Hyderabadi Chicken haleem

Hyderabadi Haleem is an authentic and traditional Ramadan delicacy served during Iftar after breaking the fast. This dish has got all the nutritions that one requires after  fasting the whole day. Haleem is a delicacy, which you can never miss if you ever want a taste of Hyderabad food. the traditional haleem is a must try dish in one's life.  In recognition of its cultural significance and popularity, in 2010 it was granted Geographic indication status (GIS) by the Indian GIS Registry Office making it the first non vegetarian dish in India to receive the status.

Haleem is a stew composed of meat, different varieties of lentils, spices which is made into a thick.paste. Traditionally this haleem is cooked on a low flame for about 12 hours and two people are required to stir the haleem using a wooden paddle. It is made by adding loads of ghee to make it richer, but at home we can add as we want. In Hyderabad, Pista house is famous for haleem. When we were in Bangalore, we used to order haleem from Hyderabad Pista house and would get our share within a day. In Andhra, almost all the people who are fasting will make this dish and during one fasting time, I tasted this dish when my neighbors prepared and instantly fell in love with this dish. Every year one time during fasting, I would make this dish as my daughter and my husband love this.

I have posted one haleem dish before in my blog, But that only has broken wheat and chicken. Over the years I tried different versions and here I am today with the most authentic version, but I have added less ghee and also a less time consuming version.  Here I have blended everything using an electric hand blender, you can also use a hand masher. This is a dish which is packed with full of proteins and one of the best delicacies to be eaten during the month of Ramadan. With a dash of lemon juice, will bring out the flavors in this dish. Hope you will try this dish and please let me know.

 Ingredients:
For the Chicken:

1. Boneless Chicken- 1lb
2. Ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp
3. Red chili powder- 1 tbsp
4. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
5. Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tbsp
6. Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
7. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tbsp
8. Chopped Coriander Leaves- a bunch
9. Onions(sliced)- 1no
10. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp
11. salt- as required

Pulses:

1. Broken Wheat- 2 Cups
2. Urad dal/ Black Gram - 2 tbsp
3. Chana Dal/ Split Chick peas- 2tbsp
4. Toor Dal/ Split Pigeon Peas- 2 tbsp
5. Moong Dal/ Yellow Split lentil- 2 tbsp
6. Water- 4 Cups
7. Salt- as required
8. For assembling:
9. Red Chili powder-1 tbsp
10. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
11. Pepper powder- 1 tsp

For Frying:

1. Oil- 1 tbsp
2. Onions- 1/2 no
3. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp

Garnish:

1. Coriander leaves

Method for preparing chicken:

• Put all the ingredients required for the chicken in a pressure cooker and cook on a low flame for almost an hour.

Method for pulses:

• Soak the pulses for 3-4 hours.
• Pressure cook all the ingredients under pulses and cook well for almost an hour on a low flame.

Method for assembling:

• Blend the cooked chicken well using a hand blender.
• Add this chicken mixture to the cooked pulses and blend well so that everything gets mixed thoroughly. Cook on a low flame. Add little water if required.
• Add the red chili powder, Garam masala powder, pepper powder and salt if required. Mix well. Switch off the flame after 15 minutes.
• Fry the onions to golden brown, keep it aside.
• Garnish the haleem using fried onions, lemon juice, coriander leaves and a table spoon of ghee. Enjoy hot and delicious haleem.

Sharjah Shake- An Authentic Kerala Smoothie...

Sharjah shake is not a drink from Sharjah but it is one of the favorite drinks of my native state Kerala, India. It is a drink loved by almost all Keralites. Sharjah shake is originated from Calicut in Kerala. Whenever I visit my home town, I make sure I don't miss this shake and will have frequently. We love this shake a lot. In Kerala, almost every juice shop,  this is available. Now more new flavors and ingredients are added to this shake but I like the simple, original one which has a malt flavor. A perfect drink among guests and family.

For a simple Sharjah shake the key ingredients are ripe bananas, horlicks/boost, nuts that is combined to a perfect, delicious, tasty Sharjah shake. This just takes less than 10 minutes and will be a super hit. As bananas are the base of this drink, this will be thick and sweet. It is quite filling. If we want we can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, here I didn't as I wanted it plain. I am warning you this is very ADDICTIVE!!!! As Ramadan fasting is going on, we like to drink different juices while breaking the fast and so this is one among and will always love this.

To get the authentic milk shake parlor version, freeze the milk and break into chunks and blend with other ingredients. There are countless variations in the making of this shake, but this is mine and very flexible. Please try this and let me know.
Ingredients:

1. Frozen Milk- 2 Cups
2. Ripe Bananas- 1 large/ 2 small
3. Horlicks/ Boost- 2 tbsp
4. Sugar- 1 tbsp(optional)
5. Cashew nuts- 4 nos

Method:

• Blend together all the ingredients and pour in a tall glass top it with roasted cashew nuts and vanilla ice cream.

Prawns Idli

As Ramadan month is going on, some days I will get some ideas of trying variety dishes for us to eat during breaking fast. In US as the sunset is at 8 pm, we eat  dinner as soon as we break the fast (after prayer). We prefer to eat some breakfast item, rather than rice during that time as by drinking a cup of water itself, we will be full.

As my daughter who is fasting along with us, I have to think of different ideas for her to eat. As she is a big prawn lover, I decide to try making idli filled with prawns. When I searched in google, there are not many blogs with this dish, so I decided to give it a try and prepared the prawns roast like how I usually make and added a tbsp of the roast to the idli batter in each mold. This was a super hit at my place and so a new dish is formed. As prawns take less than 3 minutes to cook, it is really easy to make. Try this out and please let me know how it turned. For the idli batter recipe, follow my dosa post. The preparation for the idli and dosa batter are same only the consistency varies.

Ingredients:

• Idli Batter

Prawns Roast:

1. Prawns- 2 cups
2. Onions (Chopped)- 1 no
3. Tomatoes (chopped)- 1 no
4. Chopped Green Chillies- 2 nos
5. Ginger- garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Red Chili Powder- 1/2 tbsp
7. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
8. Tamarind Extract- 1 tbsp
9. Oil- 1tbsp
10. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
11. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
12. Salt- as required

Method for Prawns Roast:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, when the splutter, add the chopped onions, stir well.
2. When they turn translucent add the ginger- garlic paste,  chopped tomatoes, stir well. Add the red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix for a minute. Add the chopped prawns along with tamarind extract. Mix well and close with a lid and let it cook for 2- 3 minutes.
3. Switch off the flame.

Method for Prawns Idli:

• Oil the idli plates and pour a ladle full of idli batter, top with a tbsp of the prawns roast and repeat till done on all the idli molds.
• Steam the idlis till done and enjoy with sambar or chutney.