Telangana On Your Table

"RE they giving us pani puri?" we thought, exchanging perplexed yet excited glances over our little plates.

- Nitika Krishna

After all, we were surrounded by rustic, mud-coloured walls adorned with ikkat designs, dokra art, and aesthetic photographs of rural Telangana. But Terrai, a new restaurant nestled in Sattva Knowledge Park, Hitec City, gave us a tangy surprise as we crushed the puri in our mouths, the burst of flavours made us shriek with joy: "It's not pani, but Pachi Pulusu!"

After this refreshing start, we were served some soups, perfect for Hyderabad's chilly winter days. The Horse gram Rasam with Puffed Rice Cookie on the side was intriguing; the rasam was actually uluvacharu, a horse gram gravy that pairs excellently even with biryani and roti. We could not resist dunking the cookie, topped with some horse gram paste, in the uluvacharu—delicious indeed! The non-vegetarian equivalent was Mutton Bone Marg with Mutton Toast. The mutton was perfectly cooked and surprisingly not very spicy, falling right off the bone, and the creamy green stew poured over it was just perfection. The keema on the toast was soft and tender, with a refreshing touch thanks to the pickled onion rings and microgreens on top.