TIRUCHY: The aroma of spices and sizzling turkey wafting through the air in Tiruchy’s streets has become as synonymous with Deepavali as firecrackers lighting up the night sky during the festival.
This year though, the demand for turkey (vaankozhi) biriyani — that experimental dish from about two decades ago that has now turned a Deepavali staple — has reached a new high as major restaurants alone have reported receiving over 1,000 pre-orders per day for the dish over the past week. This is in addition to the “rising” trend of the city’s festive tables filling up with other turkey-based dishes such as turkey 65, roast, and curry, to name a few.
A Murugan, owner of Arumugam Biryani in Palakkarai — among the first food joints to serve turkey biriyani 25 years ago — says the trend has completely changed.
“Earlier, people would come during the last three days before Deepavali and take back biriyani in buckets. Now, enquiries for orders start two weeks ahead, so we begin cooking ten days in advance,” he said. “Our outlet’s turkey-based side dishes, especially vaankozhi vellai kuruma (turkey white gravy), are also flying off the shelves,” he added.
“People in Tiruchy now feel turkey biriyani should be part of their Deepavali celebrations every year,” says Mohammed Hakkim, founder of KMS Hakkim Biryani, which has several outlets in the city.
Mentioning the high number of pre-orders in each outlet over the past two weeks as compared to around 500 they usually record daily, he adds, “We’re even getting orders from Pudukkottai and Thanjavur.” While pointing out that they once sourced turkey meat only from farms in Namakkal and Dharmapuri, he says the growing demand has encouraged local broiler shops to rear the bird specifically for the festival season.
The demand isn’t limited to established brands alone as smaller players have joined the Deepavali rush with limited-batch turkey biriyani. N Baskar, a cook from Somarasapettai, says his homemade-style version of the dish, which is priced around Rs 300 per kilogram as compared to Rs 400-Rs 450 per kg in bigger outlets, has a “strong following”. “We use homemade ingredients and prepare based on the number of birds ordered. People also love our turkey 65 and grilled turkey,” he says.
For residents like K Suganthi of Palakkarai, ordering turkey biriyani for Deepavali has become a ritual. “We could make it at home, but turkey takes longer to cook. When restaurants prepare it in large batches, the flavour is unique,” she says.