The Holy month of Ramadan is also a celebration of food and flavours. Haleem, the traditional mutton recipe, is one of the best the festival season would offer to a foodie.
Haleem is a unique dish that originated in Arabia and came all the way to Hyderabad to enchant the food lovers here. Specially trained cooks reach Hyderabad during Ramadan to prepare Haleem that is cooked with mutton, grains and heaps of spices.
More than 15 ingredients like buck wheat, dal, onions, ginger, garlic, chili powder, garam masala, ghee, mint leave, coriander leaves and yoghurt are added into cooked mutton to make Haleem. Sheeja Riyas, a native of Kochi who works as the Manager of the iconic Pista House restaurant in Infantry Road, Bengaluru says that it takes around 12 to 15 hours to cook the perfect Haleem.
Haleem has become a headlining item of the Pista House restaurants and the dish is available here throughout the year. Sheeja says that Haleem is cooked in huge earthen cauldrons over woodfire hearths. Haleem, however, doesn’t have longer shelf life and cannot be stored for more than a day. It is mostly supplied through online food delivery services. The restaurant chain has opened 50 outlets and kiosks at various spots in the city for this. A box of one and half kilo of Haleem costs Rs 1,000 while it is Rs 250 for 320 grams. Haleem is sold at these outlets from noon to 11 pm.
Here is a haleem recipe that you can try at home.
Ingredients
1 kg mutton
3 cup broken wheat
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 cup urad dal
1 cup chana dal
1 tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
2 cups yoghurt
½ cup cashews
1 cup onions
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp black pepper
1 inch piece of cinnamon
½ cup ghee
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
½ cup mint leaves
6 green chillies
For garnish
4 lemon wedges
1 cup coriander leaves
6 green chillies
Preparation
Soak the broken wheat for at least half an hour
Cut the mutton into pieces and remove the fat
Pressure cook the mutton pieces with half teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilli powder, garam masala and a pinch of turmeric powder for 8-10 minutes
Lower the flame after 4 whistles
Allow the mutton to cook for 20 more minutes on low flame
Shred the cooked mutton or mince it
Cook the broken wheat, urad dal, chana dal, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, 2-3 green chillies and black pepper with 8-10 glasses water
Blend this cooked mix in a mixer jar into paste
Heat oil in a pan
Add the broken wheat mixture, shredded mutton coriander leaves, mint leaves and ghee
Mix everything well together
Cook for half an hour on low flame
Garnish generously with cashews, coriander leaves and lemon wedges.