Written by Mustafa Lone and Julia Levine

This month we decided to explore cooking Pakistani dishes, so we’ve tried chicken haleem, biryani, and a chicken karhai. We’re not the best cooks, but here’s our recipe for haleem! Enjoy!

The origin of haleem traces back to the 6th Century Persian King Khusrow. After the Muslim conquest of Persia in 651, it became a popular celebration dish during Ramadan, a month of fasting representing the struggles of impoverished people around the world. Although Muslims eat a pre-dawn meal and break their fast with Iftar in the evening, they do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset. Haleem, a lentil-based dish, is synonymous with Iftar because the meat, lentil, and other ingredients make it particularly high in nutrition. Since Ramadan is in May this year, we decided to give it a go!

Ingredients:

1.5 tablespoons of ginger

1 tablespoon of chili powder

½ tablespoons of turmeric

1 tablespoon of coriander powder

1 tablespoon of salt

½ tablespoon of lemon juice

Remove the chicken from the pot and place it on a platter for later. Add 12 cups of water to the pot and add wheat berries and lentils. Replace the chicken in the pot and cook for 45 minutes with the lid on and the temperature on low to high, stirring every few minutes. 

Remove the lid to boil-off the water and cook until the mix is a thick consistency.

Depending on your preferences, add extra salt, lemon juice, or chilis; we added some frozen peas for some extra flavor and color.

Chop up the onion and cook in a pan until onions are golden-brown for garnish.

Garnish the Haleem and serve with a side of naan and yogurt. Cheers :)

With love and spice,

Mustafa

All photos by Julia Levine

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