Bamboo chicken a sought-after delicacy

Srikakulam: The tribal delicacy bamboo chicken (Bongu chicken), which is earlier available in Agency areas in Khammam, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam districts in Telugu states, is now available at sea shore areas of Kalingapatnam in Srikakulam.

Mainly tourists and picnic lovers are being attracted for this delicacy at Kalingapatnam beach. Sensing a huge demand, some local fishermen underwent training in preparation of this bamboo chicken in Paderu and Araku Agency areas in Visakhapatnam district and started their outlets here.

Bamboo chicken is prepared by marinating raw chicken with some spices, salt and chilli powder. The chicken stuffed into bamboo stalks as different pieces and cooked it on firewood. In this process, no oil and water added to chicken and it was boiled by absorbing moisture from bamboo stalk, giving a delicious taste to chicken. The dish served fresh soon after preparation and it is suggestible to consume immediately.

Each piece of bamboo stalk can only be used once to prepare the chicken. Bamboo chicken selling is becoming a profitable business as cost of per kg raw chicken is Rs 160 and after preparing as bongu chicken, it costs about Rs 350, which means more than 100 per cent profits are possible due to huge demand from tourists and picnic lovers for this delicacy.

Thriving business and large profit margins are attracting local fishermen into preparation of this delicacy. “Demand for this chicken witnessed considerably high particularly on Sundays and we are normally doing business worth Rs 10,000 on holidays,” said fishermen of Kalingapatnam beach M Appa Rao and A Ramudu. “We went to Araku and Paderu areas two years ago and stayed there for some time and learnt the process, returned here and started business,” they elaborated.

By Ch Lakshmana Rao