White Haleem

White Haleem is a delicately flavoured grain and lentil based stew that makes for a delicious, nourishing and satisfying meal.

Dubai based food blogger Tasneem Rajkotwala, and her beautiful blog “Thoughts Over Chai” introduced me to the wonders of White Haleem.

She refers to this haleem as her “Dadijaan’s Morning Haleem” and you can head to her blog for the original recipe and accompanying post here.

Tasneem’s blog is a treat and a great place to check out if you’re looking for traditional Bohra recipes.

I am always on the lookout for a good meatless Haleem recipe and this is a lovely vegetarian and vegan friendly version.

White Haleem is kind of like a milder sibling of traditional Haleem, the spicy meat, lentil and grain stew popular in Pakistan and parts of India.

Regular Haleem is meat based and generally packs quite a punch whereas White Haleem is meatless and fairly mild.

The lack of fire in this delicious stew however, by no means denotes any lack of flavour.

The absence of strong spices means that the actual flavour of the lentils and grains themselves really shines through.

The final damm of ground spices infuses the haleem with the pleasingly heady aromas of caraway seeds, nutmeg, mace and green cardamoms.

I love White Haleem and honestly, it reminds me more of Shorba, a light non-spicy Yemeni Haleem than of Pakistani Haleem.

I had Shorba over a decade ago at a school friend’s home in Sana’a, Yemen. It was made by her Mother and I have never been able to forget it’s tastiness.

I am hopelessly addicted to spicy food. But there are some recipes that work so well without being fiery that I don’t miss the bite of spices at all.

With White Haleem, I feel that an inclusion of heavy flavours would actually intrude on its deliciously soothing taste.

Traditional haleem toppings such as fresh herbs, green chillies, caramelised onions and roasted nuts provide a pleasant textural contrast to the creaminess of the haleem, the ghee or oil and garam masala add additional flavour and the lemon juice imparts subtle tartness.

To make this vegan, simply substitute the ghee called for in the recipe with oil.

Perfect for any meal or any time of the year really.

WHITE HALEEM

 

Recipe Type: Main    Author: Alice In Eatland

Prep Time: 15 Minutes (plus 2 – 4 hours soaking time)    Cook Time: 60 Minutes    Total Time: 2 – 3 Hours

Serves: 2 – 4

 

White Haleem, a satisfying, aromatic  grain & lentil stew. The topping of fresh herbs, ginger, cashews & caramelised onions add additional flavour & textural contrast.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup white basmati rice
• 1/4 cup barley porridge / barley cereal (jau ka dalia)
• 1/2 cup split black gram (maash daal / urad daal)
• 1/4 cup split yellow mung (moong daal)
• 1/4 cup split Bengal gram (channa daal)
• 1/2 teaspoon black cumin seeds / caraway seeds (kaala zeera / shah zeera)
• 1/4 of an inch or so piece of nutmeg (jaiphal)
• 1 – 2 blades of mace (javitri)
• 2 – 4 green cardamoms (hari elachi)
• 2 medium onions, peeled & thinly sliced
• Oil to deep fry
• 2 – 4 medium fresh green chillies, roughly chopped
•  1 medium onion, peeled & roughly chopped
• 1 MSG free vegetable stock cube / vegetable bouillon cube (optional but recommended)
• Salt
• A few tablespoons of desi ghee (omit if making the haleem vegan)
• Fresh ginger, peeled & cut into thin batons
• Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• Fresh mint leaves, chopped
• Fresh mild green chillies, seeded & chopped
• Lemons, cut into quarters
• Roasted cashews
• Garam Masala

 

METHOD

1. Place the rice, barley porridge and lentils in a large bowl and wash in several changes of water until it runs almost clear.
2. Finally fill the bowl with enough water to come a couple of inches up the sides and let the grains and lentils soak for 4 – 6 hours or overnight.
3. Grind the black cumin seeds, nutmeg, mace and green cardamoms to a fine powder in a small spice / coffee grinder. Set aside.
4. Heat oil for deep frying and when hot, fry the sliced onions until golden. Remove fried onions to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Set aside.
5. Reserve about 4 – 6 tablespoons of oil after deep frying.
6. Boil a kettle of water and set aside to simmer on a very low heat.
7. Drain the soaked grains and lentils and rinse one more time with fresh water. Place into a pan along with 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil, stock cube (if using), chopped onion, chopped green chillies and around 4 – 6 cups of water.
8. Bring to the boil on a high heat, then lower the heat to low and let cook partially covered, stirring occasionally until the grains and lentils are completely soft and mushy.
9. The mixture can take anywhere from 1 hour to more to soften to a mush. If you feel the haleem is getting too thick, add more water from the simmering kettle to thin it down.
10. When cooked, the haleem will be thick but the consistency should also be slightly on the looser side.
11. Sieve in the reserved ground spice mixture, cover and simmer on a very low heat for 10 minutes.
12. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and blend in a blender or with a stick blender until somewhere between smooth and grainy.
13. It is best not to overblend because you want some of that grainy texture to remain.
14. Check salt and adjust if needed.
15. White Haleem can be frozen airtight at this point, if wished.
16. When ready to serve, ladle out hot haleem into serving bowl (or individual serving bowls, if wished).
17. Heat ghee if using or the leftover reserved oil until hot and pour all over the surface of the haleem.
18. Garnish with ginger, coriander, mint, green chillies, cashews and reserved fried onion.
19. Sprinkle garam masala and squeeze lemon juice on top.
20. Eat.