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Easy Pakistani Beef Haleem recipe
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4.75 from 4 votes

Easy Pakistani Beef Haleem Recipe

This easy pakistani beef haleem recipe is a slow cooked stew made with beef, lentils, barley, wheat and my personal homemade blend of spices.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time4 hours 30 minutes
soaking time8 hours
Total Time13 hours
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian, Pakistani
Keyword: beef and lentil stew, beef haleem, haleem, pakistani haleem, slow cooker haleem
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 316kcal

Equipment

  • large pot
  • Cooking Spoon
  • Knife
  • Chopping Board
  • Food Processor
  • Frying Pan

Ingredients

Spice Blend (For 1 Pound of Meat)

  • 2 dry red chillies
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp white cumin seeds
  • 1 pod black cardamom
  • 2 pods green cardamom
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 bay leaves
  • ½ nutmeg
  • 1 mace flowers
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 2 tsp red chili powder
  • ½ tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp white pepper powder

Lentil Mix (For 1 Pound of Meat)

  • ½ cup haleem wheat (pounded wheat)
  • 4 tsp chana daal (bengal gram)
  • 2 tsp split urad daal (maash daal)
  • 2 tsp masoor daal (red lentils)
  • 2 tsp moong daal (yellow lentils)
  • 8 tsp pearl barley

stew Ingredients

  • 1 lb beef
  • cup cooking oil
  • 2 tsp garlic paste
  • prepped spice blend
  • prepped lentil mix
  • 10 cups water
  • ½ onion

garnish

  • 1 green chili
  • ½ inch piece ginger
  • 1 lemon
  • ½ cup cilantro
  • ½ crispy fried onion (optional)
  • chaat masala powder (optional)

Instructions

Spice Blend

  • dry roast all the whole spices in a preheated frying pan for 2-3 minutes.
  • grind them all to a fine powder in a spice grinder.
  • mix with the other powdered spices.
  • use immediately or store in an airtight container.

Lentil Mix

  • measure all the lentils into a large bowl.
  • rinse thoroughly and soak overnight in 5 cups of water (minimum 8 hours.

Stew

  • Heat the cooking oil.
  • saute the garlic paste for 2 minutes.
  • add the beef and saute till light brown.
  • rinse and drain the lentils and add them to the meat along with the spice blend and 10 cups of water and bring to a boil.
  • lower the heat to medium and slow cook for 2 hours till the meat is tender
  • after 2 hours remove the meat along with 2 cups of the lentils and grind in a food processor
  • add back to the lentils in the pot and continue cooking for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes as to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pot
  • after 2 hours thinly slice and fry the onion to a dark brown and temper the haleem with the onion and oil.
  • continue cooking for 20-30 minutes.

garnish

  • finely chop the cilantro and green chilies.
  • thinly slice the ginger.
  • quarter the lemon.

Notes

NOTES:
  • Sticking To The Bottom Of The Pot - After cooking for an hour the lentils expand and the mixture becomes a little sticky and gelatinous. At this point you need to stir the pot at 15 minute intervals to scrape the bottom. If you feel the mixture is too thick then add a little more water but boil it first. Adding room temperature water will stop the cooking process and it will take you longer to get the desired results.
  • Grinding The Meat - A few pulses of the food processor are enough. You want to break down the meat but not completely grind it.
  • Adjusting The Spices - Once you add the meat and lentils back to the pot and continue cooking you will possibly need to adjust the salt and chilies. Since the lentils expand so much and you need to keep adding more water the balance of the spices is often thrown off and needs to be adjusted. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 1884mg | Potassium: 388mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 646IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 3mg