Aloo Bukhara (Dried Plums): Biryani, Chutney and Buying Guide

Most people ruin their aloo bukhara before it ever reaches the biryani pot, by buying the glossy, sticky ones that look best on the shop counter. This guide to aloo bukhara (dried plums) covers choosing, soaking, and using them in biryani, chutney and a few dishes you may not have tried.

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What aloo bukhara actually is (and isn’t)

The name confuses people. “Aloo” here has nothing to do with potatoes. It comes from an old word for plum, and Bukhara is the Central Asian city the fruit’s trade was tied to. What you get in a Pakistani pansar shop is a dried, dark reddish-brown plum, wrinkled, about the size of a large grape, with a hard stone inside.

It is related to the Western prune but it’s not the same thing. Supermarket prunes are big, soft, very sweet and nearly black. Aloo bukhara is smaller, firmer and much more sour. That sourness is the whole point in cooking. Swap one for the other and your biryani turns oddly jammy.

There’s also a fresh aloo bukhara, a red summer plum sold on thelas in June and July. Different use, same family. This article is about the dried kind.

Buying: the glossy trap and other problems

Walk past the prettiest heap. Very shiny, sticky aloo bukhara has often been tossed in sugar syrup or glucose to add weight and shine. It tastes flatter, clumps in the jar, and draws ants and mould in Karachi humidity. Good ones have a matt, slightly dusty skin and feel leathery, not wet.

Signs of a good batch

• Deep maroon to brown colour, fairly even across the bag
• Firm but bendable when pressed; not rock hard, not squishy
• Sour, clean smell with no hint of alcohol or vinegar
• No white fuzz or grey bloom near the stalk end

Sulphited kinds

Some dried fruits are treated with sulphur dioxide or sulphite salts to hold a brighter colour. Imported or unusually bright orange-red plums are the likeliest to be treated. For most people this is harmless. For people with sulphite sensitivity, including some with asthma, it can set off wheezing, flushing or hives. If that describes someone at your table, read the pack for “sulphur dioxide”, “E220” to “E228” or “contains sulphites”, or buy loose, dull-coloured, sun-dried stock from a shop you trust.

A quick home check for sugar coating: rinse three plums in warm water and rub. If the water turns cloudy and sticky and the plums lose their shine, they were coated.

Soaking and preparing dried plums

You don’t always need to soak. In a biryani with plenty of steam, they soften on their own. For chutneys, raitas and snacking, a short soak makes them easier to pit and blend.

1. Put the plums in a bowl and rinse twice in plain water, rubbing gently to lift dust.
2. Cover with 3 times their volume of warm (not boiling) water, about 50 to 60°C.
3. Soak 30 minutes for biryani, 2 hours for chutney, or overnight in the fridge for eating plain.
4. Squeeze each plum lightly; the stone slips out. Keep the soaking water. It’s tart and fruity and goes straight into the chutney.
5. Use soaked plums within 24 hours, refrigerated.

Always count the stones out. A stone left in chutney is a cracked tooth waiting to happen, and a real choking hazard for children.

Aloo bukhara in biryani, qorma and pulao

In Sindhi and Karachi-style biryani, aloo bukhara is the little sour surprise between layers of rice. It cuts through the ghee and the richness of the meat.

Leave them whole in biryani so guests can find and move them aside if they want. Tell children to look for the stone.

Aloo bukhara chutney

This is the chutney that turns up next to samosas at iftar and next to pulao at weddings. Deep red, glossy, sweet-sour, with a warm hit of spice.

1. Soak 150 g aloo bukhara for 2 hours in 400 ml warm water. Pit them and keep the water.
2. In a heavy pan, combine the plums, soaking water, 80 to 100 g sugar or grated gur, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder.
3. Simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes, mashing with a spoon, until it coats the back of the spoon.
4. Add 1/2 tsp roasted and crushed zeera, 1/4 tsp kala namak and a pinch of saunf powder. Cook 2 more minutes.
5. Blend smooth if you like, or leave it rustic. It thickens as it cools.
6. Fill a clean, dry glass jar. Keeps 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge. Makes about 300 ml.

For a no-cook version, blend soaked pitted plums with a little of their water, 1 tsp sugar, salt, chilli and a squeeze of lime. Eat within 2 days. If you like tamarind chutneys too, the imli pulp guide shows how to make the base that blends well with this one.

Traditional use and what to make of it

The part of that tradition you can actually lean on is simple. Dried plums, like prunes, are known to loosen stools in many people, partly because of their fibre and natural sugar alcohols. So a few may help if you’re a bit sluggish, and too many can send you running. If constipation is a regular problem, the qabz guide goes through fluids, fibre and red flags properly.

Myth: aloo bukhara “cools the blood”. Reality: it’s a sour dried fruit that tastes refreshing in summer. That’s a pleasant thing on its own. It doesn’t need a medical story.

Storage in hot, humid weather

Moisture is the enemy. Sugar-coated plums spoil fastest.

• Glass jar, lid screwed tight, filled nearly to the top
• Kept away from the stove and the sunny window
• In monsoon, move the jar to the fridge
• Always a dry spoon; never wet fingers

Throw out any batch that smells boozy or sour-fermented, or shows fuzzy white or green spots. Don’t cut the mouldy bits off and keep the rest.

For more pantry staples explained properly, browse Desi Remedies, or read about their sweeter cousins, kishmish and munakka.