As per popular belief, hareesa is a quintessential winter meal, what with the components that constitute the thick brownish gravy mixed with finger kebabs and topped with pure desi ghee. In order to partially challenge this notion and partially to satiate cravings, I headed over to the most popular outlet in town that has become synonymous with this delicacy.

The Amritsari Hareesa outlet I found open has been around for just a couple of years, opened up by Shahbaz Riaz, one of the grandsons of the man behind the brand: Haji Sirajdin. The original shop haji sahib, as he’s known, launched over 60 years ago is situated just a couple of feet from this new one on main Nisbat Road and is run by Shahbaz’s cousins. It’s closed till early next month, which is basically what took me to the much younger substitute. Shahbaz claims he’s engaged in litigation with his cousins regarding ownership of the original shop and expects to win the suit “very soon”.

Haji Sirajdin started selling hareesa around 60 years ago from a humble shop on Nisbat Road, and named it Amritsari Hareesa as an ode to his roots across the border. “My grandfather initially had a small roadside hotel, but later started selling hareesa only. He was not into the same business back in India; he only got this idea from his ustad, Sadruddin, who introduced hareesa to the post-Partition Lahore. After the ustad died, dada jee decided to take on the mantle, and started this shop here. The recipe we follow till date is the same that our dada jee had developed.”

He says after his grandfather died in 1989, aged around 80-85, his father, Haji Riaz, took over and then it was the turn of the third generation -- his siblings and him, around 30 years ago. Though he had started practicing making hareesa with his grandfather at a very young age. “In the beginning, we only sold beef and desi chicken hareesa on Thursdays and Fridays. But now for at least 12 years, we have mutton also. And we operate from 5:30am to 1:30am.”

Ask him about the origins of this thick, grainy gravy mixed with a bunch of tiny kebabs – confused with haleem by many, Shahbaz claims this is an Arabic dish that originated at the time of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), and has been popular since then.

“It is blessed with a lot of nutritional value and helps get rid of weakness, as it has a combination of daals, porridge, meat, all topped with desi ghee. It’s a popular winter dish that gives you the much-needed warmth and energy in such weather. The best part is that you can have it as any meal of the day. If you have it for breakfast, you won’t feel full or lethargic all day,” he explains.

Shahbaz says the preparation of hareesa involves a lot of hard work, combining an assortment of pulses, meat, black pepper and other spices and cooking for at least five hours over high heat. “I personally make a two-maund deg (cauldron) late at night every other day, a skill which has been passed on to generations from my grandfather. Each deg lasts a couple of days.”

While hareesa remains most popular for winter Sunday breakfasts and dinners, it’s sold all year round and sales barely differ between seasons. Amritsari’s customers comprise students to entire families from every corner of the city, a lot of whom have been loyal to the brand for around five decades since the time of haji sahib.

Shahbaz feels that though the younger generation is more into fast food, it is easily drawn towards traditional dishes. “Most of them don’t know about the local fare, or what carries nutritional value and what doesn’t. It’s the parents’ job to inform their children about such food.”

Asked if his family ever travelled to their ancestral home in Amritsar, he says they only knew of a brother of his grandfather who lived in Amritsar after everyone else moved here. “After dada jee’s death, no one has any information about his brother, or even if he’s alive. There has been no communication with him after dada jee died.”

There’s a hareesa shop right next to Shahbaz’s and then there’s his family’s original a few feet away on the same road, apparently making for a tough competition. But that’s not what Shahbaz thinks. “Competition doesn’t affect me because I know I maintain the taste and quality that my grandfather was known for, and our loyal customers vouch for that,” he claims.

An elderly man standing outside the shop says his family has been their regular customers for a couple of generations now. “My family has been coming to this shop since haji sahib started it. Since then we have been their regular customer and don’t go anywhere else for hareesa.”

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2021