Mauritian halim recipe: the spiced wheat, lentil and meat soup
Mauritian halim: cracked wheat, lentils, meat and spices. Ingredients, a two-hour method and how to serve it.
Halim is a thick soup of cracked wheat, lentils and slow-cooked meat, flavoured with cumin, turmeric and ginger. One published recipe for five people uses 500 g of beef or mutton, 150 g of pulses (red lentils, black lentils and split peas), 50 g of cracked wheat and about 2 litres of water, simmered for two hours. It is served topped with coriander, crispy fried onions and a squeeze of lemon.
What halim is in Mauritius
Halim belongs to the island’s Muslim cooking and is close to South Asian haleem. It is far heartier than an ordinary soup: the meat cooks for so long that it falls apart into the grain and leaves a thick, almost smooth porridge. According to Wikipedia, the dish descends from Arab harees, and a 10th-century Baghdad cookbook holds one of its earliest written recipes. Cooks in South Asia later added spices.
In Mauritius it is linked with Ramadan. The Mauritian author Assad Bhuglah names haleem, “a thick stew”, among the popular dishes for breaking the fast, along with kalia. It is not limited to that month, though: a travel blog reports that you can also find it outside Ramadan, in small snack bars and in Muslim neighbourhoods, above all Plaine Verte in Port Louis.
Ingredients
Quantities from a published recipe for five people.
- 500 g of beef or mutton, in pieces
- 50 g of red lentils, 50 g of black lentils and 50 g of split peas
- 50 g of cracked wheat
- 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and a piece of fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons of ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of chilli powder, optional
- about 2 litres of water, plus salt and pepper
To serve: chopped fresh coriander, crispy fried onions and lemon.
Method, step by step
1. Brown the meat
Wash and drain the lentils and split peas. Brown the meat in a little oil in a pressure cooker.
2. Add the aromatics and spices
Chop the onion, garlic and ginger finely and fry them with the meat for a few minutes. Stir in the cumin, turmeric and chilli, if using, until the meat is well coated.
3. Simmer
Add the lentils, split peas and cracked wheat, then about 2 litres of water. Simmer for about 2 hours, stirring regularly. If the halim gets too thick, add more water.
4. Season and serve
Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with coriander, fried onions and a squeeze of lemon.
Getting the texture of a proper halim
The recipe above gives a thick soup that still has pieces of meat in it. The classic version goes further: the meat cooks until it falls apart and is then pounded with a pestle until its fibres vanish into the wheat. According to Wikipedia, traditional haleem simmers for seven to eight hours before it is beaten. If you have the time, extend the cooking over a low heat and mash the meat at the end; otherwise a pressure cooker gives a decent result in two hours.
Two recipes, two sets of ingredients
Ingredients vary from kitchen to kitchen, and no source says which version is the right one.
| Source | Meat | Grains and pulses | Spices | To serve |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expat.com | beef or mutton | cracked wheat, red lentils, black lentils, split peas | cumin, turmeric, ginger, chilli | coriander, fried onions, lemon |
| Travel blog | beef, lamb or chicken; venison on the island | cracked wheat, dholl, lentils | cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, ginger | roti, vinegar or garlic sauce, chilli to taste |
The travel blog gives no quantities or cooking times for Mauritius. The choice of meat and spices is therefore a matter of taste: fat is part of the recipe, and the same blog notes that cooks do not go looking for lean cuts.
How to serve it
Halim is eaten as a main course, with a spoon, not as a starter. The travel blog describes it served with roti, with vinegar or garlic sauce on the table and chilli added to each diner’s taste. It is even better reheated the next day, which makes it a good dish to cook in large quantities. None of the sources gives a storage time: in the fridge, treat it like any other cooked meat dish and do not keep it for long.
More from the island’s kitchen
For bread, farata and dholl puri go well with slow-cooked dishes. For a festive dish, see the biryani, and for a snack, the gâteaux piments. More specialities are collected in our guide to Mauritian cuisine, and religious festivals are covered on the events and festivals page.
Sources and checks
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