Andhra Meals (Bhojanam) ఆంధ్రా భోజనం
The full banana-leaf spread: rice with a parade of pappu (dal), a dry curry, a pulusu or sambar, rasam, a pachadi or two, podi with ghee, pappu chaaru, curd and pickle — eaten in a fixed order and topped up until you surrender. Unlimited 'meals' restaurants are an institution in every town.
Where to try it
Any 'unlimited meals' restaurant in Vijayawada, Guntur or Nellore at lunchtime; village-style 'bhojanam' halls on the highways.
What's in it
Related dishes
Avakaya
The mango pickle every Telugu household makes in May: raw mango cubes cured in mustard powder, red chilli powder, salt and sesame oil, aged in ceramic jars for a year of lunches. Godavari-district avakaya, made with the local Banginapalli and Collector mangoes, is prized.
Pesarattu
A crisp green-gram crepe eaten for breakfast with ginger chutney (allam pachadi). The 'MLA pesarattu' comes stuffed with upma — named, legend says, for the legislators' canteen in Hyderabad — and is the state's favourite tiffin.
Gutti Vankaya Kura
Small brinjals slit and stuffed with a paste of roasted peanuts, sesame, coconut and spices, then simmered in a tamarind gravy — the pride of the Andhra vegetarian table and a wedding-feast staple.
Ragi Sangati with Natu Kodi Pulusu
Rayalaseema's farm lunch: balls of finger millet and rice cooked together, eaten with a fierce country-chicken curry (natu kodi pulusu) or a mutton gravy, and a raw onion on the side. Filling, earthy and unlike anything on the coast.