Hyderabadi cuisine was heavily influenced by the Mughals, but there are also influences from Arabic, Persian and Turkish cuisines. The cuisine also borrows greatly from the neighbouring local food cultures.
Hyderabadi cuisine is sometimes called Deccan cuisine, referring to its old name.
Hyderabadi recipes feature meat more so than most of the other regional cuisines and rice is a staple. The British fixation with “curry and rice” may well be attributed to cooks coming from this region to cook in Raj households.
It is a diverse cuisine, with delicate dishes from the Nizam era, very similar to the food of the Nizams of Lucknow. The meat dishes tend to be quite robust and there is a great range between these two.
This recipe for murgh dum pukht is easy to prepare. Everything goes into the pot for overnight marination and then the pot is placed into the oven to cook. Another favourite of the British, this is a versatile dish, and need not be too hot.
Getti chutni is a simple versatile chutney to go with most South Indian foods. It is most commonly served with idli, vada or dosa.
Plain, simple rice, chawal, with a touch of colour.
This eggplant pickle, brinjal ka achaar, is deliciously hot and spicy.
This Hyderabadi dish of lamb, cooked with leafy green vegetables, saag gosht, is a restaurant and home-cooked favourite. Spiced lamb, covered with clinging silverbeet. It could be cooked with almost any leafy vegetable.
Crispy outer leaves, and softer, but still crunchy centres, spiced with turmeric, cumin and mustard seeds, this is a great way to prepare Brussel sprouts. Known as choti bund gobhi sabzi, these are not sprouts as you know them.
Rasam masala is a spice mix used to flavour the thin soups served as the second course in a traditional south Indian meal.
Sambar masala is a spice mix used to flavour thick lentil-based soups that are the traditional south Indian first course.
Typical of the Hyderabadi cuisine, this sabzi pulao is a one-pot rice dish deserving of centre stage at a family gathering. Simply rice and vegetables cooked togther in spices and stock.
