Dum Ke Roat: A Muharram Treat You Can Make Without An Oven

Dum ke roat is a popular sweet treat from Hyderabad which is made with semolina or sooji as the main ingredient and it is combined with all-purpose flour or maida, jaggery or sometimes melted sugar, ghee, and cardamom for flavor. This treat resembles cookies but it actually is not cookie, Instead dum ke roat are denser, richer, and wholesome because it uses ingredients like sooji, mawa, jaggery, and traditional spices which is often missing in the westernized cookie recipes. Dum ke roat carries a sense of home and culture which is often missing in cookies and biscuits. They are made in a more intricate way with careful process to resemble the depth of culture and tradition in every bite.

The Meaning Behind Dum Ke Roat

The name “dum ke roat” gives you an idea of how the recipe is made. The word “dum” denotes that the treats are slow cooked to perfection, usually in a tightly covered skillet or in an oven on very low heat. The word “roat” denotes a dense cake-like sweet which is often round and thick, and with a golden crust which is soft from inside. The recipe contains nuts and ghee which brings a rich element. It is often flavored with cardamom, rose water, and kewra water for a royal aroma.

This treat is often associated with Muharram festival in Hyderabad and is offered as “niyaz” or a religious offering on the 10th of Muharram. Prepare this sweet delight at home without the need for an oven with this simple recipe and share it with your friends and family to make the festival memorable.

No-Oven Recipe for Dum Ke Roat

Ingredients:

• Semolina (sooji/rava) – 1 cup
• All-purpose flour (maida) – ½ cup
• Jaggery (grated or powdered) – 1 cup
• Milk – ½ cup
• Ghee (clarified butter) – ¼ cup
• Yogurt – 2 tbsp
• Baking soda – ¼ tsp
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios) – 3 tbsp
• Khoya (mawa) – 2–3 tbsp
  Rose water or kewra water – 1 tsp

Instructions:

Step 1: Make the Batter

Take a big mixing bowl and combine semolina, all purpose flour, and baking soda in it. Add melted jaggery, milk, yogurt, cardamom, and ghee to it and mix well to make a thick batter. Fold in crumbled khoya, rose or kewra water, and chopped nuts. Combine these ingredients well. Once combined, cover the batter and let it rest for about 1 to 2 hours. This technique will help semolina soften and soak the water and also ferment a little bit.

Step 2: Prepare for Dum

Take a heavy bottomed non-stick pan or a griddle and grease it with a little bit of ghee. Place a thick steel or aluminium plate inside it like a makeshift baking tray base contraption. Preheat this on low heat for 5 minutes. This will act like your stovetop oven base and will help you make dum ke roat without an oven.

Step 3: Cook the Roat

Grease a small round steel thali or a cake tin and pour the batter into it. Smoothen out the top with the help of a spatula so the surface becomes even. Now carefully place this tin into the preheated base inside the pan and cover the pan with a tight fitting lid so that the heat doesn’t escape and the roat can be cooked evenly. Place a weight or a heavy object on top of the lid to seal heat and cook it on very low heat for about 30 to 40 minutes. After 25 minutes, check the doneness of the dum ke roat with the help of a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean means the roat are cooked from inside. If the top is set and the inside looks cooked, turn the heat off and let cool before unmolding the roat.

Step 4: Garnish & Serve

Once the dum ke roat have cooled down, unmold them and take out on a plate. Garnish with chipped nuts and ghee drizzle for decoration and serve it warm.

Tips for making perfect dum ke roat:

1. Use coarse semolina to get an authentic texture in dum ke roat. Coarse semolina will help in making the dum ke roat slightly crunchy and will make every bite wholesome. Fine semolina will dissolve and make the dum ke roat melt in mouth easily without giving the bite experience.
2. Add jaggery to the batter of dum ke roat for a better flavor. Jaggery brings a deep caramel like flavor. Sugar gives a lighter taste which might not be as wholesome and as healthy as jaggery.
3. If you are using sugar because you don’t prefer jaggery, you can still bring a deep caramelized flavor to the dum ke roat. For this, caramelize the sugar slightly in ghee before mixing it into the mixture for a highlighted roasted flavor.
4. To make the dum ke roat taste more authentic and traditional, add a sprinkle of charoli seeds on top before cooking. Charoli seeds are a classic addition to Indian treats and it also makes the dessert look more appealing.