Harees/Aleesa

Harees is a traditional Middle Eastern recipe.This is prepared during the month  of Ramadan in most of the Arab houses & distributed to nearby houses.This is also a very famous dish in parts of North Kerala at the muslim weddings & parties.

This is a whipped wheat-meat recipe. I have got an easy recipe on this which I thought of sharing. For this recipe only the time taken for soaking wheat and the cooking time taken is long.Preparation time taken is very little;we just have to add all the ingredients into the pressure cooker and cook.

      So here I go with the recipe...

Ingredients

Peeled wheat       2 cups (soak this overnight)

water                  7 cups
Chicken                3-4 medium pieces

Onion                 1/2 of 1 medium(chop roughly)

Garlic                         2 cloves    ( "        "   )

Cinnamon                 1" piece

Cardamom                2 pieces

Ghee                        6 tsp

Salt                          3/4 tsp (according to taste)

For Garnishing
Ghee                3 tsp
Onion               1 (thinly sliced )
Cashew nuts     few
Raisins             few(optional)

 Method

-Wash and soak the wheat overnight (cover it with a lid)

-Next day,strain the water from the soaked wheat.

-Now in a pressure cooker add the wheat,water (7 cups),chicken pieces,onion,garlic,cinnamon,cardamom,ghee and salt.

-Mix well.

-Close the lid with the weight /whistle on.

-First keep this on medium flame for 5 minutes then reduce the flame to the lowest on the small burner and cook for 1 hour 40 minutes

-After the given time, off the flame,wait for 10 minutes till the steam goes completely , then open the lid.

-Slowly mix everything using a ladle and then mash it using back of the ladle till smooth and creamy.
-Now heat a pan,add ghee and fry the onions and cashew nuts.Off the flame
-keeping little aside add the rest to the Harees /Aleesa/Alsa 
-While serving you can add the remaining ghee-onion-cashew mix on top and spread it using the back of the spoon 

*Use good quality wheat.(I used 'Harees')
*When you open the lid after it is cooked sometimes you might find the wheat at the bottom and the water,chicken and other spices on the top but once you stir all will combine well
*Be careful to first stir slowly and then only mash.
*As the cooking time is long ,you will not have to take much effort in mashing , everything gets blended easily.
*You can use mutton pieces also instead of chicken.
*In the Kannur part it is served with sugar.