The Legendary Haleem of Hyderabad
Words by Akriti Anshu Kujur
Welcome to the Brown History Newsletter. If you’re enjoying this labour of love, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your contribution would help pay the writers and illustrators and support this weekly publication. If you like to submit a writing piece, please send me a pitch by email at brownhistory1947@gmail.com. Don’t forget to check out our SHOP and our PODCAST. You can also follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
The Legendary Haleem of Hyderabad by Akriti Anshu Kujur
Since the day I read, ‘In the Bazaars of Hyderabad’ by Sarojini Naidu, I was charmed by the old city of Hyderabad. In her poem, she vividly speaks of different wares, flowers, fruits , spices and ornaments that one would come across before Partition. The urge to see the bazaar and stroll around it was profound. After almost a decade, this long-forgotten desire reached its fruition. The historic city of Hyderabad, now in Telangana, India, welcomed me with open arms.
A lot has changed about the bazaar since the composition of the poem in 1912. Unfortunately, I could not experience all that was described in the poem. Nevertheless, the charming city with its iconic Charminar and the bazaar around it gave me a glimpse of that bygone golden era.
I happened to visit the city during Ramadan where the holy month is intertwined with Haleem, a festive dish and traditionally an integral part of an Iftari (a meal eaten after breaking the fast or roza). However, in present times, Haleem has started to appear as an exquisite delicacy offered at weddings and other festivities as well.
A brisk walk around the Charminar bazaar is enough for one to get acquainted with the immense popularity of Haleem in this old city. Haleem eating competitions are held throughout the city. The city does not merely take pride in its art of preparing Haleem but rather celebrates it.
The streets are engulfed by the overpowering smell of Haleem. The piping hot dish is served in a bowl with a garnish of coriander leaves, ginger julienne, lemon, fried onion and cashews. I distinctly remember the first spoon of Haleem bursting with flavors. A truly spicy affair. The strong meaty flavor is well complemented by all the spices. The taste of ghee, not only gave it a distinct flavor but also a rich buttery texture. The texture of Haleem is exceptionally peculiar and can be best described as a porridge or perhaps a thick sticky stew. The meat and pulses are so well blended that one cannot taste the two separately.
The primary ingredients of Haleem are meat (mutton, beef or chicken), broken wheat and lentils (Bengal gram, green gram, black gram). An assortment of spices like onion, ginger-garlic paste turmeric, garam masala (a blend of Indian spices ), cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, tailed pepper (kebab cheeni), red chilly powder and black peppercorns provide it with a distinct flavor. Desi ghee (clarified butter made with cow or buffalo milk), rose petals and nuts like cashew, almond and pistachio make the taste decadent beyond par.
Haleem is traditionally slow cooked overnight, while two to three people are required to continuously stir it. True to the dishes’ cooking time, ‘Haleem’ in Arabic means ‘patient”. The lentils, rice and the meat and spices are cooked separately. Thereafter they are combined and pounded together to achieve a unique paste-like consistency. Lastly, it is garnished with nuts, berista (caramelized onion), herbs like coriander and mint, green chillies and lemon juice.
In 2010, Hyderabadi Haleem acquired a G.I . ( Geographical Identification ) certification, making Haleem an intellectual property of Hyderabad state. A G.I. certification is provided for a product which is unique to a certain territory. It is the first non-vegetarian product to get this certification.
Interestingly, Haleem is not entirely what one would recognize as an indigenous food of the old city.
Pista house, a famous Hyderabadi restaurant, established in 1997 has played a humongous role in popularizing Haleem all the more. Not only has Pista House come up with vegetarian Haleem to accommodate a wider crowd but has also made it available for foreigners by opening up branches in USA and Oman.
Although Haleem had reached Hyderabad during the reign of the sixth Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan, it only became Hyderabad’s own under the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan in the first half of the 20th century. Sultan Saif Nawaz Jung Bahadur, a scion of Al-Qu'aiti dynasty of Yemen, then a prominent noble in the seventh Nizam’s court, all the more popularized the dish when he used it as the star of his dinner parties. Madina Hotel at Pathargatti, one of the oldest restaurants in the city, introduced Haleem to its menu in 1956, making this royal delicacy accessible to the common people of Hyderabad.
Harees or Jareesh, a sort of an elder cousin to the Haleem, or to put it more precisely, a predecessor to Haleem, is still sold in the Irani eateries of Hyderabad and is a staple in the streets of the area known as Barkas, famously called Little Arabia. This area once served as the Nizam’s military cantonment, housing mostly Chaush people (Hadhrami Arabs who settled in the Deccan region). The word Baraks finds its origin in the English word ‘barracks’. The name Barkas is also attributed to an area in Saudi Arabia called ‘ Wadiya Barkas’, the native land of a regiment serving as the Nizams’ esteemed bodyguards. This large settlement of the Arab population heralded the confluence of Arab food and culture with the existing Hyderabadi culture.
Abū Muḥammad al-Muẓaffar ibn Naṣr ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq, a 10th-century Baghdadi writer, mentions in his cookbook, Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh, the recipe of Hareesa which appears to be homologous to our own haleem’s form and recipe. Described as nourishing and calorie dense, this dish once bejeweled the eating quarters of the royals and the nobles.
In contrast to Haleem, Harees would be considered rather bland. It does not contain the elaborate list of desi spices and desi ghee. Instead of Desi ghee, samneh is used, which is clarified butter made from sheep and goat milk, giving a very distinct greasy-meaty flavor. Harees have two variants: sweet and salty.
Maqbul bin Abdullah, 52-year-old owner of Hadrami Harees Shop in Barkas Bazar, prided on the fact that he has had harees since the age of one for breakfast. He went on to narrate about his eatery's history and his father and grandfather who have managed it before him. He very boastfully remarked about harees being much older than haleem and how his recipe is ‘authentic’ like the ones found in Arabia.
Haleem had found its way into the Mughal capital of Delhi as well. Ain-i-Akbari, a 16 th century court-document by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, mentions the preparation of both Haleem and Harees in the royal kitchen.
One can find Haleem in the quaint streets of Old Delhi and Zakir Nagar. In conversation with Naeem Bhai, owner of Bundu Haleems, operating since 1949 near Jama Masjid, I got to know that Dilliwali haleem is comparatively more grainy and soupier than its Hyderabadi counterpart.
A rather eccentric debate goes around the streets of Delhi regarding the very name of the dish. Many people believe that the dish should rather be called Daleem since it's primarily made of an assortment of dals or pulses. Another popular view finds its grounds in religious sentiments. Since Haleem is part of the Asma-ul-Husna (the 99 names of Allah ), it being the name of a food item seems very blasphemous to a lot of people. While others believe that Haleem is the name they have known all their life and bringing religion into this matter is an exaggeration.
In Kashmir, Hareesa is a popular dish exclusively eaten during the winter months. Instead of wheat, short-grained rice is used for the preparation of the same. Caramelized onion is replaced by Kashmiri shallot and Desi ghee with mustard oil. It's eaten along with Kashmiri bread.
North Kerala consumes a sweeter version of Haleem called Aleesa or Alsa. Along with the ingredients used in a typical Hyderabadi haleem, coconut milk, sugar and raisins are a merry addition. From the 7th century onwards, Arab merchants traded on the Malabar coast. Many of these traders married local women, giving rise to the Mappila Muslim community. Hereon Arab dishes were inducted into the religion. Arabic cooking techniques were assimilated with the local spices and ingredients, birthing the distinct Mappila cuisine.
Jameela Palakkal, a 66-year-old Mappila matriarch, very enthusiastically remarked on the primacy of Aleesa during festive meals. According to her, all her childhood she grew up eating Aleesa as a special Friday dessert. While I told her about the salty Haleem of Hyderabad, she could barely fathom the concept of a salty Aleesa.
Among Bohras, a Muslim community from Yemen who settled on the coast of Gujarat around the 11th century, take pride in a haleem-like dish called Khichra. Khichra is not as spicy as Haleem and the meat pieces are not pounded and mixed as in the case of Haleem but rather left as tiny chunks.
The city of Lucknow and the areas in its vicinity are also acquainted with Khichra. In an interview with Sohail Hashmi, an esteemed historian, he narrates the story of Khichras in Lucknow. According to him, the Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula of Lucknow got the Bara Imambara commissioned as a famine-relief project in 1784. The kingdom was experiencing one of the worst seen draughts. Anyone who would provide labor in the construction of the Imambara would get food as remuneration. This food was made by slow-cooking mutton, various pulses and rice together. After the famine situation was dealt with, the dish did not get lost as would be expected but rather flourished and reached other parts of North India. Khichra is served as a street food in present-day Pakistan as well, especially in the city of Karachi.
In Pakistan, Haleem is quite popular, especially in the city of Karachi. Two of the most famous haleem outlets are Karachi Haleem and Mazaidar Haleem, located in Burns Road and have been catering since the 1980s. They started as small stalls but in today's time have established themselves as Haleem moguls. Mazaidar Haleem became the first company in Pakistan to tin pack haleem and even export it to Japan and Dubai.
Hassan Abrar, a 25 year old Karachi based food enthusiast, opined that the Muhajirs (Urdu-speaking Indians who migrated to Pakistan, post partition) have perfected and popularized Haleem recipe. He commented on Haleem being especially eaten and offered as Niyaz (charity) during month of Muharram (first month in the Islamic calender, marks the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain bin Hazrat Ali, grandson of Prophet Muhammad on Ashura day or tenth day ). Oral traditions narrate the cooking of Hareesa or Haleem by combining whatever grains, wheat and meat that was available by the family members of the martyrs after the burial during the Battle of Karbala, Iraq in 680 AD. To commemorate this event, Haleem is eaten on this day. Though the story lacks historical backing, it is a well established tradition in today's time.
In the Punjab province of Pakistan, Haleem is served with kebab on top of it.
Haleem has found its way in Bangladesh as well. The recipe is pretty much the same when compared to Hyderabadi Haleem.
Primarily, haleem is associated with Islamic festivals. But to most people’s surprise, Jews from Persia have been eating Harees on Sabbath day (seventh day of the week, observed as day of rest) since medieval times. On the other hand Syrian Christians prepare it on the Feast of Assumption (marks Virgin Mary’s ascent to Heaven).
The world-famous Hyderabadi Haleem is an endowment of Arabic cuisine to this land but throughout the Indian subcontinent, we see various variations of the dish. Each region has added indigenous elements to the plain yet mesmerizing Harees. Nevertheless the basic structure and ingredients of the dish remain the same as Harees. Like a lot of many delicacies, Harees touched our lands, got accustomed to our palate and then became our very own Haleem.
It is interesting to note that food has traveled and transcended boundaries, since time immemorial. The concept of globalization may be fairly new, but the osmosis of food and culture has undoubtedly always existed. History has very precisely recorded wars and conflicts among different groups of people, discussing all its facets but somewhere fails in elucidating the incidents of assimilation and harmony.
Credits:
Akriti Anshu Kujur is a full-time history student and a part developer in the kitchen. Having pursued an undergrad degree in History from St. Stephen’s College, DU, she aims to be an academician of Medieval Indian History. She has a keen interest in Indo-Saracenic architecture and miniature paintings.