Dum pukht is the Mughal slow-cooking technique where biryani is assembled in precise layers — partially cooked rice over seasoned meat — then sealed and steamed over very low heat. The sealed pot traps steam, finishing the rice in the aromatic vapours rising from the meat below. Each grain should be separate, flavoured, and perfectly cooked. The dum (steam pressure) is the technique; biryani is its highest expression.
Rice is parcooked to 70% in heavily salted boiling water with whole spices — it should still have a hard centre when drained. Meat is separately cooked with its masala to near-done. Layers are assembled: meat on the bottom, rice on top, saffron milk drizzled over, fried onions scattered between layers, ghee dotted on top. The pot is sealed — traditionally with dough, now often with foil under the lid. Cooked on the lowest possible heat for 25-40 minutes. The steam from the meat finishes the rice and infuses it with flavour.
The sign of perfect biryani: every grain separate, each one flavoured differently depending on its position in the pot — some touched by saffron, some by meat juices, some by fried onion oil. The fried onions (birista) are not garnish — they're a flavour component cooked to deep golden in ghee and layered through. Test the dum by pressing a finger to the lid: if it's hot to touch, the steam is working. A tawa (flat griddle) placed under the pot prevents direct flame contact on the bottom.
Fully cooking the rice before layering — it turns to mush during dum. Under-salting the parboiling water — the rice gets its salt here, not from the meat. Lid not sealed tightly — steam escapes and rice stays undercooked. Heat too high during dum — bottom burns. Not enough ghee — the fat carries the aromatics into the rice. Stirring after layering — the layers must stay distinct.