Passport & Plate - haleem pie
India | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
For the meat:
Mutton with bone : 1000gm (can substitute with lamb or beef)
Ginger garlic paste: 75 gms
Turmeric: 1/4tsp
Onions: 200gms
Green chilly: 3nos
ghee: ½ cup
For the pulses:
Whole wheat grains: 125gm
Barley: 50gm (can substitute with oats)
Chana dal: 50gm
Split moong dal: 50gm
Red lentil: 50gm
Rose petals (fresh or dry): ½ cup
Spices: divide all the spices into two equal batches.
Cardamom: 8gm
Cinnamon sticks: 2 sticks (of 2inches)
Cloves: 8gm
Pepper corns: 15 gm
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
shahi jeera: 1 tsp (can substitute with cumin seeds)
Sesame seeds: 1 tsp
Salt to taste.
For garnish:
Lots of mint
For the pie:
Frozen puff pastry.
Utensils:
Two pressure cookers, one large heavy bottomed vessel and ramekins for presentation.
haleem is essentially a mash of meat and wheat, along with many a spices and lots of ghee.
Method:
For the pulses:
1. Heat a pan and add 1tbs of the ghee. Add the first batch of the spices along with all the pulses roast them well and let cool.
2. Then put them in a blender and add the rose petals and blend this to a coarse powder.
3. Add the coarse powder and lots of water(about three times the quantity of the powder) to a pressure cooker on flame.
4. Stir well so no lumps are present. Then cover the lid and cook it on high till you hear the first whistle. Then simmer the flame and cook for another 30mins.
5. After 30 mins remove the lid and continue cooking while mashing it with a potato masher. Its should become a smooth paste with no lumps or grit. (you can speedup this process by waiting for the mixture to cool and pulsing it in the blender a few times for similar results)
How to prepare this recipeMethod
For the meat:
1. In another pressure cooker, (you can do this simultaneously) heat 3 tbs ghee, and Sauté the second batch of spices.
2. Then add 100gms of the chopped onions and salt and let the onions turn translucent.
3. Now add the ginger garlic paste along with the turmeric and chilies and wait for it to cook through. Stirring continuously so it doesn’t burn.
4. Next add the mutton and sauté it for a few minutes. Next add enough water to cover the meat and put the lid on.
5. Cook on high flame until the first whistle and then cook on a low simmer for an hour.
6. The meat should be very tender(falling of the bone) once done.
For the haleem:
1. Heat half of the remaining ghee in the heavy bottomed dish. Add the remaining onion into this and fry until well browned and crispy.
2. Remove the onions for later use. Now dump the pulse mash along with the meat into this dish.
3. This is where the fun begins. Mash the meat into the pulses with all you have for the next 30mins. Your looking for the meat to be completely of the bone and shredded into the pulses. It should be a thick, messy homogenous stew(with almost a porridge consistency)
4. At this stage taste for salt and add as per you taste.( this recipie can easily take 1 and a ½ to 2 tsp) but be vary and add slowly while tasting.
5. Next add the remaining ghee and ½ a cup of mint leaves and the fried onions and a squirt of fresh lemon juice.
6. Once the consistency looks right and your happy with the taste take it off the stove.
the designer in me wanted to give these bowls of magic their much needed aesthetic lift. hence "haleem pie."
just fill 3/4 of the ramekins with haleem, cover with a sheet of puff pastry and pop them in an oven at 180 C, until the flaky pastry turns golden brown.
The story behind this recipe“arre dekhke chalo!” (Hey, watch out), the stout Burkha clad lady yelled as the side view mirror of my Vespa, brushed her side. I could see her frantically cursing in a fit of rage. With an apologetic wave, I swerved through the now familiar narrow lanes. I squeezed through the rickshaws, dodged some ditches and honked over and over at the bloody car that blocked the lane. This was no place for cars. “Old city” of Hyderabad, is a labyrinth of close knit lanes. One could be lost in it (both metaphorically and literally). It was quiet an alien place to me, until Aarti brought me here for the first time around, in the October of 2005, with the promise of giving me the best dish of my life.
I was awed by the colours and the life that spilled onto the streets. As you look beyond the pretty colours, you’re rapt by Islamic arches and vernacular jalis, enchantingly adapted to serve today. We rode on until we reached a high platform, with a bearded Muslim man seated behind a large cauldron, “chacha 2 plate haleem” Aarti said. “You only get this during Ramadan so – hog up!” she told me. As I looked up, I saw Ahmed chacha slap a ladle full of steaming gooey grey paste, onto a plate. He sprinkled some fried onion and offered it with a smile. “This? “I thought, “This masticated meat paste would be the best dish of my life?” I took the plate reluctantly. “Well it smells relatively nice, how bad can it taste?”- I thrust a spoon full into my mouth. It was simultaneously the most alien yet the most familiar thing I had ever tasted. I was filled with a sense of warmth and was enthralled by various familiar spices – it was much like how I felt while driving through the lanes of this ‘old city’. “chacha, one more” I’d grinned.
I sped up a little, hoping I wasn't too late. When I thought of what recipe to submit, I knew it had to be this, and it had to be from here! I stopped my moped next to the same platform. “Chacha! Mujhe sikhaoge?” I asked. His warm grin told me I had my recipe.
