‘Haleem today has become a symbol of Hyderabadi pride’

For renowned food connoisseur

Mehboob Alam Khan

, haleem is more than just a dish — it’s a repository of royal culinary history; one of Hyderabad’s best known delish jewels. The octogenarian is an authority on Hyderabad cuisine and those who’ve had the good fortune of savouring his hospitality swear that the food at the Alam Khan household is to die for. Hyderabad Times caught up with

Nawab

sahab, as he is affectionately called, while supervising a haleem-making session on Saturday, for a tete-e-tete revolving around the Hyderabadi delicacy, its history, recipe, significance in today’s culinary world, the future and more. Excerpts...

On his tryst with food
I have been cooking

Hyderabadi cuisine

since the past 50 years. My mother and grandmother taught me most of the recipes that I use today. I had a knack for cooking since childhood and there was no restriction on me cooking from my family. I would quietly watch my mother cooking in the kitchen and at times, she would let me stir the pot. As I grew older, my love for cooking evolved — thanks to all the different global cuisines I got exposed to while travelling. Many a time I have been approached to write a cook book and have been told that it’s for the preservation of these mouth-watering recipes. But I don’t like to do that. Simply because I believe writing alone won’t help if the younger generation don’t take up the initiative to preserve the true essence of Hyderabadi cuisine.

On haleem’s history...
Haleem is a Middle Eastern dish.

Hyderabadi haleem

actually is a derivative of the Arabic dish

harees

but with a local twist — it’s neither too spicy nor too mild and has a strong Iranian influence. Another major difference between the two is that harees is usually savoured with naan, whereas haleem is a meal in itself. Both the dishes however, uses the same basic ingredients and recipe — a perfect ratio of meat, wheat and ghee beaten or mashed before being cooked for hours with natural spices. I however, like to prepare the dish with bones as the marrow adds a distinct flavour to the broth. We hand-pound the bones to secrete its juice and the marrow is an irreplaceable element in the mix. The use of pure ghee also adds a rich flavour to the preparation.

A dish enjoyed by all
Initially, haleem was a delicacy served only at weddings and during festivities and the whole idea of going out to restaurants to savour it was unheard of. But times have changed and today, the dish is sold in restaurants all-year-long. While it’s a matter of pride for me that Hyderabadi haleem today is a popular dish, it also makes me worry about its authenticity. When things get easily available, they lose out on their value and that’s what bothers me. But one thing that really makes me happy is that today the dish is enjoyed by foodies irrespective of their religion. And they eagerly wait for Ramzan to savour it.

On vegetarian and vegan haleem
Yeh vegetarian haleem hota kya hai? The essence of the haleem lies in the meat and making a vegetarian variant of it is like robbing it off its identity. I have no problem with vegetarian food, I like cooking it too… par agar khatti dal main aap gosht daaldenge to kya woh non-veg khatti dal banjayegi? This whole idea of adding and
subtracting from a recipe of historical significance is unacceptable.