The Asafi Jahi dynasty ruled the Deccan for 7 generations .
Strangely this magic of destiny too had something to do with food .
Asaf Jah was travelling down to Deccan .
Hepaid his respects to sufi saint Nizamuddin Auli who asked him to partake his simple meal with him and served him Kulchas .
Asaf jah quickly ate 4 kulchas as it was very tasty .
He apologised to the saint for devouring food but saint asked him to take more and Asafi Jah had seven kulchas .
The saint blessed him and told him you will rule Deccan for 7 generations from now and thus came with Qutb shahi dynasty or nawabs of Hyderabad and a grateful Asaf Jah made the Kulcha a part of Hyderabad kingdoms national flag .
So a place with food in its flag should be the mother of food places .
And it is .
Over the years the influence of local and foriegn cuisines and influences melded to form an unique Hyderabadi cuisine .
During the pre 17 century Vijayanagar reign it mostly Telugu cuisine that dominated.
Once Deccan sultanate rebelled from Delhi there was influx from Turkey and Arabia .
Dastarkhanna or food on a tablecloth in Turkish called Dastar became famous .
The use of saffron rice and kebabs is from these Turko persian influences .
The Arabs too contributed to the famous Haleem, a wheat mutton gruel legendary of Hyderabads breaking fast in Ramadhan fasting days but also seen all around the year .
The Telengana ,marathwada,Karnataka influence is seen too .
Kalyana Biriyani is seen mostly as a karnataka influenced flavoured biriyani where smaller rice is used ,unlike Hyderabad Biriyani ,it uses tomatoes .
Now just a list of major to eat in Hyderabad most of which we did .
Haleem
....lukmi made of mutton kheema a snack
Tahari ..mutton with rice
Pathar ki Ghost...type of mutton khabab made on a stone
Hyderabadi Kichdi
Tala hua Ghost
Faludas and shorbets
Qubani ka meetha
Sheer kprma
Firni
Hyderabadi Kichdi
Baagar ee baingan
Of course Hyderabadi biriyani uses Lucknowi dum pukht nethod to slow cook its exotic mutton and fine long leaved Basmati rice spiced tenderly .
Paradise restaurant since 1953 today has a lot of franchises .
Bawarchi looks like a poor mans paradise in ambience but its tastier in its Biriyani than the paradise one .
The paradise one too was superb .
We had some excellent juicy kebabs both in Bawarchi and in Paradise .
Baingan e barar is at times accompany biriyanis made of brinjal
The MLA Potalam Biriyani with its strange name in the Spicy venue in Jubilee hills where authentic Telengana Andhra cuisine was served .
It was an big thin omelette with finely flavoured prawn mutton kheema biriyani inside.
One potalam will easily serve 2 as we left behind half our potalam .
The thali itself had pooris many chutneys pickles and curries called pulusus .
The steaming white fine rice was served with a dollop of ghee first to be taken with some dhal .
This opened the taste buds wide .
Later came sambhar called Pappu charu or pulses curry .
After this the thin soup like Rasam
Later thick white curds
To me a sprite and to my wife a thick creamy lassi .
Rayalseema Ruchulu is another famous place for Andhra cuisine .
When we come to desserts too Hyderabad doesnt lack behind
Qubaini ka meetha
Sheer korma
Firni
Faludas
Osmania biscuits
.
Of course home made delicious ice creams unlike any we had tasted was found in famous ice cream in Nampully in an old building .
One sat in the open watching the milling traffic and metro passing by as one dipped into the delicious flavours .
Irani tea outlets are very famous all over Hyderabad .most have red coloured highly flavoured tea boiling in kettles and very invigorating usually taken with osmania biscuits .
Osmania biscuits named after the nizam is both salty and sweet made of butter and flour .
Its crunchy
Next to Charminar in old city you find an Iranian restaurant Nimrah chai .
It has the most delicious cookies bread and bun and cakes .
Huge crowds occupy the front .
Iwent in and selected a huge jam bun
It was warm fluffy and smelt nice .
With the red colured chai ,the snack ,some osmania biscuits transported us upto heaven .
Earlier in morning arounŕd 8 am we asked for Govinds the famous dosa place near the Charminar ,no one seemed to have even heard of it
Finally we reached a junction with many people waiting for a dosa in front of a small cart and Govind was the primma donna joking laughing and at same making excellent dosas .
Ours was so grand
Much smaller than usual dosas this was auburn in colour crisp on edges and as filling had onions cut vegetables.
By the time we left Govinds dosa more than 2 of them and some vadas had lodged in my gut with an excellent red coloured chai to wash it down .
I heard theres an upmarket Govind dosa in another part of city though we didnt try it .
One definitely cannot ignore the home made ice creams well known in Hyderabad .
In Nampully theres an old antique building which has a vast open ground in front owned jointly by ice cream shops there.
We sat in Famous ice cream .
The ice creams were soft succulent and tasted Home .
We did see exotic pans .
Finally if I dont mention Karachi biscuits in a Hyderabad food post I am doing injustice .
During partition days a family migrated from Sindh in pakistan to Hyderabad and brought their baking skills by opening Karachi biscuits .
The sheer variety of choice of cookies cakes biscuits bun breads etc is astounding .
And thus Hyderabad i declare is one gateway to heaven
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