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 blender, garnish with lime juice and cilantro. A couple of bowls 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
- Chicken Breast, diced- 1 or 2 breasts
- Shan Shahi Haleem Mix- 2 cups, rinsed lentil/legumes & 4 tbsp Spices (according to your heat level)
- Water- 6 cups
- Lime juice- juice from ½ lime
- Cilantro, chopped- ¼ cup
- Fried onions- ½ cup (optional)
- I've used Shahi Haleem mix Shan brand that has the whole lentils/legumes and spice mix. ~~Don't buy the easy cook haleem mix that has ground lentil/legumes~~
- Rinse the whole lentils/legumes taken in a sieve under running water. Soaking is not required.
- Add diced chicken breast and the rinsed lentils/legumes to the stainless steel pot.
- Add 2 to 3 tbsp of spice mix, combine well.
- Add 6 cups water.
- Spice mix is hot, so add according to your heat level.
- Close the pot with the lid.
- Select pressure cook mode, set 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, do a quick pressure release.
- If using a hand blender, immerse the hand blender into the stew and coarsely puree the cooked lentils/legume and chicken.
- Or transfer the cooked lentils/legumes and chicken to a blender jar and coarsely puree. Transfer 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.
- At this point, give a taste and add 1 to 2 tbsp of spice mix according to the heat level you can handle.
- Add freshly squeezed lime juice and chopped cilantro.
- If you want you could also add fried onions.
- Give everything a good mix.
- Serve into bowls and enjoy along with pita bread or naan.