My Culinary Trial Room

One thing that the huss enjoys to the core is anything and everything with chicken in it. Well, I am no less. We love our share of chicken anytime.

I was totally new to the word haleem then. While I was born and brought up in the Gulf, I was there only till my IInd standard. So its just a few memories that I carry around like how I always wore sockings when I was little or the little forest that I saw from our back window or the few words of Arabic that I learnt from my Arabic class or how I was the favorite of everyone in our apartment and finally George chetta from next door. Haleem and nombu kanji were often mentioned by appa and amma when we talked about life in Gulf. That was that.

After marriage, the huss used to mention this delicacy whenever the holy month of Eid sets in. And thats when I started browsing about haleem. Appa also explained the process to me on how the chicken is slow cook with wheat, barley and other dhal varieties. The huss was so adamant on getting his hands on haleem that he ordered himself a pack of haleem from Hyderabad which came by courier. He tasted it and he loved it. This was the story two years back. Fast forward now, far away from home country, he didn't have the option to online order and I knew that he was craving for the dish for sometime. Finally I gave in and started browsing for recipes and found a promising one at vahrehvah's site. I adapted the recipe to what I had in hand and it was a total hit. The huss loved it to the core.

~*What U Need*~
To Grind :
Wheat rava - 1/2 cup
Masoor dal - 1 tbsp
Toor dhal - 1 tbsp
Barley - 1/4 cup
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Channa dhal - 1 tbsp
Peppercorns - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
Green cardamom - 2
Almonds - 5
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp

For porridge:
Chicken - 1 lb, with bone
Chicken stock - 6 cup
Onions - 2, finely sliced
Green chillies - 2, finely chopped
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1/4 cup
Juice of 1 lemon

How I made it:
Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onions till it turns golden brown and crispy. Remove from the heat and split fried onions into two parts. Reserve one half for garnishing. Grind everything under “To Grind” to a coarse powder.

Heat the same oil in a pressure cooker. Add ghee to it and once it melts, add ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2 mins. Add chicken and fry till seared. Add chicken stock and mix well.

Add fried onion, curd, green chilies, mint leaves and coriander leaves. Mix everything and cook for a min. Add ground mixture and stir frequently to avoid lumps. Season with salt and pressure cook at high flame for 2 whistles. Switch to low flame and pressure cook it for 40 mins. Once the pressure goes, open the lid and mash everything. Sprinkle lemon juice.