Servings : Serves 6
Haleem (Khichra) is a thick yummy and filling dish that is made up of wheat, lentils and shredded meat. It’s normally slow-cooked to develop it’s excellent flavour and helps create it’s paste-like consistency. In E/Africa, the dish is more commonly known as Kichro or Khichro.
Ingredients
- 1/4 kg wheat grains (1 cup)
- 1/2 kg boneless meat (I mix goat and beef but you can use any)
- 1/4 kg onions (sliced and fried)
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 3 fresh tomatoes, blended
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 cup lentils, you can mix masoor and channa daal or use just one of the two (soaked overnight, boiled then blended to a paste)
- 1/4 cup rice (soaked, boiled then blended to a paste)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cloves
- 2 elchi/cardamom pods
- 5-8 whole pepper
- 1/2 tbsp. garlic paste
- 1/2 tbsp. ginger paste
- 1 tsp. coriander powder
- 1 tsp. cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
- 2-3 tbsp. blended green chillies with coriander/green chutney
- oil as required (I mix a bit of butter or margarine with the oil for better flavour)
- salt/red chilli flakes to taste
- hot water (keep it handy in a thermos flask or keep the kettle warmed up and ready)
- 1 tsp garam masala
Instructions
Wash and soak the wheat grains in water for 24-48 hours (1-2 days), making sure you change the water every 12 hours or so to keep it fresh. Then drain the water and boil the grains in a pressure cooker with a drizzle of oil and a little bit of salt until the wheat is very tender and soft. Allow the grains to cool then, using a food processor (or a blender can work too), grind the grains to a paste.
Boil the meat until very soft, then shred with your fingers or spoon. Once all is shredded, I like to make the meat very fine so I place bits of the shredded meat at a time on a metal plate, then using the back of a heavy mug, I pound it down until it is flat and delicate.
Reserve the stock left over from boiling the meat, you can later add this to the haleem during cooking.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the whole spices followed by half of the fried onions (keep half for garnishing). Fry these for a while then add the shredded/pounded meat. Fry again on low heat for at least 10 minutes whilst stirring all the time for the flavour of the meat to develop. Then add the ginger and garlic pastes, green chutney, half the lemon juice, followed by the tomato paste and blended fresh tomatoes. Add the turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Cook these down until the tomatoes are well cooked and thick. Now add the blended channa/masoor daals as well as the rice. Cook these for a few minutes. Finally add the ground wheat and mix well.
You will have to keep stirring very regularly and keep it cooking on slow heat so the flavour develops well. Whenever you feel it has thickened too much, add some hot water plus the reserved stock and keep on stirring. A good khichra/haleem should take nothing less than 2 hours to cook, but you can speed things along if you are in a hurry. However if you want a good authentic flavour, let it take its time in cooking and you will enjoy the meal a LOT more.
Once you are satisfied with the results/colour/taste/texture, squeeze in the remaining lemon juice. Turn off the heat and sprinkle garam masala over the haleem but don’t stir it in. Then heat 3 tbsp. of oil separately and pour it over the haleem. The garam masala will immediately sizzle and give out a wonderful aroma.
Now you can mix it all in and your haleem is ready to be served! Garnish with fried onions and coriander, and serve with red chutney and lemon.
Enjoy!
I want to try haleem was wondering if I make it with chicken should I use boneless chicken or with bones?
Either will be fine, boneless will be less hassle of course.
Tried this yesterday it came
Tried this yesterday it came out absolutely amazing thanks a lot fauzia. I have also tried several recipes of yours all r amazing. I prepared haleem this time for my in laws n waiting to prepare it for my parents n siblings
Dear Fauzia, I tried your
Dear Fauzia, I tried your haleem with barley. It was superb.
Thanks and May Allah grant all ur wishes and congratulations on being the first in halal Facebook and website. You totally deserve it.
Shukran for all your lovely
Shukran for all your lovely recipes. Was wondering what is wheat grain?
Whole wheat, the grains of it
Whole wheat, the grains of it. Please google to see how they look.
Hii dear…I just tried
Hii dear…I just tried haleem…it’s very tasty…I even added
Soup while grinding…n ghee also
N instead of cotmir I wil garnish with fudino…
Thank u very much for sharing such a yummy…
Love u…
Turned awsome
Turned awsome
Amazing n easy recipe
As salaamu alaikum fauzia.. I
As salaamu alaikum fauzia.. I want to try this recipe as it looks very tempting.. I have a question though.. You said drain the water and boil the wheat in the pressure cooker with a drizzle of oil.. It’s actually a silly question that I’m asking but, the wheat needs to be put in the cooker with or without the water?? You have fantastic recipes btw..
W/Salaam, drain the water
W/Salaam, drain the water used for soaking, then put the grains into the pressure cooker and add fresh water to boil with. 🙂
AOA Fauzia, Just wanted to
AOA Fauzia, Just wanted to clear one thing, recipe calls for 1/4 C of both the daal, masoor & chanaa. Is it 1/4 C each of both daals or 1/4 C of daals together ?
Take care
Both daals should make for 1
Both daals should make for 1/4 cup together total.
Hello dear Fauzia;)
Hello dear Fauzia;)
I have read your responses to other poster’s questions, and I know that you say you have never made this using bulgur, but, do you think there is anyway I could attempt this recipe using it [bulgur]? (It’s kind of a that’s-what-I-have-in-my-pantry/hard-to-find-certain-ingredients-where-I-live situation.) If there is ANYway this recipe might work using bulgur, I really look forward to making this soon. If not, I will be patient and acquire the correct ingredients and attempt only then. Thanks for any advice:)
Hi, yes yes it should be
Hi, yes yes it should be totally ok to substitute the cracked wheat with bulgur, totally ok. 🙂
Hi Michele,
Hi Michele,
I really want to make this recipe but don’t have access to whole wheat either! How did it turn out with bulgar wheat?
Thanks 🙂
asslamo alikum
asslamo alikum
is tomato puree and tomatoes necessary for this recipe? I never heard that before..
W/Salaam, in my version YES
W/Salaam, in my version YES those are important for the colour and flavour of the dish.
Assalaam aleykum. As you
Assalaam aleykum. As you suggested bulgur should be a good substitute for wheat grain, I want to try this this recipe with bulgur wheat. For that do I need to soak it overnight or 48hrs? Please advise
W/Salaam, overnight will be
W/Salaam, overnight will be enough. 🙂
ASK your recipes are
ASK your recipes are excellent just a question can I use broth mix which includes
pearl barley
Orange lentils
Yellow split peas
Green split peas
Also can I cook this in a slow cooker, pls tell me the times of slow cooker especially this time of the year when it’s started to get cold Thankyou
Yes you can use a lentil
Yes you can use a lentil broth although a meat one will infuse more flavour. And yes you can use a slow cooker to cook this dish low and slow.
Assalamu aleikum, after
Assalamu aleikum, after boiling meat lots of meat stock is left unused. Can we use it somewhere in haleem? Like adding into grains and daal while boiling instead of water….would it enhance the flavour as well? What would you advise?
W/Salaam, yes you can use the
W/Salaam, yes you can use the stock in the haleem itself in place of adding water or in addition to the water during the cooking process. That is what I normally do, I shall put a note on that in the instructions. 🙂
Ok wonderful. Jazak Allahu
Ok wonderful. Jazak Allahu kheir
What are what grains. I am in Canada and would like to know what to shop for in a grocery store
You can use whole wheat grains, please check on google how they look so as to get the right grains.