Haleem

About This Recipe

Haleem is a uniquely textured Pakistani-Indian dish — a slow-cooked, deeply spiced porridge of beef or mutton, mixed lentils, and wheat grains pounded together until smooth and creamy. Cooked for 6-8 hours and traditionally hand-pounded with wooden mallets, it's served at Iftar during Ramadan, weddings, and special occasions. Topped with fried onions, ginger, fresh herbs, lime, and fried garlic, each spoonful is profoundly satisfying.

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 kgbeef or mutton (with bones)
• 1 cupwheat berries (or cracked wheat), soaked overnight
• 1/2 cupsplit chickpeas (chana dal)
• 1/2 cupsplit red lentils (masoor dal)
• 1/2 cupsplit mung beans (moong dal)
• 1/4 cupbarley
• 1 cupghee or oil
• 3 largeonions, sliced
• 3 tbspginger-garlic paste
• 2 tbspKashmiri red chili powder
• 1 tbspturmeric
• 1 tbspground coriander
• 1 tbspground cumin
• 1 tbspgaram masala
• 5cardamom pods
• 5cloves
• 2 stickscinnamon
• 3bay leaves
• 10 cupswater
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 cupfried onions (for garnish)
• 2 tbspginger, julienned
• 1/4 cupfresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cupfresh mint, chopped
• 3limes, cut in wedges
• 3green chilies, sliced

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook grains

   In separate pots, cook wheat berries (45 min), chickpeas (30 min), red lentils (15 min), mung beans (20 min), and barley (40 min) — all in salted water until very soft. Drain.

2. 2

   Caramelize onions

   Heat ghee in large heavy pot. Cook onions for 15 minutes until deeply golden. Reserve 1 cup for garnish (continue browning to crispy).

3. 3

   Add aromatics

   Add ginger-garlic paste. Cook 2 minutes.

4. 4

   Add spices

   Add chili powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves. Cook 1 minute.

5. 5

   Brown meat

   Add meat. Cook 10 minutes until browned. Add 6 cups water.

6. 6

   Slow cook meat

   Cover and simmer 2 hours until meat is falling off bones. Remove meat, shred finely, return to pot. Discard bones.

7. 7

   Combine grains

   Add all cooked grains and lentils to pot. Stir well.

8. 8

   Pound and blend

   Cook over low heat 1 hour, pounding mixture with wooden spoon (or use immersion blender briefly) until creamy and porridge-like. Add water if too thick.

9. 9

   Add garam masala

   Stir in garam masala. Adjust salt. Cook 10 more minutes.

10. 10

    Serve

    Ladle into bowls. Top generously with fried onions, julienned ginger, cilantro, mint, sliced chilies. Squeeze lime over. Serve with naan.

Variations

• •

  Chicken haleem: substitute chicken thighs.

• •

  Vegetarian: use seitan or extra lentils.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat with splash of water — thickens when cooled.

Frequently Asked Questions