It’s the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Royal Hyatt convention center, which usually hosts wedding receptions, has been turned into a kitchen for Pista House, one of this southern Indian city’s top restaurants. A huge hall is full of dozens of workers dressed in yellow shirts and hairnets, busy crushing cardamom pods, peeling onions and de-stalking little piles of fresh green chili peppers.
But there’s only one dish on the menu.
It’s haleem — a thick meat and lentil stew, cooked for hours, pounded into a paste and flavored with rose petals, cinnamon and cardamom, among other spices.
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