Almost ready to serve

Authentic Turkish has been missing from India's food scene. But chefs are determined to turn that story around. It means overhauling kitchens and prep. Can it be done?

- Taranna Khetpal [e-mail]

Turkish cuisine is delicious, calls for many familiar ingredients, and benefits from the precise cooking that Indian kitchens do exceptionally well. So why does a Google search for “Turkish food in India” lead to crickets? Where are the home chefs making Jain and paneer versions of Adana kebabs? Why aren't there more döner kiosks at the mall? Why isn’t pide, the stuffed flatbread, more popular? Indians are largely discovering the cuisine via one-off dishes in generic Middle-Eastern menus and weekend pop-ups. Adopting the seemingly simple cuisine isn’t quite so easy, say chefs who are determined to turn the tide.

On the cusp

In Hyderabad, six-month-old Kebapci Hills is merely the newest outpost of the 12-outlet Kebapci chain set up by Aasim Shah, 36, a onetime mechanical engineer and his brother Adeeb, 28, a former corporate lawyer. The menu features the familiar Shish Tavouk and Adana Kebap but also lesser-known delicacies such as the cheese-burst Cihan Kebap and pizza-like Lahmajoun. The brothers didn’t go to culinary school, but they both loved Middle Eastern food and Turkish hospitality. And they knew meat.