Hyderabadi Beef Haleem - A Popular South Asian Dish With A Rich History.

 When the term 'South Asian Cuisine' is mentioned, it encompasses a vast variety of dishes spread from all across the sub-continent, be it from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Each and every region brings with it their own unique flavours and recipes that capture the essence of their respective places. 

For today's recipe I introduce to you a dish that is both unique and also very popular within many South Asian regions. The haleem is a type of stew comprising of wheat, barley, rice and a variety of lentils together with meat. It is slow cooked for hours until it attains a paste-like consistency resulting in a very creamy melt-in-your mouth experience. A very popular dish, the haleem is enjoyed at every occasion, be it in a family gathering, a religious occasion, weddings or even just as street food.

The origins of haleem are quite interesting. It is in fact an evolution of a popular Arabian dish known as the harees / harissa which shares a lot of similarities albeit quite different in taste. According to historical sources, the first written recipe of harissa can be traced all the way back to the 10th century when a scribe named Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar Ibn Sayyar compiled a book of dishes called the 'Kitab al-Tabikh' (The Book of Recipes) which detailed some of the dishes known to be popular among the kings, the caliphs, nobles and leaders of Baghdad. The dish eventually made it's way to Persia where according to Ibn Battuta, the famous scholar and explorer wrote in his travelogues that in Persian hospitality it was custom to serve every visitor, whoever it would be, harissa made from wheat, meat and ghee. 

Such is the harissa's popularity that it is enjoyed across different religions. The medieval Andalusian jews ate it on Saturdays, a day of Sabbath for them. The Lebanese and Syrian Christians are known to make harissa to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, the Muslims in the Middle East make it during the month of Ramadan and Eid and the Shia Muslims in Iraq and Lebanon prepare it during the month of Muharram. Growing up in Abu Dhabi, UAE, I too recall going with my father and brothers to these food centres that would hand out freshly made harissa to people for free during the month of Ramadan as we filled up out pots to take it back home. It's a memory I do hold on to dearly. 

Soon after, the dish would travel to the subcontinent via Arab soldiers who travelled there. The Chaush, a warrior clan from Yemen started serving the Nizams of Hyderabad in the subcontinent as they became their bodyguards. One of the Chaush rulers of the principality in Hadhramaut (Now modern Yemen), Sultan Saif Nawaz Jung, was a noble of the Nizam state, where it is told he popularised serving harissa at his feasts. 

As time went by, just as the Arabs married into the locals in the subcontinent, so too did the dish as it would be 'Indianised' by adding lentils and spices and being tweaked over the years and eventually formed part of the Mughlai cuisine where it became popular during the reign of emperor Akbar. Thus the haleem came to fruition which is so much loved to this day. 

Making haleem takes quite a bit of time and does require your careful attention, but by putting all your heart into making it, you would pull it off just as many others have. The process involves soaking the 7 grains and lentils for a long period of time before boiling them until it reaches a porridge-like consistency. At the same time you also prepare the gravy with the meat called the 'Qorma' using designated spices after which the meat is separated and torn either by utensils or by your hands. The gravy is then added in along with the meat to the grains / lentils and then the whole mixture is blended in. Usually the traditional method involves a specialised wooden hand masher, but you can also use those nifty hand blenders which gives the same results and is also faster. Lastly you put in the baghaar (Or what is known as tempering) where you roast spices or certain other ingredients in oil to bring out their aroma and then add it into the dish. In our case we use fried onions as our baghaar. The end result you get is this thick, creamy stew with all the grains, lentils and meat so incorporated with each other that every mouthful is an assortment of flavours bursting into your tastebuds. 

As you serve it, a separate plate of garnishes are also provided which are a staple when it comes to eating haleem, The garnishing includes, chopped coriander, chopped green chillies, lemon wedges, fried onions and ginger. Most people usually eat it with just a spoon but you can also enjoy it with some tasty naan bread as well which serves as a great accompaniment. Whatever way you eat it though, this is one dish that is both nutritious as well as leaving your lips smacking for more. 

Here's the recipe:

Hyderabadi Beef Haleem:

Ingredients:

- 500 to 700 gms of boneless beef (cut into chunks).

- 150 gms wheat grains.
- 150 gms barley.
- 75 gms moong dal (petite yellow lentils).

- 75 gms masoor dal (pink lentils).

- 75 gms maash dal (split black lentils).

- 75 gms chana dal (split yellow peas).

- 40 gms basmati rice.

- 2 bay leaves.

- 2 to 3 sticks of cinnamon.

- 2 to 3 cloves

- 1 and a 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

- 2 tsp red chilli powder. 

- 2 tsp coriander powder. 

- 1 tsp garam masala powder. 

- 1 tsp black pepper powder. 

- 1 and a 1/2 tsp cumin powder.

- 2 large onions (sliced)

- 1 tsp garlic paste.

- 1 tsp ginger paste.

- 1 to 2 tsp salt (or according to your taste).

- 2 cups cooking oil / ghee

For garnishing:

- 2 to 3 pieces of ginger (peeled and sliced).

- Handful of coriander (chopped).

- 8 to 10 green chillies (chopped).

- 2 to 3 lemon (cut into wedges).

Preparation:

- First rinse and clean all the lentils, wheat, barley and rice thoroughly together to get rid of the starch. Then soak them in a bowl of water for a minimum of 2 hours (Ideally soak them overnight).

- Once the grains have been soaked, in a large cooking pot, add in around 2.5 litres of water and bring it to a boil,

- Add in the all the grains to it along with 1 tsp of turmeric. Cover and bring it to a boil. Once the grains come to a boil, bring to a low - medium flame and cover and cook for around an hour / hour and a half, stirring occasionally in between to make sure the mixture doesn't stick on the bottom. 

- Keep cooking until you get a porridge like consistency and all the grains have become soft and tender. If at any point you feel the water is running low, add in a glass of water (or as much as you require) until the mixture has a thick, runny consistency. 

- At the same time, take another large cooking pot, heat up 1 cup of oil and add in 1 of the large onions that were sliced, cook on high flame for 3 to 5 minutes until onions become translucent. 

- Then add in the ginger / garlic paste, the boneless beef chunks, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, salt, pepper and all the powdered spices. Cook for a further 6 to 10 minutes until the meat has been sealed from the outside. Next, add in about 1.5 litres of water into the mixture and cover and cook on low-medium flame for about 2 hours or until the meat is soft and tenderised. 

- Once the meat has been cooked, remove all the whole spices from the mixture (the bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon) and discard them. Take out all the beef pieces and put them aside in a plate. Leave the gravy in the pot for now as that will be added into the grain / lentils mixture later.

- Take all the cooked meat and shred it into tiny pieces, either by your hand or with a knife (or whatever your preferential way) and set it aside. 

- Take the 2nd large onion that we sliced and fry them in a pan with the remaining one cup of oil / ghee we had. Keep frying until they're golden brown. Take the onions out and set them aside on a kitchen towel so that any excess oil is absorbed. We'll be using half of these onions for the garnishing with the other half being used for the tempering (the baghaar).

- Add the gravy mixture as well as the shredded beef into the grains / lentils mixture and mix it all well together. Start cooking it on a low flame and at the same time take the hand blender and blend the whole haleem mixture for about 5 to 10 minutes, making sure not to fully blend it. The consistency should be such that you can see the lentils / grains and meat has been broken down but not fully blended in the whole mixture. 

- Take one half of the fried onions we had set aside and fry them again in the leftover oil we used to fry them in the pan (Add in more oil if the need arises). Bring it on high heat as the onions start heating up then put those onions as well as the hot oil into the haleem mixture. Mix everything well together, cover and cook on low flame for a further 10 minutes and it's done. 

- Put the garnishing (green chillies, chopped coriander, sliced ginger, fried onions and lemon wedges) onto a plate. 

- Serve the haleem with the garnishing. Enjoy it either with a spoon or with warm naans!