“Most Andhra delicacies have a sweet-sour balance and sometimes a hint of sweet too,” says Chef Anandraj Murugesan as he gets talking about the ongoing Andhra food festival at The Living Room. He drives home the point with the example of Guntur pandu mirapakaya kodi, a chicken dish garnished in a fiery red sauce. “The dish has chicken that has been marinated for four hours in a spicy red masala made using Guntur chillies, and yet has a hint of sweetness. This dish, which is already on our menu, has repeat customers and we thought of offering more Andhra dishes with a festival.”

Rajabhojanam thaali (veg and non-veg) | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The festival features a rajabhojanam thaali (veg and non-veg) that will cover as many as 23 dishes, four types of podis that can be had with rice, pachadis, pickles, starters, gravies, tomato pappu, and desserts including gulkand lassi and paanagam. “There is more,” says Anandraj adding that the festival features 51 dishes including ragi roti, jowar roti and ragi mudde that can be enjoyed with Kadappa mamsa pulusu (mutton cooked in tamarind water and spices), Andhra kodi kura(spicy chicken gravy)and naatu kodi pulusu (free range chicken curry, popular in Rayalseema).

Alasanda vada made with black eyed peas and punungulu, bite-sized fritters | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In starters, we try the alasanda vada or black eyed peas fritters, a traditional Andhra snack that make for crisp bites. But, the winner is the fiery dip that is basically coarsely ground red chillies (soaked for hours) with tamarind, shallots and tomato. “Most dips are raw and coarse,” explains Anandraj. While the karuveppilai kodi veppudu, a spicy chicken fry in curry leaves masala sets your taste buds on fire, the kamju pitta vepudu (quail fry) goes easy on the spices. “We are experimenting with squid fry to serve as canapes where it is marinated in yellow chilli powder, deep fried and then cooked with masalas. Gongura mamsam, a meat preparation with the same naturally sour gongura (roselle) leaves is another classic dish from Telangana that we bring to the festival,” he adds

Ulavacharu biryani | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

We also try the punungulu, bite-sized fritters, a common street food in the coastal regions of Andhra while the pandu mirappakaay(red chillies)paneer scores high on taste among starters.

How can one round off the Andhra festival without tasting the ulavacharu biryani, a classic dish from Vijaywada, made with ulavalu(horse gram)? Surprisingly, this biryani is vegetarian. However, people do make variations of this biryani by adding chicken to it.

Ragi roti, jowar roti and ragi mudde are also a part of the menu | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Andhra food festival is on at The Living Room till December 15 for lunch and dinner. A meal for two costs ₹1500 approximately. For reservations, Call 9894324929