The effervescent flavours and aroma of dum pukth food can leave even the most stiff-nosed, drooling. If elaborate affairs are your thing, dine like royalty with this traditional nawabi fare. Known as the food of the nawabs, dum pukth or cooking with steam, has been a favourite of the royals since it made its way into India from the Middle East with the Mughals. While it made home in Awadh, it spread to the courts of Hyderabad, Kashmir and central India, with each region giving it a twist.
Using less spices than traditional Indian food, it's generous with ghee and is known for its typical purdah (veil) style of cooking. Meat, rice or vegetables are covered in a copper or earthen pot with a flavoured dough of flour, ghee and sugar (a sort of puff pastry). It's then sealed and cooked on a very slow flame. The essence of dum pukth lies in its aroma.
Senior master chef Mohammed Shareef, from the now-revamped Dum Pukht ITC Maratha, dishes out a few home-style favourites, which can be elaborate to make. The trick is to use a heavy bottomed copper pan or earthen pot since steel tends to heat up quickly.
Dum Pukht Biryani
Ingredients
1 kg Mutton
500 gm Basmati rice
50 gm Brown onions
200 gm Desi ghee
10 gm Cloves
10 gm Cinnamon sticks
10 gm Bayleaf
10 gm Green cardamom
100 ml Cream
250 gm Beaten curd to taste
Salt
10 gm Yellow chilli powder
15 gm Mace cardamom pwd
50 gm Ginger garlic paste
5 ml Rose water
5 ml Kevda water ( screwpine)
2 drops Sweet ittar
25 gm Slit green chillies
50 gm Mint leaves
50 gm Ginger julienne
5 gm Royal cumin seeds
25 ml Lemon juice
½ ltr Water
100 gm Whole wheat flour dough (for lining the lid)
Method
Cooking its mutton
- Heat ghee in a copper vessel and add the whole spices. When they crackle add mutton pieces which have been salted and saute.
- Add ginger garlic paste and brown onions and saute again for a while.
- Add beaten curd and bhunao (saute) till the oil separates. Now put yellow chilli powder, mace and cardamom powder.
- Add water and cook the mutton.
Boiling rice
- Boil water in a pan and add the whole spices, salt and lemon juice. Add the rice and cook till it is almost done.
Cooking on Dum
- Layer the cooked mutton with the rice. Add a ghee and cream mixture.
- Garnish with mint leaves, ginger juliennes, brown onions and saffron dissolved in water.
- Line the lid with dough and seal the vessel.
- Put the vessel on an iron griddle and cook for 15 minutes.
Gobhi Mussallam
Ingredients
1kg cauliflower
100gm Ginger garlic paste
To taste Salt Sauce
10gm Red chili powder
100gms Cashew nut paste
50gm Almond paste
50gm Chironji paste
50gm Desiccated coconut
50gm Fried onion paste
20gm Brown garlic paste
100gm Yogurt
80ml Refined oil
10gm Coriander leaf
Method
- Marinate the cauliflower with ginger garlic paste and salt.
- Make a paste of cashew nut, almond, chironji and coconut for sauce.
- Heat some ghee, add the ginger garlic paste and all the ingredients for the sauce. Cook on a high flame.
- Whisk in yoghurt, brown onion, brown garlic, and red chili powder and cook well until the masala gives out oil.
- Fill the pot with water and simmer. Allow the sauce to reduce.
- Strain the sauce through a fine strainer. Place the cauliflower in a shallow pan and apply sauce. Cover dish with a tight fitting lid and place some live coal on it. Cook on slow charcoal embers until done.
Galouti Kebab (Galawat ke Kebab)
Ingredients
1kg Mutton mince
50 gm Roasted chana dal
100gm Raw papaya paste
5 gm Javitri powder
5 gm Elaichi powder
To taste Salt
50 gm Broken cashew nut
100 gms Desi ghee
5 gm Red chilli powder
10 gm Garam Masala
½ Gram Saffron
5 gm Peppercorn powder
15 gm Butter
Few pieces Clove
Method
- In a bowl mix the minced mutton with all the masalas, raw papaya paste, roasted chana dal paste and salt .
- Make a whole in the centre and place a small cup with burning charcoal in it. This is required for smoking the meat
- In the cup with the burning charcoal add a few pieces of cloves and the butter. Then cover the bowl that has the meat and the burning charcoal, with a lid or foil. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.
- After the coal dies, remove the cup and mix the meat with the masalas well. Roll out small patty shaped kababs and fry them on a shallow tawa with the left over ghee.
- Serve the galouti as snacks or with Roomali Roti or tawa paratha, green chutney and onion rings.
Using less spices than traditional Indian food, it's generous with ghee and is known for its typical purdah (veil) style of cooking. Meat, rice or vegetables are covered in a copper or earthen pot with a flavoured dough of flour, ghee and sugar (a sort of puff pastry). It's then sealed and cooked on a very slow flame. The essence of dum pukth lies in its aroma.
Senior master chef Mohammed Shareef, from the now-revamped Dum Pukht ITC Maratha, dishes out a few home-style favourites, which can be elaborate to make. The trick is to use a heavy bottomed copper pan or earthen pot since steel tends to heat up quickly.
Dum Pukht Biryani
Ingredients
1 kg Mutton
500 gm Basmati rice
50 gm Brown onions
200 gm Desi ghee
10 gm Cloves
10 gm Cinnamon sticks
10 gm Bayleaf
10 gm Green cardamom
100 ml Cream
250 gm Beaten curd to taste
Salt
10 gm Yellow chilli powder
15 gm Mace cardamom pwd
50 gm Ginger garlic paste
5 ml Rose water
5 ml Kevda water ( screwpine)
2 drops Sweet ittar
25 gm Slit green chillies
50 gm Mint leaves
50 gm Ginger julienne
5 gm Royal cumin seeds
25 ml Lemon juice
½ ltr Water
100 gm Whole wheat flour dough (for lining the lid)
Method
Cooking its mutton
- Heat ghee in a copper vessel and add the whole spices. When they crackle add mutton pieces which have been salted and saute.
- Add ginger garlic paste and brown onions and saute again for a while.
- Add beaten curd and bhunao (saute) till the oil separates. Now put yellow chilli powder, mace and cardamom powder.
- Add water and cook the mutton.
Boiling rice
- Boil water in a pan and add the whole spices, salt and lemon juice. Add the rice and cook till it is almost done.
Cooking on Dum
- Layer the cooked mutton with the rice. Add a ghee and cream mixture.
- Garnish with mint leaves, ginger juliennes, brown onions and saffron dissolved in water.
- Line the lid with dough and seal the vessel.
- Put the vessel on an iron griddle and cook for 15 minutes.
Gobhi Mussallam
Ingredients
1kg cauliflower
100gm Ginger garlic paste
To taste Salt Sauce
10gm Red chili powder
100gms Cashew nut paste
50gm Almond paste
50gm Chironji paste
50gm Desiccated coconut
50gm Fried onion paste
20gm Brown garlic paste
100gm Yogurt
80ml Refined oil
10gm Coriander leaf
Method
- Marinate the cauliflower with ginger garlic paste and salt.
- Make a paste of cashew nut, almond, chironji and coconut for sauce.
- Heat some ghee, add the ginger garlic paste and all the ingredients for the sauce. Cook on a high flame.
- Whisk in yoghurt, brown onion, brown garlic, and red chili powder and cook well until the masala gives out oil.
- Fill the pot with water and simmer. Allow the sauce to reduce.
- Strain the sauce through a fine strainer. Place the cauliflower in a shallow pan and apply sauce. Cover dish with a tight fitting lid and place some live coal on it. Cook on slow charcoal embers until done.
Galouti Kebab (Galawat ke Kebab)
Ingredients
1kg Mutton mince
50 gm Roasted chana dal
100gm Raw papaya paste
5 gm Javitri powder
5 gm Elaichi powder
To taste Salt
50 gm Broken cashew nut
100 gms Desi ghee
5 gm Red chilli powder
10 gm Garam Masala
½ Gram Saffron
5 gm Peppercorn powder
15 gm Butter
Few pieces Clove
Method
- In a bowl mix the minced mutton with all the masalas, raw papaya paste, roasted chana dal paste and salt .
- Make a whole in the centre and place a small cup with burning charcoal in it. This is required for smoking the meat
- In the cup with the burning charcoal add a few pieces of cloves and the butter. Then cover the bowl that has the meat and the burning charcoal, with a lid or foil. Leave it for 10-15 minutes.
- After the coal dies, remove the cup and mix the meat with the masalas well. Roll out small patty shaped kababs and fry them on a shallow tawa with the left over ghee.
- Serve the galouti as snacks or with Roomali Roti or tawa paratha, green chutney and onion rings.