This Ramadan, dig in to the magical world of Haleem
Get ready to drool
The delicacy, a stew of meat, lentils and wheat mixed with spices, is originally an Arabic dish that is said to have come here during the Mughal period via Iran and Afghanistan.
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Piping hot
As the "Iftar" time approaches, dozens of workers start packing or serving piping hot haleem garnished with special spicy "shorba" or meat broth, caramalised onions, coriander, and slices of lemon.
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Traditional cooking process
The wheat is pounded in vessels with large wooden poles. The entire cooking process, which takes 10 to 12 hours, is done on firewood.
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How to make the perfect haleem
First, the texture: the pounded wheat, dals and meat are slow-cooked, along with spices. And a key part of the process is the continuous stirring of the dish by hand right through, which is the hard part. The end result should be a smooth, porridgey consistency where you can't really tell where the wheat ends and the meat begins. But it's a fine balance: if it's overdone, it becomes a gluey mess. They other point is that a good haleem should have a certain 'stretchable' quality, not unlike mozzarella.
As for the flavor, it's entirely a matter of personal taste. The traditional Arab harisa tends to be rather bland; the traditional Iranian haleem is flavoursome, yet subtle, says the TOI article.
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Origins of haleem
A chef from Yemen is said to have first prepared the dish, also called "harees" or "harissa" in Arab countries, for the then Nizam of Hyderabad in 1930. Subsequently, some Irani hotels started selling it here.
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Why is haleem so popular
From star hotels and popular food joints to small eateries, almost everyone prepares haleem, which is preferred for breaking the fast due to its energising nature, high nutritional value and soothing porridge-like texture.
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How haleem came to India
But the first reference to the dish in Hyderabad was in the 1930s, when it appears to have come, more or less simultaneously, from both its parent streams, Arab as well as Irani: a nawab of Arab origin introduced harisa to his peers, and the Irani proprietor of the old Madina Hotel introduced haleem on his menu.
Inevitably, both these versions intermingled with each other, and— more importantly —with local tastes and ingredients.
Dals and traditional Telangana spices were thus married into the recipe to bring it close to the delicacy that it is today.
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Variations of haleem
These days there are hotels serving vegetarian haleem and fish haleem, but the connoisseurs still swear by the mutton version. That's not all. There's a lesser-known sweet haleem as well. It's mainly consumed in the Barkas area of the old Hyderabad city, where many Arab settlers live.
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