If you’re a fan of the Dum-ke-Rote, the flat baked cookie that swamps the city markets from Muharram, prepare to shell out more now. Most bakeries now sell the delicacy at a premium of 10-15 per cent over normal rates.
Bakers attribute the hike to the rise in the costs of the Rote’s ingredients. The product now sells for anything between Rs. 200 and Rs. 360 a kg. “Prices of most ingredients have seen a drastic rise in the last one year, forcing us to increase the price,” a bakery owner at Chaderghat says.
Prepared from wheat flour, maida, ghee, sugar, semolina, vegetable oil and milk products, the cookie is spiced up with cashew nuts, almonds, pista and saffron.
“Though it is costly, I still prefer to buy it in small quantity as it is only once a year that it is available in the market,” says Naveed, an accountant. Earlier, women in the houses used to prepare it and get it baked at the bakeries but the practice has come down due to families going nuclear.
