The Story of Haleem

Keshkek. Photo by Mir Masud-Elias. Copyright 2013.

When I think of dishes that most typify the kinds of culinary interstices that I'm interested in exploring in this blog, the world traveler of dishes -- Haleem - comes to mind.

The part of me that suffers from "OCD Goldilocks syndrome" (a compulsion to have every component in a pattern be the right size and in proportionate balance with all other components and presented at exactly the right time, not sooner or later, all as determined by me of course), would have liked to have posted about this dish during Ramzan/Ramadan, the month in the Islamic calendar during which day-long fasts are observed. Each day's fast is traditionally broken at sunset and followed by the Iftar meal with a variety of foods that come to be associated with Ramzan, such that certain of these foods are not available for sale or cooked at other times of the year. For Bangladeshis, Haleem is just such an Iftar dish. (Incidentally, Haleem likely originated as a breakfast dish and continues to be served as such in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.) Despite my compulsive fascination with my own version of "order", this dish -- a shape-shifting constant in the Islamic world -- properly belongs at the earlier mileposts on this culinary journey. Plus, Autumn is coming and cosy stews will make it easier to bid farewell to the long summer days;-)

Shoaib Daniyal, who has conveniently done some research on the history of Haleem, writes in The Sunday Guardian (India) that there is a reference to a meat and wheat porridge called Harissa in the 10th-century Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Recipes) -- a collection of recipes from the kitchens of the grand poo bahs of Baghdad -- penned by the Arab scribe Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar ibn Sayyar.

Today's Haleem is a slow-cooked stew that always includes lentils, meat, wheat and barley and, with regional variations in spicings, is eaten across South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. According to Wikipedia, Keshkek is a popular version of Haleem in Anatolia (Turkey), Iran, the Caucasus region and northern Iraq. In the Arab world and in Armenia, Haleem becomes Harissa. Although hard to imagine for a palate like mine that associates meat with savory dishes, a sweet version of Haleem (which is close to the 10th century version according to Daniyal) with sugar, cinnamon and ghee (clarified butter) is eaten in certain places, such as Iran and in Hyderabad, India. Often the stew is pulverized into a paste as is done in the Pakistani version, or the ingredients are cooked until extremely tender but otherwise left whole as in Bangladesh, a version I know and love.*

I tasted the Turkish version of Haleem, Keshkek, for the first (and only) time for breakfast in Amasya, Turkey. It was love at first taste. Not being from either Turkey, Iran or Pakistan, having Haleem for breakfast was an unexpected treat for me and was almost as intriguing as having Haleem at a non-Ramzan time of year in Bangladesh! The heady feeling of having broken some kind of personal culinary rule (like having dessert before the entree), at least for me, brings all kinds of pleasures. So much so that I'm working on convincing my mom to cook an Iftar meal for the two of us the next time we meet (likely outside of Ramzan) to make up for all the Iftars that we've not had a chance to eat together.

I was excited to try my hand at making Keshkek when I returned home! Although I have a few cookbooks of traditional Turkish cuisine, sadly, none of them contained a recipe for Keshkek. When I looked online, the original Keshkek recipe of lamb, wheat berries (or pearl barley), salt, pepper, butter and cinnamon seemed a little underwhelming and not reminiscent of the one I had in Amasya. So, I "reverse engineered" the dish based on my memories of the Amasya Keshkek colored (of course) by my own preferences, while honoring the Turkish spice palate.

If you think these are a lot of words expended on the ultimately humble Haleem, here's what's at stake when Armenians get wind of the Turks claiming Keshkek on their UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List -- a food fight!

Needless to say, this is not a gluten free food, but I'll be trying out a version with rolled oats and rice instead of barley in the near future. Cooked early in the morning (or the evening before), Keshkek would be the perfect dish for a lazy Sunday brunch.

Servings: ~6-8 people

Prep Time: ~20 minutes

Cooking Time: ~3 hours (yeah, no kidding!)

Ingredients: 

• Red lentils - 1 cup (boiled separately in hot water with the grey scum skimmed off and then drained)
• Organic Chickpeas - 1-1/2 cups (I used pre-cooked, canned chickpeas to save on prep. time)
• Organic Chicken (or vegetarian) low-sodium broth - 4 cups
• Pearled or Hulled Barley - 1/2 cup
• Lamb stew meat - 1 lb. (cut into small to medium uneven pieces)
• Garlic - 3 cloves (peeled and crushed)
• Yellow onions - 2 small ones (chopped fine)
• Tomato paste - 2 tablespoons
• Fresh Tomato - 1 whole one (chopped unevenly) 
• Paprika - 2 teaspoons
• Cayenne Pepper - 2 teaspoons (optional)
• Cumin - 2 teaspoons
• Olive oil (with an optional mixture of butter or ghee) - 1/2 cup (or more, if needed)
• Black pepper - 3 teaspoons
• Salt - to taste
• Hot water - as needed
• Dried Mint - 2 tablespoons (available online or at your local Middle Eastern and some South Asian grocery stores)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Fresh mint and (if you'd like a spicy kick) Urfa (Turkish) isot pepper for garnish (the dried, red, round, whole chilies at your local South Asian grocery store may be a good substitute if you grind them up)

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven.
2. Add meat and saute until lightly brown. Take the meat out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Saute onions until translucent, then add garlic and saute for a couple of minutes.
4. Add lentils and broth to cover and bring to a boil.
5. Add barley, lamb, tomato paste, tomato, cayenne (if using), the rest of the broth (topping up with hot water to cover as needed). Bring to boil and simmer for 2 hours, checking and adding hot water a little at a time, as needed, and stirring occasionally so that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. After 2 to 2-1/2 hours, check to see if the meat has become tender, and the barley and lentils have softened, and the mixture has started to come to a liquid, porridge-like consistency. If yes, add the pre-cooked chickpeas, salt, cumin, paprika and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes.
7. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Add black pepper. Turn off heat.
8. Add lemon zest, dried mint and lemon juice.
9. Garnish with mint and isot or ground red pepper.

Serve With:

By itself! This is one of of those beautiful one dish meals.

*As an aside, I'm told that some people in Pakistan believe that Khichra (a spiced, slow-cooked rice dish with meat and lentils) is related to Haleem, but it's more likely that Khichra was the Muslim version of Khichri, a South Asian vegetarian dish of lentils and rice, to which meat was added as an ingredient. But, the story of Khichri/Khichuri and its world travels is for another post.