A Hyderabadi Ramadan specialty in which marinated minced or flattened mutton is sealed in a tray and slow-baked under 'dum' with live coals smoking the surface. It is a kebab made without any direct flame, cooked entirely by trapped heat and smoke.
Also known as: dum kebab, dum ke kabab, Hyderabadi dum ke kabab, دم کے کباب
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g mutton mince (or thin flattened boneless mutton)
- 80 g fried onions, crushed
- 1.5 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 40 g cashew paste
- 30 g raw papaya paste
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 0.5 tsp garam masala
- 40 g ghee, plus extra for the coal
- 1.25 tsp salt
- 1 piece of charcoal, for dhungar smoke
How to make it
- 1
Marinate the mutton overnight with everything except the ghee and coal.
- 2
Spread it 2 cm deep in a well-greased baking tray.
- 3
Sit a glowing coal in a foil cup on the meat, pour a spoon of ghee over it, and seal the tray tight with foil for 5 min of smoke.
- 4
Re-seal and bake on dum at 180 C for 35-40 min so it cooks in its own trapped steam.
- 5
Uncover, flash under the broiler 3 min, and cut into squares with lemon, onion rings and roomali roti.
Pro tip: The airtight seal is the technique itself; crimp the foil so nothing escapes, because dum means the kebab bastes in its own smoke and steam.
The story of Dum ke Kebab
Dum ke kebab is a Hyderabadi Ramadan speciality in which marinated minced or flattened mutton is sealed in a tray and slow-baked under dum, with live coals smoking the surface. It is a kebab made without any direct flame at all, cooked entirely by trapped heat and smoke.
Dum pukht — cooking under pressure in a sealed vessel — is the technique Hyderabadi and Awadhi cooking is most known for, and applying it to a kebab rather than to a biryani is characteristically Hyderabadi. It is made in quantity for iftar and is a fixture in the old city during Ramadan.
The technique that defines it
The tray is sealed — traditionally with a rope of dough around the lid, now often with foil — so that no steam escapes. Inside, the meat cooks in its own moisture at low temperature for an extended period, which is why the result is soft in a way no grilled kebab is.
The smoke is added separately by the dhungar method: a small bowl of glowing charcoal is set into the meat, ghee is poured over it, and the tray is sealed immediately so the smoke is trapped. That charcoal-and-ghee smoke is what gives a flameless dish the aroma of one that has been over a fire, and it is not optional.
Choosing your ingredients
Mutton mince, or thin flattened strips of mutton, with a good proportion of fat. Raw papaya paste in small quantity as a tenderiser. Fried onion paste, hung yoghurt, ginger-garlic, and the Hyderabadi warm spice profile — cardamoms, mace, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper.
A tray with a well-fitting lid, or foil sealed tightly. Charcoal and ghee for the dhungar. A moderate oven, around 160°C, for an hour or more. The dish rewards patience and punishes opening the tray to look.
Mistakes that ruin it
Opening the tray during cooking
It releases the trapped steam and smoke, which are the entire mechanism. Seal it and leave it.
Skipping the dhungar
Without the coal-and-ghee smoke the dish has no fire aroma at all, which is the thing it is trying to reproduce.
Cooking it hot
Dum is a low, slow method. High heat dries the meat and defeats the point.
A loose seal
Dough rope or well-crimped foil. A gap and the steam escapes.
How it is served
With sheermal, roomali roti or naan, mint chutney and sliced onion, at iftar. In Hyderabad it is bought by weight from shops in the old city during Ramadan and taken home for the table. It reheats well, which suits a dish made in quantity.
Questions about Dum ke Kebab
What does dum mean?
Cooking in a sealed vessel so that steam and aroma are trapped. It is the technique Hyderabadi and Awadhi cooking is best known for.
How does it get a smoky flavour with no flame?
By dhungar — a bowl of glowing charcoal set into the meat with ghee poured over it, then sealed in so the smoke saturates the dish.
What temperature and how long?
Around 160°C for an hour or more, sealed. It is a low, slow method and should not be rushed.
When is it eaten?
During Ramadan, at iftar. It is a Hyderabadi speciality of the old city.
