Indian slow cooking comes to Dubai - celebrate 'dum pukht' at Oberoi

Written by:
Robert Chilton
22nd January 2014

The world moves pretty fast these days. Thank goodness, then, for the Indian restaurant Ananta at The Oberoi, which on Wednesday January 22 launches a special menu that celebrates the ancient art of slow cooking.

Chef Dirham Haque, from The Oberoi, Gurgaon in northern India, is taking up a week’s residence at The Oberoi in Business Bay to demonstrate dum pukht, a culinary tradition that began in the royal kitchens of Awadh in India in the 18^th century.

‘Dum’ means to breathe in while ‘pukht’ translates as cook or slow oven. The tradition was born out of the famine that gripped India in 1785 during which time Indian ruler Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah was building his palace, Bara Imambara.

He implemented a food for work programme to feed the thousands of workers constructing the palace in Lucknow, which still stands today. Huge cauldrons were filled with rice, vegetables, meat and spices and then served to the workers day and night. Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah smelt the aromas of the cooking food and was so intrigued that he demanded the food be served in the royal palaces.

You can now experience the food and the aromas that got Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah’s taste buds all fired up by trying the dum pukht menu at Ananta, which runs January 22-31. Choose from an a la carte menu of dum pukht dishes or try the Awadh Thali for Dhs300 per person.

What’s On teamed up with Chef Dirham at Ananta to make a galouti kebab of minced lamb and spices and learn about dum pukht.

RECIPE
Ingredients
1kg minced lamb
100g lamb kidney fat
10g dry rose petal powder
60g ghee
15g green cardamom powder
Spices used in a dum pukht recipe

5g clove powder
10ml kewra water
10ml rose water
70g fried onion paste
30g raw papaya paste
Salt
50g Kashmiri red chilli paste
1g saffron powder
3g all spice powder

Method
1. Pass the lamb and kidney fat through the mincer at least eight times to get a fine mince.
2. Transfer the lamb mince to a lagan (a traditional Indian dish).
3. Add ingredients to the mince and mix well with your hand.
What's On cooking dum pukht at Ananta, Oberoi