By Express News Service BENGALURU: Idly, dosa, vada, sambhar... Ask someone what they think comprises cuisine from Karnataka and these are the answers you’re likely to hear. It’s exactly this misconception that Karunadu Swada 2020 aims to dispel. Currently in its third edition, the MTR Karnataka Food Festival will feature over 100 authentic dishes from six regional cuisine trails from across the state. According to Sunay Bhasin, any familiarisation, at max, would be with Udupi cusine, but there’s much more to the state’s fare than that. “When you break down Karnataka, you can find six unique cuisine clusters within the state and we wanted to bring out dishes that were unique to each of them,” says the CMO of MTR Foods. Divided into Mysuru-Bengaluru, Kodagu, Bidar-Kalaburgi-Gadag, Udupi, Belagavi – Dharwad – Vijaypura and Mangalore, each of the clusters will also focus on one forgotten dish. “There are many dishes that our grandparents prepared but we urban dwellers have lost touch with. We want people to rediscover them,” adds Bhasin, who says that while chefs from MTR will oversee operations, home cooks from each region will be the ones preparing the dishes. “About 8-10 home cooks will come from each region,” he says. After an in-depth cuisine study, about 1,000 recipes were drawn up from the state, of which 200 have been explored in the last two years. “There are big differences in dishes, flavours and ingredients used by the different regions. For example, North Karnataka uses a lot of groundnuts, whereas the kind of chillis used in South Karnataka is different,” explains Bhasin. Recently, the company also launched a packaged Gojju Masala – a masala blend for the state’s popular dish. The readily available powder aims to ease the process of making the dish and was an idea that was built upon after the dish’s popularity at the previous edition of the Karunadu Swada. “This year too, we hope to get the inspiration for another new innovation,” says Bhasin. what’s in store? Mysuru – Bengaluru: Menthe Bele Huli - Fenugreek leaves cooked with dal base sour curry Kodagu: Balekai Matvati palya - Raw banana stir fried with lentil and spices Bidar-Kalaburgi-Gadag: Eli kadabu holagada chutney soppina bale - A rural combination of steam cooked chapattis served with chutney and lentils Udupi: Shakke Hittu -Fermented rice and urad dal batter steamed in banana leaves Belagavi – Dharwad – Vijaypura: Jolada vade - deep fried Poori made out of jowar and lentil flour; best had with hasi mensankai chutney and curd Mangaluru: Basale Pundi - Rice dumplings cooked in coconut base basale leaf curry

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