What is Dhungar Technique?

A piece of activated coal is placed in the center of the food and when 2 drops of ghee are dropped, it emits a gorgeous smoke which is trapped and thereby infused in the food, this gives a nice tandoori flavor to the dishes, this is the dhungar technique. It can be used to smoke dishes such as dals, paneer gravies, tikkas, etc. Years ago when I was not into blogging, my then house help told me this technique. She used to make a smoked salad for us. I forgot about it till recently when for a particular contest on Instagram I had to do some smoke photography. But this is a very useful technique and gives the dishes a total restaurant style taste.

Let’s talk about the ingredients for Dhungar Technique:

Ingredients… yes, we can say so!

Coal: 2-inch coal is enough of a kadhai having dal/gravy for 4 persons. It is also important that the coal piece is big enough which can be held over the flame with the help of tongs. Further use of natural wood charcoal.

Ghee: This is used on the hot charcoal to generate all the smoke that we need. 2-3 drops are enough.

Dishes that can be smoked using this technique:

Anything as simple as dal tadka to the very restaurant thing butter paneer masala can be smoked using this technique. Other than the dals and paneers you can also flavor the veg starters such as paneer tikka, soya kebab, etc.