How to make mirchi ka salan at home
Our recipe for the peanut, sesame and tamarind chilli curry that sits beside every portion of biryani.
A Hyderabad evening, from Necklace Road to the Old City
A simple walking and auto route for visitors that ends with dinner on Raj Bhavan Road.
Guests from outside Hyderabad often ask us how to spend an evening in the city before dinner. This is the route we give them. It takes about four hours and works best from October to February, when evenings are cool.
Start at about 4 pm on the Old City side, near the Charminar. Walk through the bangle stalls of the lanes around it, where lac bangles are set with glass stones while you watch, and look up at the arches before the crowds thicken. The streets towards Pathergatti have old stone facades and shops selling attar, pearls and dry fruit.
From there take an auto to Necklace Road for sunset over Hussain Sagar, around 5.45 pm in winter. The walk along the lake is wide and paved, with views of the Buddha statue on its rock in the middle of the water. Stalls sell roasted corn and Irani chai. From the lake it is a short ride to Somajiguda. Our dinner deg opens at 7.30 pm, and the kebab counter is already going. If you have walked the whole route, you will have earned the mutton.
A practical note: wear comfortable shoes, carry water and keep valuables close in the Old City lanes, which get very crowded after 6 pm. Autos from Charminar to Necklace Road cost about ₹200 to ₹250 on the meter, more after dark.
