Bamboo chicken means chicken cooked inside the bamboo’s beak. One of the special curries of the tribals living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is this curry cooked in bamboo. Not only chicken but also fish are cooked.
Inside the beak, Chakmaras call it chumo gorang. The Marmaras say “Kangdong Hung. The Tripuras say “Wasung-po prengnai.
Although there is no name for it in Bengali, they call it bamboo chicken, and if it is fish, it is called bamboo fish.
This curry is seen when the hill people go to various social events. 1520 years ago, tribals used to cook more with bamboo sticks. Nowadays, its popularity has decreased due to the arrival of different types of pots or pots made of zinc or aluminium. Now, instead of bamboo sticks, zinc pots are used for cooking. But no one has forgotten about the delicious food cooked inside the bamboo.
Bamboo is required for this recipe. The immature fresh and raw bamboo is best. Due to the high water content in this bamboo, it does not burn easily. It can be kept on fire for a long time. All bamboo can be cooked, but mainly Pharoa, Dulu, and Mitingya bamboo are used more.
They are larger in size than other bamboo. More than 20-30 buds are available from one bamboo. The mouth is placed on one side of the chhonga, and a bamboo knot is placed on the other.
Pieces of meat cooked in chonga are usually smaller. The pieces are cut short to facilitate easy cooking in the bamboo.
As the pieces are small, the tel masala can penetrate easily into each piece.
Put the meat in a pot for cooking and add oil, water, salt, turmeric, onion, garlic, ginger and spices related to the cooking well. No water or oil is used in this cooking method inside the raw chicken. First, one end of the beak is left open, and then a banana leaf (or any non-harmful raw leaf) is wrapped around the mouth of the bamboo. Now bamboo chicken will be made by burning the bamboo in a coal fire. When the bamboo burns and turn black, you will understand that the chicken inside the bamboo is cooked.
Turn the bamboo skewer every few minutes so that the bamboo skewer doesn’t burn and the skewer gets evenly heated all around. After putting it in the oven like this, it becomes edible when the steam comes out from the chhonga.
By that time, the bamboo will be burnt and blacken. Remove the banana leaves, check whether the fish pieces are cooked, and remove them from the oven.
Must take This special cooking aroma will attract everyone. You can take the cooked chicken out of the bamboo and serve it on green cleaned leaves, and it will also look good.
Materials
Boneless chicken meat – 500 grams
Garam masala 1 tablespoon
Lemon juice-1 lemon
Coriander powder – 3 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric powder- half (12) tablespoon
Chop coriander leaves
Chilli – 1 tsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Raw Bamboo Chonga – 1 gira, one side bowl (20 cm approx
banana leaves
Method of preparation
Take the chicken pieces in a bowl. Spread turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt over it. Spread coriander powder, garam masala, ginger-garlic paste and lemon juice. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Butter well with the meat. Cover and marinate for 20 minutes. Now stuff the marinated meat pieces in the bamboo sticks. Shake the bamboo. The pieces of meat will be pressed, and inside the bamboo
will not be blank. Once the bamboo is filled with meat pieces, wrap the banana leaf and close the mouth of the bamboo. Twist another piece of banana leaf and tie the open face of the bamboo with a wire. Burn the bamboo filled with meat in a coal fire. You can also burn wood by burning it. Simmer for 30 minutes (or longer). 15 minutes in high fire and 15 minutes in low fire. Turn the bamboo upside down so that all sides are cooked well. When the outer side of the bamboo is burnt and black, you will know that the meat inside the bamboo is cooked. Remove the bamboo from the fire and pour water over it. It will not spread ash. Remove the banana leaves from the mouth of the bamboo shoots and inside the chicken.
Take out the meat. Serve at home or on banana leaves sprinkled with coriander leaves. It can be served with diced onions if preferred.