Dum

Dum (from the Persian and Urdu word meaning 'breath' or 'steam') is a cooking method in which a pot is hermetically sealed — traditionally with a rope of stiff dough called 'atta loi', though foil or a tight-fitting lid weighted with coals is also used — and set over very low heat. The trapped steam circulates within the vessel, cooking food gently and evenly from all sides. Simultaneously, heat is sometimes applied from above (using live coals placed on the lid) so the food cooks in a top-down and bottom-up thermal embrace. The technique is the foundation of dum biryani, where parcooked rice and spiced meat are sealed together so that each grain absorbs the perfumed steam rising from the layer below. Dum pukht, literally 'to stifle in steam', is the full name of the classical Awadhi culinary tradition built almost entirely around this method. In Levantine cooking, a related concept appears in clay-pot preparations sealed with flatbread. The defining qualities of dum-cooked food are an extraordinarily tender texture, concentrated aromatics (since volatile compounds cannot escape), and a mellow, blended depth of spicing that sharp, high-heat methods cannot replicate.

“After layering the parcooked rice over the spiced lamb, the chef sealed the handi with a thick atta rope and let it cook on dum for forty-five minutes over a tawa on the lowest flame.”

• techniquesBraising
• ConceptMaillard Reaction
• CuisineAwadhi cuisine

1. 1.Classic Indian Cooking — Julie Sahni
2. 2.Indian Food: A Historical Companion — K.T. Achaya
3. 3.Dum Pukht: The Art of Slow Cooking — ITC Hotels culinary documentation
4. 4.The Seventh Ingredient — Salma Husain

Confidence: high