Haleem season: how our Ramzan kitchen works

During Ramzan our kitchen changes shape. Haleem, which we make only on Fridays the rest of the year, is cooked every day, and the counter opens at 5 pm so that families can collect it for iftar.

The work starts the night before. Broken wheat and a little chana dal and moong dal are washed and soaked overnight. At 5 am Ustad Rafiq’s team cooks the mutton, on the bone, with ginger, garlic, green chilli and our own spice mix, until it falls apart. The wheat is cooked separately until very soft.

Then the two are combined in a deep vessel over a slow wood and charcoal fire, and the pounding begins. Two cooks take turns with a long wooden ghotna, beating and stirring the haleem for four to five hours until the meat threads disappear into the wheat and it turns smooth and elastic. When a spoon of it stretches like a rope as you lift it, it is ready.

Each plate is finished at the counter with ghee, fried onions, a squeeze of lime, coriander and mint. A plate is ₹280, and we sell about 600 plates an evening during the month. Most evenings it is gone by 9 pm, so come early or order by 3 pm for a 5 pm pickup. After Eid, the kitchen goes back to haleem on Fridays only.