Haleem

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With my mom at home, I know I have been given a really good opportunity to learn traditional dishes from her.....but the problem is I want to cook things for my mom and make her relax, not the other way round. So, I'm not learning too many new dishes from her. But what I did learn today made up for everything :D
This, my friends, is the mother of all traditional muslim dishes. Sure it's time consuming, but when you taste it, everything is forgotten. There's nothing that says Ramadan more than haleem in Hyderabad(India). It's a way to break our fast and energize our body. I'm not surpised considering the amount of protien it contains!

P.S: Manisha, this one is for you. Thanks for bugging me to post this ;)Recipe Notes: It's a pretty versatile dish in the sense that you can use any meat you prefer, be it chicken, beef or goat. I personally prefer chicken but it all depends on your taste buds. It takes around 2 hours to prepare haleem but it's worth it. Also, I unfortunately did not measure some of the things in the standard "cups"...I instead weighed it with my new kitchen scale.
I also used my beloved food mill to make this. My mom got quite excited when she saw it...apparently people in Hyderabad use exactly this to puree the whole thing :D

Recipe Source: Mom!
I rate it 5 stars

Ingredients:
2 BIG onions, sliced and deep fried to golden brown, then crushed
Bulghur wheat(about 2/3 cup), Masoor dal(1 handful) & Chana Dal(1 handful) - together 8 ounce
3 cups water
1 tbsp oil
1.5 lbs chicken/beef/goat, boneless
1 cup water
1.5 cups yogurt
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
8 cloves + 1/2 tsp cumin - ground
3/4 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 to 1.5 tsp ground pepper
1 1/3 cup water
Juice from 2 limes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
Lime wedges to serveProcedure:
Cook bulghur wheat with masoor and chana dal in 3 cups water in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Set aisde and clean pressure cooker. Dump oil, chicken, water, yogurt, red chili, turmeric, garlic, ginger and salt in same pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes till the meat has fallen apart totally. Using a food mill or a food processor, puree the wheat mixture and meat mixture into a 5 quart pot. Add 1/2 of the crushed deep fried onions, ground cloves and cumin, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground pepper, water and lime juice. Cook it on medium heat, stirring constantly. Taste and see if it needs more cinnamon and pepper. Adjust to your taste. Cook for 10-15 minutes till its thick and goopy. Add chopped cilantro and mint. Cook for a minute further. Serve hot with lime wedges and the rest of the fried onions sprinkled on top.