Meals · Telangana

Chicken Haleem

Hyderabad's Ramzan favourite made with chicken: broken wheat and lentils slow-cooked with shredded chicken into a thick, savoury porridge, topped with birista, ghee, mint and lime.

Chicken Haleem

Prep 30 min · Cook 90 min · Total 120 min + 2 hr soak · Serves 6

Ingredients

Wheat and lentils

  • 1 cup Broken wheat (dalia)
  • 2 tbsp Chana dal
  • 2 tbsp Masoor dal
  • 2 tbsp Moong dal
  • 1 tbsp Urad dal
  • ¼ tsp Turmeric
  • ½ tsp Salt

Chicken

  • 750 g Bone-in chicken
  • 1 cup Yogurt
  • 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder
  • 1 ½ tsp Garam masala
  • 1 tsp Shah jeera
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 4 Green cardamom
  • 4 Cloves
  • 4 Green chillies, slit
  • 1 ½ tsp Salt

Birista and finish

  • 2 Large onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 tbsp Oil
  • 4 tbsp Ghee
  • ½ bunch Mint leaves
  • ½ bunch Coriander leaves
  • 2 Limes, in wedges
  • 1 inch Ginger, in fine matchsticks

Method

  1. Fry the birista. Fry the onions in the oil over medium heat, stirring often, until deep golden and crisp. Lift onto paper and keep the oil.
  2. Cook the wheat and lentils. Drain the wheat and dals and pressure-cook with the turmeric, salt and 4 cups water for 6 whistles, until completely mushy. Mash or pulse briefly with a hand blender.
  3. Cook the chicken. In the onion oil, crackle the shah jeera and whole spices, then add the ginger-garlic paste, chicken, chillies, chilli powder, half the garam masala and salt. Sear 5 minutes, add the yogurt, half the birista and 1 cup water, then cover and cook until the meat falls off the bone.
  4. Shred. Lift out the chicken, discard the bones and skin, and shred the meat finely with two forks. Return it to the pot.
  5. Pound together. Add the wheat and lentils and cook on low, stirring and beating with a wooden spoon (or a ghotni), adding hot water as needed, until it is thick, stretchy and you can't see separate grains. Stir in the remaining garam masala and 2 tbsp ghee.
  6. Serve. Ladle into bowls, pour over the remaining ghee and pile on birista, mint, coriander and ginger. Squeeze lime over at the table.

Tips

Haleem should pull into strings when you lift the spoon. The beating at the end does that, so don't skip it or rush it with a blender, which makes it gluey.