Today’s Special: Ethnic and Rustic, Bongulo Chicken and Kunda Biryani!

Rustic cooking is unrefined and simple, but also warm and inviting. It is typically based on old-fashioned preparation techniques, ingredient availability and a unique set of cultural influences. Bongulo chicken is originally a traditional tribal cuisine of Araku Valley near Visakhapatnam. But Bongulo chicken has become very popular due to the ethnic tribal community of Maredumilli in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. 

Maredumilli is a village in the jungle area of East Godavari District. It is on the way from Rajahmundry to Bhadrachalam in Telangana State. It is 87 km from Rajahmundry and 120 km from Bhadrachalam. Being a forest area it is cool with greenery everywhere. It is a popular sightseeing place with waterfalls and resorts a little away from the village, in deep forest areas.  With many bamboo trees available in this area, Bongulo chicken is very popular here. Some visitors come here just to watch the preparation of Bongulo chicken and relish it.

Bongulo Chicken means Bamboo Chicken. Bamboo chicken is a chicken curry prepared by stuffing marinated chicken into an interlude of bamboo stem/tube and then cooked on charcoal. Bamboo chicken is an oil-free and nutritionally rich dish.

In the attached pictures you can have a glimpse of Bamboo chicken and Kunda - Mutton Biryani being prepared at our house today. Kunda Biryani means Pot Biryani… it simply means Biryani prepared in an earthen pot as in the olden days. You can also see in these pictures another ethnic preparation from Rayalaseema and parts of Karnataka – Ragi Sankati or Ragi Muddha. And you can also see the time immemorial, universally loved tradition of barbecue and today it was Barbecue Chicken!

Everyone relished every item and me too. I loved cooking today and seeing everyone happy! Cooking is really love made visible!