The culinary skills of multi-tasking homemakers hogged the limelight as enthusiastic eves took part in the cookery contest ‘Our State-Our Taste’ organised by The Hindu jointly with the AP Tourism department here on Sunday, to discover the signature dish of the State.
The AI Convention centre here was a beehive of activity with a large number of women with their husbands and kids in tow, presenting a variety of mouth-watering dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
They tastefully arranged the dishes with salads to impress the three judges Ramesh Chandra, Kasa Janardhan Reddy and Chinam Raju, who had a tough time in selecting the winners in the district-level contest.
Ragi sankati
Some young chefs also exhibited their culinary skills. “We selected the winners going by the appearance, aroma and taste,” said the judges after an elaborate exercise of tasting each and every delicacy and putting a barrage of questions to the contestants.
A majority of the participants made the multi-nutrient finger millet-based Ragi Sankati popular in these parts of the State. Seventy-year-old K.Pichamma came all the way from Giddalur, travelling 140 km to present the Raagi millet balls in the traditional way.
V. Srikavya, a B.Tech student in city college, won the first prize preparing with perfection the traditional Nellore Chepala Pulusu. Dedicating her win to her mother, she revealed that she imbibed the skill of making the fish curry by adding the ingredients in right proportion and mixing them the right way to get the correct consistency and taste.
“My mother acquired the art of cooking the spicy curry from my paternal grandmother,” added the ninteen-year-old who is gearing up for the grand finale in Vijayawada on March 9.
Guntur gongura pachadi
Twenty-year-old T.Harika won the second prize by making the sweet and soft Andhra Bobatlu, while 60-year-old B.Ratnamma finished third by preparing in the traditional way, the tangy Guntur Gongura Pachadi with farm grown Hibiscus cannabinus rich in iron, vitamins, folic acid and anti-oxidants. “I made it a point to grind the ingredients using a pestle as was done by my mother in the olden days to get the right taste,” said the homemaker from Bandlamita.
Premier Cookware and Appliances and Gopuram Food Products are the co-sponsors of the event. TV5 is TV partner, Red FM is radio partner and HDFC Bank is official banking partner.
White Thoughts and Branding is the creative and digital partner of the contest.
