Manjeera Mall Kukatpally is known as the “Pakodi Galli”, and you have abundant choices for non-vegetarian pakodis here. A cart called Mavullamma Pakodi Centre run by Bheema Raju is one of the most popular stalls on this street, serving non-vegetarian pakodis. Though their prawn pakodis with cashew is a big hit with customers, the crabs, pomfret, anchovies as well as tilapia also have huge demand. The masala used is specially prepared at home with coriander, cumin, fennel seeds and other ingredients, and loyal customers say that the taste is not replicated in other stalls from the neighbourhood.
Sabyasachi is a food enthusiast and blogs at www.foodaholix.in