I love the aroma of spices. Spices are so essential in my cooking, I could never imagine my pantry to be devoid of any spices. Read more about the spices I use here.
Qaeema Dum
One such dish that fills my house with a delectable aroma of infused spices is Qaeema Dum. The main ingredient in this dish is Kababchini or Dried Cubeb berries. This is not a common spice and hence unknown to many people, yet if you search for it, it may be available in selected stores in North America. In Saudi Arab and India, this spice is quite easily available. Minced meat here is cooked my the meathod of Dum Pukth. I prepare two varieties of Qaeema Dum, altering a few flavors here and there to create new tastes. This particular version is one of my favorites.
Dum pukht is the Hyderabadi method of cooking by locking up steam. Earlier, the aluminium or brass cooking pots or vessels called as deg/degchi/lagan with the foodstuff inside were sealed with atta dough around the lid so that no steam could escape and the moisture stays in. The pot was then allowed to sit on blazing coals to slow cook. A few of the burning coals were also placed on the lid to evenly distribute the heat from both top and bottom. The food inside cooked on dum subsumes all the flavors and aroma in the tightly sealed pot/deg. A modern conventional oven fulfils this need for us.
Val of More Than Burnt Toast, Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Ivy of Kopiaste…to Greek Hospitalilty together have created the Blogger Aid, a network of bloggers working together for a cause, to help alleviate world hunger. Their latest project is a cookbook, contributed by foodies. The cookbook is targeted for sale on Amazon by December 2009 with 100% of the profit from the sales going to the World Food Programme. Tomorrow is the last date to submit your recipe as a contribution to this cookbook. So please do send in your original recipes if you wish to contribute. More about it here.
My recipe for Qaeema Dum is a contribution to the Blogger Aid Cookbook. To get its recipe you have to buy the cookbook once it is out for sales. So do buy the book, and spread the word.
Luv,
Mona
