Assortment of dishes on display at Dumpukht Food Festival at HHI in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, July 23: The gastronomes of the city are now getting the taste of the royal feast.

Dumpukht Food Festival going on at HHI, Bhubaneswar, is offering sumptuous meals made on low flame.

Delicacies such as shahi paneer pasanda, saag noormaahal, jhinga korma, sabz gulnaar and many more have been prepared by cooking them on low intensity fire so that the constituents of the items retain their smoky flavour.

“Be it mutton, chicken or any vegetarian item, it has water in it. In the ‘dum’ procedure, the water is not allowed to evaporate. It renders a completely different taste to the items,” said Altaf Rahaman, executive chef.

The items that are being offered in the buffet also include murgh Jahangiri shorba in appetiser, hara mattar ki shammi and tangri naushahi jaan in starter and kesariya phirni and shahi tukda as dessert.

On the occasion, Subrata Sarkar, the executive Sous chef narrated the story of how the cuisine became so popular.

“In the ancient times, the kings and his army had meals that were poles apart. During wartime, it was not possible to cook tasty food with rich spices for thousands of soldiers, the cooks used to put vegetables and meat and roast or fry them on low fire. A certain king liked the aroma, which he found distinctive and included it in his royal kitchen. Since, then it became a dish for the royals,” said Sarkar.

The organisers are surprised with the popularity of the fest.

“Odias prefer vegetarian items mostly during sawaan. But I reckon, the dishes have been so tasty that they just cannot resist it,” said Abid, the restaurant manager.

The organisers have made sure that along with enjoying their dinner, cricket lovers also get to watch the ongoing India-England test series.

“I had only heard about dum biryani and it happens to be one of my favourite dishes, but getting to devour a variety of dishes made in the same procedure is extraordinary,” said Santosh Panigrahi, a businessman.

The festival that began on July 18 is on till July 27.

While the items of Dumpukht Food Festival are being served only for dinner on weekdays, on weekends they are offered at lunch as well. The prices have been kept at Rs 600 exclusive of taxes.