Haleem descends from harees, the Arab porridge of wheat and meat slow-cooked to a paste, carried into the subcontinent by Arab traders and along the routes the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals opened. In the Mughal Corridor its home is Lahore and the wider Punjab, where it is the great pot of Ramadan and Muharram — wheat and barley cooked down with mixed lentils and meat over many hours, the meat then pounded back into the grain until the whole turns thick and gluey, shot through with threads of meat, ladled from huge cauldrons and shared out to neighbours and the poor. (Where the meat is left in cubes rather than pounded in, the same pot becomes khichda.) It is finished at the table with crisp fried onion, slivered ginger, mint, green chilli and a hard squeeze of lemon, eaten with naan. The famous Hyderabadi haleem is a separate Deccan line of the same dish, spiced differently; this is the northern, Lahori register. The version here follows Recipe52, a Pakistani home-cooking site — an English-language record of a dish otherwise measured by the cauldron and the call to prayer.
INGREDIENTS
- 500 g beef or mutton shank (bone-in)
- 200 g whole or cracked wheat (soaked overnight)
- 50 g pearl barley (soaked overnight)
- 100 g chana dal (split chickpeas)
- 50 g masoor dal (red lentils)
- 50 g moong dal (split mung)
- 50 g urad dal (split black gram)
- 3 tbsp haleem masala (or your own blend)
- 2 large onions (finely sliced)
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 6 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
- 2 inches ginger (julienned, to finish)
- fried onions (birista, to finish)
- chopped mint and coriander (to finish)
- green chillies and lemon wedges (to serve)
METHOD
- Boil the soaked wheat and barley with the lentils, turmeric and plenty of water until completely soft and breaking down, 60–90 minutes, topping up the water as needed.
- Meanwhile, in another pot, fry half the onions in the ghee until golden, add the ginger-garlic paste, then the meat and haleem masala, and fry for a few minutes.
- Add water to cover the meat, cover, and simmer until the meat is falling off the bone, 60–90 minutes; lift out the meat, discard the bones, and shred it.
- Blend the cooked grain-and-lentil mixture smooth with a stick blender, adding hot water if it is too stiff.
- Stir the shredded meat and its cooking liquid into the grain mass and cook on low, stirring constantly, for 30–40 minutes until thick, glossy and one consistent mass.
- Fry the remaining onions in the oil until deep brown and crisp (birista), and pour the hot oil and onions over the haleem.
- Check the salt and stir through.
- Serve topped with julienned ginger, more fried onion, mint and coriander, with green chilli and lemon at the table, and naan alongside.
