Sixty-five-year-old B. Seethamahalakshmi walked away with the top honours for her ganji pulusu kadambam at the “Our State, Our Taste” cookery contest organised by The Hindu Group, in collaboration with the Tourism Department here on Wednesday. She bagged a cash prize of ₹50,000.
The contest witnessed more than 180 participants in the age group of 12 to 65 years vying with one another to make the signature dish of the region.
The second prize was bagged by K. Bhavani for her dish thaati boorelu. M. Sarojini came third for her sweet dish paala thalikalu. Both of them received cash prizes of ₹30,000 and ₹20,000 respectively.
Unusual recipes such as keema kajjikaya, royyala pulao, kottimera vadiyalu, multivitamin laddu, oats kheer, arikela patikibellam pongali, fruit-ragi java, amruthaphalam sweet, thaati boorelu and korrela pulihora were the cherry on the top. All the dishes, which included curries, snacks and desserts, represented the rich heritage and culture of Andhra Pradesh.
Two head chefs from the State Institute of Hotel Management, Tirupati, A. Sivaramakrishna and K. Sivaramakrishna, tasted the dishes and adjudged the three best along with two consolation prizes. “Some of the dishes reminded us of our childhood when we craved for our grandmothers’ food,” said Mr. A. Sivaramakrishna.
The show was sponsored by RKG, Butterfly, Kanchi Kamakshi and Fortune. Nissar Ahmed of the Tourism Department, Kishore of the Butterfly group, and Kiran Kumar of Fortune group were among the invitees.