Man V Food

Over the past few weeks I am embarrassed to say that I have begun to watch Man V Food. A program that appears on one of the cooking channels, the presenter essentially wanders around America eating gigantic portions of food, not necessarily for the purpose of the tasting but rather, for sport. The objective is, I guess, Man v Food and man won. Initially, I was in awe of the quantities that he would eat in one sitting. How could one person eat so much for no actual purpose other than to have a tv show? I thought to myself, as I watched another episode and then another. Until finally one day the presenter ate so much that he looked physically sick, stuffing himself further and further until finally he was sick. After that I never watched the program in the same way.

With Ramadan just around the corner it got me thinking to the iftari parties I have been to where people have just done that, they too have had there own moments of man v food. Often at iftari the food has been enough to feed not just the people at that iftari but double, triple or even quadruple the number of people present. Surely the objective of Ramadan is not gorge ourselves to excess for a month. We, as muslims, have not been directed to eat to excess and then to the excess which causes pain. Time and time again, I have read that the Prophet (swt) would eat what was available. It is humbling to read how little there was to eat at times for the Prophet (pbuh), Anas bin Malik narrates:

“The Prophet (pbuh) performed Iftaar with fresh dates, if there weren’t any then with dried dates and if there weren’t any then with water.” (Abu Dawud).

How many of us can say that we have eaten just dates for iftari? How many of us eat just our normal portion? How many of us have quantified the left over food at iftari in terms of feeding a family poorer than ours. With so many people left with absolutely nothing in Pakistan, Somalia, Kenya, India, Morocco, Algeria, Indonesia and Worldwide would it really hurt us, who are wealthier in every single way, to remove one extravagant dish from our iftari table and replace it with something simple, whilst sending that money that we save over to our brothers and sisters who are truly dire need, to benefit them in the present and us in the hereafter.

In the Qu’ran in verses 1 – 3 of Surah Al-Ma’un, Allah(swt) says :-

“Have you seen him who belies the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter? He it is who drives away the orphan and does not urge giving away the food of the poor.”

A good charity that is committed to a 100% donations poicy and one I feel will spend the money wisely is the Ummah Welfare Trust, details below inshallah :-

http://www.uwt.org/site/

What is in your freezer?

Pre Ramadan seems like a great time to go through the contents of your freezer. Through out the year the freezer accommodates a multitude of time saving ideas as well as left overs and more natural freezer items such as meat and ice cream.

Only a couple of weeks ago my mother in law came to visit and so in anticipation of the event I did, what can only be described, as a freezer audit. I went through absolutely everything in my freezer and realised that I had some useful things as well as items that had been left in there since we first moved in!

However in preparation for Ramadan I’ve been thinking a lot about what could make my life, as the cook of the home, easier. Ramadan should be a time for prayer. The focus of Ramadan should be our worship of Allah(swt), we should make the most of the time that the Shaytan is chained up to become closer to Allah(swt) rather than becoming weighed down with the obligations of a host.

So this year I have tried to ensure that my small freezer contains some essentials for me:

Chopped vegetables
Dhal
Masala already cooked for kaufteh, meat
Moulded and cooked kaufteh (meatballs)
Lamb dishes already cooked
Some desserts

The idea behind this is not to cook for the whole of Ramadan in advance but rather to cook for days when I’m tired or we have unexpected guests or the unanticipated happens. I think of it as a savings account that I can dip into on a rainy day.

Sehri Bento

Bento boxes are known through Japan as being a lunch time meal containing so much more than an English packed lunch; no crisps, fizzy drinks or chocolate bars here, instead a filling meal sometimes made into the most ornate designs.

This year my husband and I have decided to make use of our bento boxes (although a normal Tupperware box would work) for sehri. This will mean that all our preparation will be done long before sehri ensuring a smoother morning.

Ideas for our sehri boxes include: a slice of tortilla/ wholemeal rice filled pie/ risotto, with a piece of fruit and a bread roll. Lots of items could be included, what ever you want. The idea is not to increase your work but more to make the eating of sehri as hassle free as possible.

Sehri Tortilla

This year, my husband and I have come up with the idea of Sehri bento boxes, prepared the evening before hand, filled with a variety of things to keep us filled up for the long day ahead. Inshallah this should cause less of a last minute rush in the mornings while we are half asleep before fajr. However, the fun of bento boxes does come in the preparation and variety. It is therefore best to make up batches of things, cut into individual portions and bag them individually and then freeze so that they are easily reachable.

An important point to remember when making items for sehri is to make sure that you use less salt. Salt makes you thirsty and when you can’t drink it can be a problem. In this recipe I have omitted salt however you can add some to suit your taste.

4 boiled medium sized new potatoes
2 large mushrooms
1 red pepper
½ an onion
3 eggs
25g of cheddar chopped into thick slices
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Fresh thyme (leaves only)
Spray oil
Normal cooking oil


1.Boil the potatoes, allow them to cool, before slicing them and placing them into a medium sized mixing bowl.

2.Slice the mushrooms, cook using spray oil in a small (8 inch) frying pan and then set aside in the mixing bowl with the potatoes. The frying pan should be an oven proof frying pan.

3.Slice the onion cook with spray oil, until golden and then add to the potatoes and mushrooms.

4.Dice the red pepper into 1cm pieces and cook with spray oil until the peppers are cooked but have retained some of their bite. Remove the pepper from the frying pan but do not place with the other vegetables.

5.Mix the three eggs, sliced basil and thyme into the potatoes, mushrooms and onion.

6.Cover the frying pan with a thin layer of oil (I used rapeseed oil, but any light cooking oil would do). Now return the pan to the heat and return the peppers to the frying pan, making sure to have an even spread covering the surface of the pan. Now pour in the egg mix into the frying pan.

7.Allow to cook on the stove for approximately 5 mins or until the edges have set, then push in the cheese on to the surface of the tortilla so that the cheese is slightly below the surface in some areas.
Finish off in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 10 mins or until the eggs have set in the centre. Remove from the oven.

8.Allow to cool before placing a plate larger than the frying pan. Place the plate on top of the frying pan and then flip over so that the frying pan is on top. Remove the frying pan, and slice into quarters. Allow to cool fully before wrapping individually and then placing into the freezer.

9.To defrost the tortilla remove the evening before required and place in a fridge so as to allow it to defrost fully and slowly.

Preparation, Preparation, Preparation!

Earlier this week I was sent a link to a website where the writer had been thinking a lot about preparation in terms of Ramadan. While most people ring around their friends arranging Iftari parties this lady has the good sense to organise everything about Ramadan. When I say everything I mean absolutely everything. A lesson I know that I can definitely learn from. She has covered all the bases from an annual Ramadan clear out to a dua list to learn. Inshallah it is definitely something worth sharing with everyone. What a wonderful idea.

http://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/my-ramadan-preparation/

Ramadan timetable

Heres a link to the 2010 timetables for the UK.

http://www.ramadantimetable.co.uk/

It looks like this year the days will be very long!

Ramadan is Coming

Bumping into an acquaintance recently his parting words were, “Ramadan is coming it is going to be beautiful”, I managed a polite “hmm inshallah” thinking back to Ramadan last year, which for us was the hardest of Ramadans. My husband and I made our way through it like victims of shell shock. We started Ramadan full hope and anticipation, barely two days in and we were numb with grief.

While passing a book shop, I picked up a copy of “the Prophet’s Ramadhaan”. Reading it reminded me that it is not just us who find Ramadan hard. The prophet (saw) did too. Picking my way through the book I have come to realise that it is a month for us to try harder than ever, to push ourselves further than before and to not walk through it casually. It is hard and Allah(swt) will test us in ways that we cannot even begin to anticipate.