Taste of T
Talking about the Telangana cuisine, chef Siddharth from Trident says, “The dishes from this part of the region are quite different in terms of taste. They are basically divided into curry (like chapala pulusu, kodi pulusu and gongura Mamsam), semi dry or iguru (and lamb pepper fry) and dry (like Telengana fish fry).”
For vegetarians too, there is a variety like gutti kura venkai, dosakkai pappu, tomato pappu, palak kura pappu, bendakkai vepdu and aloo gadda vepdu. “These dishes are very well balanced – combine basic flavours of being sour and spicy,” says the chef, who graduated from the Oberoi School of Learning and Development.
Love it!
Siddharth shares that his passion for healthy and seasonal veggies and fruits is inspired by his mother. “The kitchen at my home is very simple and the recipes are passed on from generation to generation. The kitchen is under absolute control of my mother. She is a good cook and uses lots of seasonal vegetables,” he shares and adds that he loves home-made food. “The irresistible thing about home cooked food is that the flavours are not too over powering,” he quips.
Being chef
So, what is his favourite part of being a chef? “The best part of being a chef is that you are always experimenting with ingredients. Being in the profession is like learning new things everyday – how one ingredient is used by different cultures to prepare different dishes,” she says.
Is there one dish he can never get quite right? “I feel that to master even a single dish, you need to cook it more than 1,000 times. For example, I used to struggle to with a folded omelette, but with practice I learnt to make them,” he shares.
Food trend
Siddharth believes that the food trend which is gaining momentum is the modernisation of Indian cuisine while maintaining the traditional flavours and taste. “I feel that Indian cuisine is very vast and needs to be explored and made available by modernising it,” he says.
According to him, the most underused ingredient that yields amazing results is garlic. He elaborates “Garlic enhances the taste of every food it is added to, especially green leafy vegetables and pickles. It is easily available and complements most ingredients.”