Chicken haleem made in the Instant Pot; easy to make and it’s a healthy one-pot meal…
Haleem is a popular stew based dish in the Middle East, it’s also popular in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The traditional way of making haleem is time-consuming as the lentils and legumes are soaked in water overnight and then slow-cooked along with beef or mutton/goat the next day. Aromatic whole spices are ground into a fine powder and added to the lentil/legumes and meat while slow cooking. After a few hours of slow cooking, everything is ground coarsely and garnished with lime juice, fried onions, and cilantro. A perfect one-pot meal that is so comforting.
Somedays, I can get really lazy, that’s when I buy the store-bought Haleem mix: Shan brand that has the whole lentil/legume mix and the spice mix. In the Instant pot, making chicken haleem is effortless. I just add all the ingredients into the pot and pressure cook for 25 minutes. After pressure cooking, I coarsely grind the chicken and lentil/legumes using a hand-held blender, and garnish with lime juice and cilantro.
A huge bowl of this amazing haleem is perfect for any time of the day. It’s healthy and nutritious. Since I’ve used chicken breasts, it’s very healthy.
Cooking Video
- Boneless chicken, diced- 2 chicken breasts or thighs
- Shan brand Haleem lentil mix- 2 cups
- Haleem spice mix- 3 to 4 tbsp, based on your spice level
- Water- 6 cups
- Cilantro, chopped- ¼ cup
- Freshly squeezed lime juice
- Fried onions (optional)
- I always use Shahi Haleem mix Shan brand, the box has the whole lentils/legumes mix and the spice mix.
- Note: Don't buy the easy cook haleem mix that has ground lentil/legumes, it doesn't taste that good.
- Lentil/legume mix is a combination of whole wheat, whole barley, urad dal, chana dal, rice & moong dal. The amount of whole wheat & barley are more than the othe lentils.
- Take the lentils in a strainer & rinse well under running water till the water turns clear.
- Soaking the lentils is not required.
- If you prefer you could soak the lentils for a few hours.
- I cook haleem in my Instant Pot, you can also use a regular pressure cooker.
- Add the diced chicken breast and the rinsed lentils/legumes to the stainless steel pot.
- Add 2 tbsp of spice mix, combine well.
- The spice mix is quite spicy, so while pressure cooking add 2 tbsp & after cooking you can add more spice based on your spice level.
- Add 6 cups water & combine well.
- Close the pot with the lid.
- Select pressure cook setting, set the time to 25 minutes at high pressure.
- Click start if using Instant Pot Ultra model. (Turn pressure release valve to Sealing in 7 in 1 DUO model).
- After 25 minutes of cooking, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes & then do a quick pressure release.
- We have to coarsely puree the haleem.
- If using a hand-held immersion blender, immerse the hand blender into the haleem and coarsely puree. Don't make into a smooth paste, has to be coarsely pureed.
- Or transfer some of the cooked haleem to a blender jar and coarsely puree it & transfer it back to the stainless steel pot.
- Do not puree to a smooth paste. It should be coarse so that we can enjoy the bite of legumes/lentils and chicken.
- Have a taste and add 1 to 2 tbsp of spice mix according to your spice level & cook in saute setting for 3 minutes.
- Add chopped cilantro & combine well.
- Take the stainless steel pot out of the main pot.
- Serve in soup bowls.
- Add a dash of freshly squeezed lime juice.
- If you want you could also top with some fried onions.
- Enjoy while its warm, this can be enjoyed as it is or along with pita bread.
