Plantains are the members of banana family, but when used in cooking, they are treated like vegetables and not a fruit. People in Andhra relish not only the vegetable but also it tender stem called ‘davva’ (or doota) by removing the outer layers and reaching its nutritious core, which is a labour-intensive process but worth every bit of effort. The edible core of plaintain stem, used to prepare stir fries, dals, kootu, juice and even salad. When stir fried, it is seasoned with spices, ginger, curry leaves and flavoured with tamarind and mustard powder.
K. Phani Rajakumari won the first prize for presenting Arati davva (doota) koora (curry) at ‘Our State Our Taste’ cookery contest, organised by The Hindu, in association with Andhra Pradesh Tourism, at Repalle on Wednesday.
The contest venue at Repalle town in Guntur district was abuzz with over 200 participants showcasing a varied range of dishes that were judged by the jury.
A rather unusual combination of kanda (yam)-peethalu (crab) curry got K.J. Jyothi the second prize, while A. Tejaswini won third place for her Vakkaya-kobbari pachchadi (pickle berry-coconut chutney).
The smorgasbord of food comprised dishes like velakkaya pulihora, semia raitha, atika mamidi pachchadi, arati-chepa fry, bread gulab jamun and pala-puri.
Teresa, B. Venkata Subbamma and S. Lakshmi won consolation prizes. Besides two consolation prizes sponsored by the Fortune Group and the Butterfly Group, the third one was a pleasant surprise announced at the venue by Lakshmi Electricals, dealers of the Butterfly Group.
The show was powered by the Butterfly Group, in association with RKG Ghee and Oil and rice partner Fortune. The gifts were sponsored by the CMR group and Kanchi Kamakshi.