The Art of Dum Pukht ... The Grand Cuisine of India

Kebabs at Dum Pukht include Dora Kebab Rehmani, Seekh Gilafi Dumpukht, Harra Kebab Awadhi, Mirch Kebab, Dumpukht Kakori to name a few. Main courses include Mahi Qaliya Dum Pukht and Murgh Handi Qorma- boneless chicken prepared in a light brown onion and saffron base - as well as Raan - e - Dum Pukht, Paneer Qaliya and Dum ki Khumb. Dum Pukht’s most famous recipes include Dum pukht Biryani, Gucchi Pulao, Shahi Nihari and Mirch Baingan Ka Salan.

Special mention must be made of an Awadhi dish, Dum Pukht Koh - e - Awadh, prepared from lamb shanks with melt - in - the mouth meat on the bone and a subtly spiced gravy. Combined with Rogani Roti , Naan - e - Bah Khummach , Warqi Paratha and Awadhi Sheermal, these dishes are a gourmet’s dream come true. Of course, no menu can be complete without mentioning desserts such as Sevion ka Muzzafar and Gulab ki Kheer.

Dum Pukht cuisine: over 200 years of culinary magic from Awadh knowns as the granary of india, Awadh was important strategically of the Doaba, the fertile plain between the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers. It was wealthy kingdom, able to maintain its independence against threats from the Marathas, the British and the Afghans. It is here that the Dum Pukht style of cooking was born, a style of cooking that soon became synonymous with the slow, regal and luxurious lifestyles of Awadhi Nawabs.

This cuisine came about by a stroke of chance when the State of Awadh was hit by a famine and unemployment was high. Nawab Asaf - ud - Daulah decreed the never ending construction of a magnificent mosque , the Bara Imambara, creating unceasing employment.

Arrangements were also made to feed to labour.

‘’ A famine two hundred years ago, the cooking of food in common woks for the poor, a passing Nawab... and the birth of a new Nawabi cuisine’’.

Enormous containers were filled with rice, meat, vegetables and spices, and then sealed, allowing the contents to cook, as far as possible, in their own juice. This cuisine was deemed perfect for the royal table. Wood from the Chinar, the famous Kashmir tree, was considered the best cooking wood for Dum Pukht. Exotic dishes evolved, in which flavors and fragrances intermingled, with exquisite results.

Ultimately, Dum Pukht food is about aroma, when the seal is broken on the table and the fragrance of an Awadhi repast floats up in the air.

Typically, Dum Pukht cooking uses a round heavy bottomed pot in which the food is sealed and cooked over a slow fire.

There are two main aspects to this style of cooking. Bhunao and Dum, or roasting and maturing.

Herbs and spices play an extremely critical role. Recipes were developed in close consultation with hakeems or physicians, to be nutritive and easy on the digestive system.