The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : It is the season for Dam-ka-rote

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Sunday, Jan 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

It is the season for Dam-ka-rote

J.S. Ifthekhar

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Crispy delight: Dam-ke-rote, a Muharram delicacy, is being sold like hot cakes in city bakeries.

Hyderabad: What Haleem is to Ramzan, Dam-ke-rote is to Muharram. Crusty outside and tender inside, it is a great culinary delight. Come the month of mourning and rote is the fastest moving item in bakeries. Though it is available all through the month, it is on the 9th and 10th of Muharram, that the demand peaks.

Rote aficionados flock the eateries in large numbers. Many eat and take home a parcel. Though there is a religious significance to rote, but the popular fare has now crossed all spiritual barriers. People from different faith go for a bite.

“It is so delicious that I am not able to stop at just one piece,” says a youth, Aleem.

As soon as the Muharram crescent is sighted, bakeries in Hyderabad get into the act. They have their hands full for the next one month dishing out the season’s delicacy. “On an average we sell 300 to 500 kg during Muharram”, says Syed Irfan of Subhan Bakery in Nampally. The rote is sold at Rs. 140 to Rs. 160 a kg.

That it is purely vegetarian snack has made rote a big hit with everyone. What are the ingredients? Well, it consists of wheat, flour, sooji (semolina), vegetable oils, ghee, sugar, salt, milk products, dry fruits and cardamom. It is getting the ingredients correct and in right proportion that makes all the difference. Of course the special way of it is baked adds that crispy touch.

“It is a trade secret,” says a baker at Moazzam Jahi Market.

Not long ago Dam-ke-rote was a homemade product. But now everyone is turning to the bakeries for their requirement. Interestingly, it is only in Hyderabad that this fare is popular and associated with Muharram.

The tradition dates back to 1953 when the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali khan, offered rote to the ‘Nala-e-Mubarak’ Alam near Charminar for the safety and well being of his grandson, Mukarram Jah Bahadur. Even today this practice is continued and people who take vow for the safety of their wards break the rote on the Alam and distribute it to others, says Syed Hamed Husain Jafery of Shia Youth Conference.

But for many it is the delectable rote that matters.

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