The master of chillies

Guntur chillies can be dangerous in the hands of an amateur chef — it can set off a fire on your tongue and leave your throat burning, and no matter how much you cry, tears can’t quell the flames. In the right hands, however, this is a wonderful spice that lends a warm flavour to any dish. With the amount of chillies grown in the state (the highest in India) it is not surprising that chefs of Andhra Pradesh make the best use of chillies, from Guntur as well as from other regions such as Warangal and Khammam.

This is evident as we dig into the Ulava Charu Kodi, a chicken-based gravy, mustard yellow in colour. Despite the liberal use of chillies, the spiciness isn’t overpowering. The hot flavour from the chillies is balanced out by the tamarind and tomato. It is light and, unlike other hot cuisines such as Kolhapuri, the spices don’t dominate the meat.

“In some of my dishes, I also use vinegar, which gives a sour flavour to the meat and softens it, counteracting the spice,” says chef Sakala Sankara, referring to the Urugai Mamasam, a mutton-based gravy, which we are eating with rice at the ITC Grand Central in Mumbai during an Andhra Food Festival.

For a chef who liberally uses fiery red chillies, Sankara sure is mild-mannered. He smiles as much as he talks. And his journey to the kitchen is as interesting as the food he cooks. He came to Hyderabad seeking a job from his home town in Rayalaseema.

On a whim, he enrolled in a casual training course at the ITC Kakatiya, and from thereon entered the kitchen. Today, as assistant master chef at Dakshin, the South Indian restaurant at ITC, Sankara lays out an array of Andhra dishes. Like his signature dish, the Nellore Kodi Pulao. A preparation from coastal Andhra Pradesh, the pulao is different from the Hyderabadi biryani, the best-known rice dish from the state.

“Biryani is cooked dum style, and the rice used is basmati. The meat in the Nellore Kodi Pulao, on the other hand, is cooked along with the rice. Because it is cooked for so long, this needs the sona masuri variety of rice which takes longer to cook than basmati. Rich seasonings such as saffron, cashew paste and browned onions, which are used in Hyderabadi biryani, are not used in this pulao,” says Sankara.

Another coastal Andhra speciality that Sankara makes is the Kanda Bachali Koora, a vegetable curry prepared from yam and bachali, a leafy vegetable found commonly in coastal Andhra. According to Sankara, bachali or “Italian spinach” is hard to find in other regions of Andhra Pradesh. It is thicker than regular spinach and has a slightly sour taste. “People in coastal Andhra commonly make dal with this leaf.” Can we make this dish at home using spinach? “No, you can’t replicate the flavour of bachali with regular spinach,” says Sankara, and then smiles, “Maybe some market in your city will have bachali.”

Sankara likes exploring little-known recipes and techniques of preparing dishes when he visits his hometown in Rayalaseema.

Tasting the food served at weddings can be quite instructive, he says. But the best way to understand a preparation is to speak to the elderly in villages, says Sankara. Are they willing to share their recipes with a five-star chef from Hyderabad? “They mostly wonder why a man is so interested in the nitty gritties of cooking,” quips Sankara. And then he smiles.

Chapa Vepudu
Ingredients
l Fresh water murrel fish, 300gm l Red chilli powder, 15gm l Lemon juice, 15ml
l Turmeric Powder, 5gm
l Ginger garlic paste, 15gm
l Gram flour, 5gm l Refined flour, 10gm
l Salt, to taste l Refined Oil, 20 ml l Curry leaves, 3-4 leaves

Preparation: Wash the fish and marinate with salt, turmeric, lemon juice and refined oil. Refrigerate for an hour. Make a mixture of ginger & garlic paste and the dry spices, gram flour and refined flour. Coat the mixture onto the marinated fish. Shallow fry and garnished with lemon wedges and fried curry leaves.