Bringing Home A Taste Of Hyderabad

My good friend Lucky Murari got married recently and that took me to his hometown, Hyderabad.

The last time I went to Hyderabad was during my 12th grade when our batch went on a 6 day pleasure trip.

A lot has changed since then. The current state of Telengana was still part of Andra Pradesh. You might find this hard to believe, I disliked travel back then and hated train journeys even more.

I met Lucky during Tata Jagriti Yatra in 2010. The friendship with Lucky and two others, Namrata and Sumit, is undoubtedly the greatest outcome I have had from the Yatra.

Lucky And Rajyalakshmi Husband And Wife
Lucky And Rajyalakshmi – Husband And Wife

Just as I arrived at Lucky’s home, their parents being the generous hosts they are and it being a wedding house, I was immediately served lunch. I instantly loved the food in front of me.

I had been away from India for about 8 months at that point, so my taste buds were craving for the complexity of flavours that only a heavy dose of Indian spices can deliver. And boy, Hyderabadis love their food spicy!

My previous experience with Hyderabadi food was just their biryani. I am not a huge fan of the same and I think it’s a bit over hyped. Not that it isn’t great, don’t get me wrong, but we do have amazing biryianis in Kerala and a lot more styles than what I have tasted in Hyderabad.

What excited me about the lunch was the liberal use of tamarind in the curries and sides. Malayali’s crave for fish curries prepared with Kudampuli and associate it as a delicacy. And when similar tastes come by we are in love!

Being away from home forced me to start cooking and soon I realized that I loved cooking. It relaxes me and I love how something I cooked can sometimes surprise my taste buds.

(That makes me sound like a fabulous cook, I promise it’s just fancy words. In reality all I make is eggs, potatoes, noodles and pasta. lol)

Like most people who cook, I often collect recipes of the things I love and I decided that I was going to learn how to make some of the sides from Lucky’s mom.

Learning From The Wise

Lucky’s mom, Padma tookΒ  me under her wing. I was about to find out how well she knew cooking and how incredible she was.

With Padma Aunty Student And Teacher
With Padma Aunty – Student And Teacher

We had no common language. Apparently if you hangout with someone long enough and you try, you will be able to communicate. Maybe that is how early human beings communicated and came up with a language?

She is very intelligent. She knows why some things are done some ways. She understands the science behind cooking and always explained to me with reasons instead of just saying that’s how it should be.

She had a solution for everything. What happens if it’s too salty, or too bitter.

She also understood nutrition. She told me why we she used raw ingredients to preserve the vitamins.

Moms (or the person who cooks) influence the health of the entire family and having a mom who understands nutrition is very important to stay healthy. We often take that for granted.

Growing up I remember how my mother would always limit the amount of junk food I ate. And we as Indians are lucky in general because our cuisine is loaded with spices. Various spices, along with their flavour, also bring essential micro nutrients.

Tomato Pickle With Tamarind

Amongst everything I tried, I was floored by her tomato pickle. I loved it so much that I was having it with breakfast, lunch and dinner.

She made a new batch and showed me how it’s done. She gave me a theory lesson first and then I watched her do it.

There are some things that you can only learn by doing it, but you can get a pretty good idea by watching someone do it.

Having had the opportunity to learn from someone who knew so much and with so much patience, I felt so humbled.

Yesterday, I finally made it at home.

Of course, it didn’t turn up as good as how she made it, but it was pretty good and my resident food critic, my dad, approved it. It should be better the next time.

Homemade Tomato Pickle
Tomato Pickle I Made Following Her Recipe

I am not sure if the recipe for the same interests any of my readers (maybe Ajith Edassery?). I should probably make that into a post for itself. However, if you wish to try it, you are welcome to come visit.

Thank you Padma aunty for teaching me!

p.s: Since this was about cooking and my time with Lucky’s mom, I have missed out on two important characters to the story. His dad and his brother. I spent about a week in his home and loved hanging out with both of them.

Lucky’s dad is a tea lover and a maths teacher. His brother is a traveler like me. We had so much in common to talk about and we bonded very well.

6 responses to “Bringing Home A Taste Of Hyderabad”

  1. WOW!!! Floored. Thank you Arun πŸ™‚

    Like you said sometime earlier, we generally tend to appreciate the “Ghar ka Khana” πŸ™‚ I always loved that tomato pickle but never told mom. Will share this article with her and also tell her thank you for the daily tasty food πŸ™‚

    1. Ha ha! Your mom is an amazing cook man. I can’t wait to learn more from her.

      No french restaurant can replace Ghar ka Khana!

  2. This pickle is really tasty and new to me….the flavours of many of the ingredients lasts long…. Many thanks to Sri Lucky’s mam for training Arun and congrats to Arun for successful execution back home….Well done…

    1. Glad you loved it Appa. Thanks for gathering all the ingredients and helping out πŸ™‚

  3. That Couchsurfer You Cooked With Avatar
    That Couchsurfer You Cooked With

    Having met you and cooked with you during your trip to the States, I can safely vouch that you also make some pretty badass pancakes and bread, my friend. Don’t limit your abilities. You’re becoming a great cook. Might have to take you up on your offer to visit and get some of that pickle. I’m sure it’s fantastic. Congrats on another successful kitchen adventure!

    1. Haha, this is an awesome compliment! I am glad you enjoyed my “Indian food”. I always joke with my friends that they would come to India expecting the curries here to be something like I cooked there and find out that Indian food is actually so much better. lol

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *