Category: All Things Halal

Halal New Orleans Recipe Round Up

Halal New Orleans Recipe Round Up

by Corbin ♥ 62 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Since Ramadan is about a week away, it only seems fitting to talk about food. What follows are from articles I have written for Aquila Style -a magazine for Modern Muslim Living- and a previous islamich post.  SOOoooo Yes, I am totally about to quote myself …

The southern USA has a rich tradition of unique cuisine.

This culinary uniqueness reaches a fever pitch in the port of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is as if New Orleanians decided to represent their melting pot of different cultures in a literal cooking pot […] New Orleans is a fantastic destination for any hungry traveler or foodie looking for fanciful fare.

However, as is the case with most southern cuisine, the New Orleans food experience can be a gastronomic “landmine” for Muslims.

Most recipes either use parts of the pig or have some pork added for “flavour”. And when you do find a dish that looks pork-free, you will often find that there is alcohol added.

As a convert living in southern USA, who grew up on New Orleans food, I have had to tweak my mother’s recipes into home cooking the halal way. From gumbo minus the ham hock stock to bread pudding without the rum drizzle, New Orleans and American southern food doesn’t have to be passed up because of its haram components.

New Orleans is famous for its gumbo

halal gumbo

[…]Unfortunately for the Muslim who takes a trip to New Orleans to try this stew, gumbo is almost always made with pork. Whether it is in the stock, a ham bone thrown into the roux for flavor, or pork sausage as one of the meats added to the stew, pork is almost always an ingredient in gumbo.

But there is no reason why Muslims should miss out of this robust multi-ethnic dish. Gumbo doesn’t need pork – shrimp, chicken, crab, or even fish can replace that part of any gumbo.

Click here for the recipe.

 

 New Orleans BBQ Shrimp


BBQ-Shrimp

BBQ Shrimp (deceptively named because it has nothing to do with barbecue sauce or grilling) is usually cooked with beer. I did a little research and some creative cooking, and discovered that the recipe could be adjusted for the halal palate.

Click here for the recipe.

 

 The All Important Crawfish Boil

crawfish1

Even though the crawfish boil usually entails some un-halal aspects, those can easily be switched out for their halal counterparts. So, if you have access to crawfish, even if it isn’t live or from the Gulf of Mexico, you need to think about having a boil. You will first thank Allah, then thank me.

Click here for the recipe.

 Bon Appetit!

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Candy Conundrum and The Search for Halal Peeps

by Corbin ♥ 11 Comments

Test kitchened and Written by Theresa Corbin

Those who know me can attest to the fact that I am candy crazy. At one point while in high school I even overthrew the dictator teacher of my French class and became its supreme ruler just so that I could instate a weekly “sugar fest” where all my French class subjects would bring candy to feast on. My love for candy borders on the insane.

the search for halal peeps

All my favorite holidays, pre-Islam, were candy based: Halloween being numero uno in my book and Easter coming in at a close second. Christmas didn’t make it to the top two because some of the gifts were not candy.

My absolute favorite holiday candy treat was the peep. You know what I am talking about. It is the colored sugar covered marshmallow that people either love to hate or just LOVE. I fall in the camp of LOVE with a couple of extra o’s than the normal citizen of peep-land. And even better than a peep is a stale peep. When you open the wrapper of a peep phalanx and let it sit out overnight you will be rewarded with a crispy stale outer sugar coating that adds an amazing texture to the creamy mallow-y filling. *drooling*

Anyway *wipes mouth*, when I started to think seriously about converting to Islam, I started to incorporating the Islamic behaviors into my lifestyle. And one of those behaviors was to stop drinking alcohol and eating pork.

Which was all well and good and my life improved greatly with these changes. Until I started realizing how much food has hidden pork in it. If you are familiar with this, you are probably shaking your head right now in agreement.

Starbursts and skittles and marshmallows OH MY! All had gelatin in them. Gelatin being the boiled down bone marrow from an animal, and in most cases it is from a pig. This constitutes pork. I had given up eating pepperoni pizza and bacon on my burgers, but I had never imagined that this pork prohibition would affect my candy addiction.

Much to my relief, I realized that starbursts and skittles were both made from beef gelatin. I called the company myself and then began to call every company that touted gelatin as an ingredient. Just Born company’s gelatin peddling  peeps were 100% pork. Bummer!

Through the peep deprived years, I have thought about activating my Jewish and Muslim candy loving friends to protest the porked peep situation. But I just don’t have that much energy (Candy induced lethargy? Perhaps). So, I decided to take matters in to my own hands.

I ordered a rather large bag of halal gelatin powder online, did some digging around for homemade peep recipes and this is what I came up with …

What follows is my very own recipe for pork free peeps that taste better than store bought. :p to Just Born

Pork Free Peeps Recipe

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unflavored kosher gelatin (i.e. gelatin from beef, fish, and they even have veggie jelly)

1 cup ice cold water, divided by 1/2

1- 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon imitation vanilla extract (without alcohol-I got mine at dollar general)

A few drops of your favorite color food coloring

1/4  cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

another 3/4 cup granulated sugar for sanding

 

Directions

  1. Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
  2. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat. Cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
  3. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes (I don’t have a candy thermometer and 7 mins was the perfect time). Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
  4. Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes.
  5. Add the vanilla and food coloring during the last minute of whipping.
  6. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans by combining the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.
  7. When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later.
  8. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
  9. Now turn your marshmallow into peeps: Once the marshmallow is set, cut out peeps with a lightly oiled cookie cutter of your preferred shape.
  10. Put a few drops of your favorite color food coloring into 3/4 cup granulated sugar to make sanding sugar.  Shake the coloring and sugar mixture well until all sugar is colored and food coloring clumps disappear.
  11. Sand the cut marshmallows in colored sugar.

Caution: While this recipe is a bit involved, these can be very addictive. Make them at your own risk.

 

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Muslim Crawfish Boil

by Corbin ♥ 5 Comments

halal crawfish

Written by Theresa Corbin

Hey, y’all! I have been having a pretty busy couple of weeks with my other writings and family stuff. But I did have time to squeeze in a crawfish boil.

In case you haven’t heard of such a thing, the crawfish boil can be described as a party in a sack. Crawfish come in a sacks the size of a third grader. They are then boiled in a large pot (like huge) with corn on the cob, potatoes, garlic, sausage, and seasoning. And everyone gathers around, rolls up their sleeve, peels the crawfish, stuffs their face, talks, and has a good time, washing it all down with beer.

Crawfish boil the halal way.
Crawfish boil the halal way.

When my father (who was born and raised in Missouri) married my mother (born and raised in New Orleans), he refused to partake in her crawfish boils. Until one day she brought home a sack of already boiled and spicy crawfish. She insisted that he stop being such a sissy (she was sassy like that), and try just one.

Well he did. And she regretted it. He proceeded to eat the entire sack, leaving none for her. She nearly divorced him for this travesty against humanity, but instead decided to train him to do all the hard work of a crawfish boiling, now that he was an enthusiast.

My father went on to become the best crawfish boiler, peeler, and consumer this side of the Mason Dixon line. (pardon my folksy-ness)

Spring time denotes the beginning of crawfish season in New Orleans and surrounding areas. With the weather not so hot yet, and the crawfish on sale, people get together to enjoy the bounty of the area and some friendly spice both in food and conversation.

Even though the crawfish boil usually entails some un-halal aspects (pork and alcohol), those can easily be switched out for their halal counterparts.

So, if you have access to crawfish, even if it isn’t from the Gulf of Mexico, you need to think about having a boil. It is an amazing delicacy in my neighborhood, and I don’t want anyone to have lived in this world and have never had a boiled crawfish. Some may be squeamish because it looks like a bug, but I guarantee it is worth the gross factor. You will first thank Allah, then thank me!

Halal Crawfish Boil:

1 lb Beef sausage, sliced to bite-sized pieces (vegetarians who eat fish: you can just leave this out)
6 onions, cut in half
5 lemons, cut in half
5 heads of garlic, whole
1 c salt (yes, one cup. You don’t drink the liquid it’s boiled in and the salt needs to get past the shell of the crawfish)
10-12 small red potatoes
5 ears of corn, shucked and cut in half
60 oz of Zatarain’s crawfish, shrimp, and crab boil zatarains-crab-boil_MED
5 lbs live crawfish per person (this recipe is for 25 lbs- or 5 people)
softened butter
Barq’s root beer (http://barqs.com/)

How To:

-Bring a larger than life stock pot of water to boil (preferably outside if you can. The spices will make everyone in the house cough).

-Add garlic, onions, potatoes, lemons, corn, sausage, and Zatarain’s boil
and boil for 20 mins.

-Add crawfish and salt, cover, and cook or 5 minutes.

-Turn off heat and let set for 20 mins (the longer it stands the spicier it will be 😉 ).

-Drain water and pour out the deliciousness onto a table covered in several layers of newspaper.

-Bandage any cuts you have on your hands (these spices burn).

-Place a full roll of paper towels on the table (you and your guests will need the whole roll. It gets messy).

-Drench potatoes and corn in butter.

-Peel (how to peel crawfish: 

-This is the most important step: Say Bismillah (In the name of God).

-Eat!

-Quench the spice with Barq’s root beer.

You don’t need pork or beer to have a great crawfish boil.
(you can also use this recipe for shrimp and/or crabs, as the zatarain’s boil suggests)
P.S. Make sure you wear clothes you are not overly fond of because stains happen, and throw your crawfish shells in the outside trash. It gets smelly quickly!

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