Haleem

Before you start

• soak the wheat and the dals overnight
• four hours on the hob the next day
• a hand blender, or a wooden masher and a strong arm

Ingredients

Serves 4 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 180gbulgur — coarse cracked wheat — the bulgur bag is the same grain and needs less soaking than whole wheat
• 80gtoor dal
• 40gurad dal
• 40gred lentils
• 400gbeef shin — shank, so it shreds rather than crumbles
• 3 tbspghee
• 3onions
• 2 thumbsginger and garlic
• 1 tbspgaram masala, chilli and turmeric
• 1 handfulmint
• 2lemon

Method

7 steps

1. soak · 8 hours walk away

   Wheat in one bowl and the three dals in another, both under plenty of cold water, overnight.

2. fry · 22m

   Onions sliced and fried slowly in most of the ghee until genuinely brown and crisp, then half lifted onto paper for the top.

3. simmer · 2h 30m walk away

   Beef in with the ginger, garlic and spices and water to cover, lid on, lowest heat, until it comes apart under the back of a fork.

4. simmer · 1h 30m walk away

   Wheat and dals in their own pot with plenty of water, cooked until the wheat has split and nothing in there holds a shape any more.

5. blend · 20m

   The two pots put together and worked — hand blender in short bursts, or a masher and twenty minutes — until it is one substance and no grain, lentil or thread of meat can be picked out. Haleem that has been stirred rather than pounded is a stew.

6. simmer · 25m

   Back on the lowest heat, loosened with hot water, stirred every few minutes so the bottom does not catch. It should be thick enough to hold a spoon upright and hot right through before it leaves the pan.

7. finish · 5m

   Fried onion, mint, ginger slivers and lemon per bowl at the table, never mixed in beforehand.