Kitchen Secrets of Telangana

Book excerpt: Kitchen Secrets of TelanganaThe Dundoo Cookbook is a veritable compendium of vegetarian recipes that remain true to the classic Telangana school of cuisine! This is a collection that has passed the test of time and innovative interventions of modern-day cooking to reveal the wisdom of traditions that were commonplace in kitchens of yore. To have been passed on between five generations within a family is perhaps its singularly unique characteristic and the promise that it shall keep being handed down to generations ahead means that Telangana food culture will continue to thrive in its vegetarian avatars through members of the extended Dundoo family of Secunderabad. This aggregation of recipes encompasses most meal components of a typical home meal, with unique snacks and tiffin, a wide variety of vegetable accompaniments to go with robust preparations of lentils and a choice of staples in rice. That said, no Telugu meal is offered without dollops of home-crafted ghee, various chutneys, thokkus and podis, of which there is a nice repertoire to check out. Festive sweetmeats hold their own at the table and the Malida Muddalu is to die for.