Chicken Haleem

Method

1. Wash the daliya and daals and soak them together overnight, or for at least 2 hours.
2. Drain and put them in a pressure cooker with the turmeric, 2 tsp salt and 6 cups water. Cook on low heat for 25–30 minutes after the first whistle, until very soft and mushy. Let the pressure drop.
3. Meanwhile, fry the onions in the oil for 15 minutes until deep golden. Lift out two-thirds of them for serving.
4. Add the chicken and ginger-garlic paste to the pan and fry for 5 minutes. Add the haleem masala and 1½ tsp salt (half if the packet masala is salted), fry for 2 minutes, then add 2 cups water. Cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes, until the chicken falls off the bone.
5. Lift out the chicken, remove the bones and shred the meat finely with two forks. Return it to its masala.
6. Blend or mash the grains until smooth and add them to the chicken. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring and mashing hard, until thick and stringy. Add hot water if it gets too stiff.
7. Stir in the garam masala. Serve with fried onion, ginger, green chillies, lemon and a pinch of chaat masala.