For Haleem makers, the more you cook it, the better it tastes

Restaurants prepare the orders for those who spend the night in mourning.

KARACHI: For many years now, Muhammad Azeem and his friends have spent the night of Muharram 9 huddled around a degh of haleem, taking turns to stir the thick broth and watch it simmer slowly. The process, he says, can take the entire night. According to Azeem, the more you cook it, the better it will taste.

“It is sort of a neighbourhood tradition, I remember doing this since I was a child,” he said while talking about how most of the young men in his neighbourhood participated in the night-long activity every year. “We get together to cook haleem to express religious solidarity with our brothers.” He added that they usually cooked around 12 to 15 deghs starting at 10 pm and going on till sunrise.

Meanwhile, not everyone can spend the whole night cooking - many people are busy praying or attending majlis at imambargahs. These families tend to rely on a ready-made mixture of the wheat, barley, lentils and meat dish which is easily available at restaurants and hotels. As most of the main markets remained closed on Monday, people thronged Karachi Haleem, the ultimate spot for haleem lovers, on Burnes Road.

Dressed in black, Raza Hasan, a customer, said that he had come to buy five deghs for a majlis at home. He added that since they were all busy praying, it was more convenient to by haleem instead of making it at home.

Shop manager Arshad Javed said that their daily duties got tougher in Muharram, especially when the large orders started to arrive. “People from all the different sects come to buy haleem from us,” he said. “But people who live around the area [M.A. Jinnah Road] cannot get out of their house and eat haleem because of tough security measures.”

Chicken and beef haleem is usually sold for Rs190 per kilogramme but in Muharram it is sold for Rs180.

Biryani Centre employee Chiraghuddin says that they too prepare special haleem for the Ashura procession, especially since the people seemed to prefer chicken over beef.

Homemaker Saira Shah said that many families cooked haleem at home because it was tradition. “Every Muharram, the women make haleem and send it off to their neighbours or relatives,” she said. “Some people also distribute it among the poor.”

In Farhan’s neighbourhood, the ambiance was quite spiritual with naats and qawaalis playing in the background. Like Azeem’s neighbours, they too stay up all night cooking haleem.

He said that they had made special arrangements for Muharram by pitching in for setting up tents, lights and buying haleem ingredients. He added that after cooking haleem the entire night, they ate it the next day with their families.

Haleem is primarily an Arabic dish and is known by different names in different countries. Harisa and khichra are two variations of haleem which are very popular in Pakistan and India.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2011.