Posts Tagged "Eid"
Boulfaf – Grilled Lamb Liver
I have been meaning to get this recipe up for sometime but kept having other things to put up instead! This is generally made during Eid al Adha in Morocco. While I have never eaten it (I don’t do organs) MarocBaba and even M do like it. The first meal of Eid al Adha in Morocco always includes all of the items that don’t freeze well such as the liver, heart, and kidneys. The rest of the sheep is hung up so that the meat partially dries. The dish that everyone waits and looks forward to is boulfaf. L’faf in Moroccan means “to roll with something inside,” which is exactly what boulfaf is. The recipe is very simple but Eid just wouldn’t be the same without it.
Ingredients Instructions
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Eid Favorites Sent Via Touchnote
Eid Mubarak! I’ve had a really busy weekend and I’m sure that many of you have as well. I wanted to just share a really quick idea that I had today. Because it’s a holiday I did a lot of cooking and a lot of sharing of foods I have made. Inevitable someone always asks for the recipe for something. Typically we’re not somewhere that there is a paper and pen nearby. However I always have my phone. Here’s where my great idea came in.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Touchnote, a smartphone (or desktop) app that let’s you send postcards using your own pictures. So instead of trying to find a scrap of paper and write down a recipe I decided to snap a picture and upload it to Touchnote.
I then make a note on the message page to insert the recipe, move forward to the final screen to type in the person’s address. Then I can take the time to add in the recipe as I have time and send. In a few days they will receive the postcard in the mail, the image serving as a reminder of the dish and the recipe complete on the back.
This is a fun way to share recipes with those who have enjoyed items you have made. The more that I play with Touchnote the more ways I’m finding to use it besides just sending a simple picture!
Find out more about Touchnote in these ways;
- At their website
- By becoming a Facebook Fan
- Following them on Twitter
- Subscribing to their YouTube channel
What do you think about this idea? Wouldn’t it be fun to find a new recipe in your mail instead of a bill?
Disclosure: I was selected for this campaign by American Muslim Mom Media Network, and received products free of charge. The thoughts and opinions of this campaign as always are my own.
Read MoreA Vegetarian Eid al Adha with Saffron Road Food
Eid al Adha is right around the corner (Sunday) and is perhaps most well known as the “sheep holiday”. Muslim families purchase a live ram and on the morning of Eid sacrifice the animal. This is done as a remembrance of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son on God’s command. At the last minute God replaced Ismail with a ram. After the sacrifice families separate the ram into three parts; one for themselves, one to share with friends or family and one to donate to the poor.
Many women pride themselves on creating a wonderful meal on Eid, making many dishes that only make an appearance for this holiday. One obvious staple is plenty of sheep. This year we’re not making our own sacrificing but allowing a relative in Morocco to do the sacrifice for us. We’ve consciously cut out a lot of red meat from out diet and neither MarocBaba or I would eat enough of the meat over the year to warrant buying one. Frankly, I’m still pretty full of meat from our trip last month. This got me thinking about others who are either vegetarian or just don’t like mutton. There generally aren’t a lot of options for them on the Eid table.
I created this very healthy and filling soup to fill the void. I used Saffron Road broth to speed up the cooking time and add a really great flavor. I love Saffron Road because all of their products are halal and completely natural, but also many of them are gluten free. I stopped using canned or boxed broths awhile ago because of the high sodium levels and blah taste but Saffron Road broths are really different – so much flavor.
There is a little bit of prep work to make this recipe but it’s well worth it.
Pre-cut all vegetables (love the purple potatoes don't you)
Gnocchi can be made ahead of time and frozen until ready to use.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 1/2 cup brown lentils
- 4 carrots chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1-2 small to medium potatoes
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 1 1/2 cartons Saffron Road Vegetable Broth (if not wholly Vegetarian the Chicken Broth is great too)
- salt, pepper, cumin for seasoning at the end
- 3 cups of AP unbleached flour + more for dusting
- 32 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c parmesan cheese
Instructions
- To make the gnocchi start by placing the ricotta in a strainer or on top of cheesecloth suspended over a bowl. This is to drain any excess water out of the cheese - leave for 30-60 minutes.
- In a stand mixer add 2 cups of flour and the parmesan cheese. Mix using the flat beater. Once the ricotta is strained add this to the flour along with the eggs. Mix on a low speed to combine everything, adding the final cup of flour as the mixture combines.
- The gnocchi will be ready when it has a thick and slightly sticky consistency. Chill for 20 minutes before rolling.
- Remove from refrigerator and pull off a ball of dough. Dust a flat, clean work surface with flour and roll the dough into the shape of a snake. You can make it as fat or thin as you'd like. I make mine about the size of a dime. Cut off pieces of the dough about every 1/2 inch. Use a fork to make a depression on the tops of each one.
- Set aside in a single layer. If you don't plan to use all of them they can be put on a cookie sheet and flash frozen for 30 minutes, removed and stored in a freezer - safe ziploc bag.
- (I like to do all of the prep work first and then add ingredients as needed)
- Prepare the lentils by soaking in warm water for 30 - 60 minutes before cooking. The longer you leave them to soak the faster they will cook. Peel the carrots, potatoes and zucchini and cut into small cubes - keep them separate from each other because they will be added to the pot at different times.
- In a heavy bottom pan or dutch oven add the olive oil and garlic and turn on medium/high heat. When it starts to sizzle pour some of the Saffron Road broth into the pot.
- Stir in the tomato paste and add the rest of the carton of broth. Drain the lentils and add them, as well as the potatoes and carrots.
- Cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Allow to cook 45 minutes and check the tenderness of the lentils and vegetables. If tender, add the 1/2 carton of broth and the zucchini and peas.
- Place another pot of water to boil (for the gnocchi) at this point. Once it boils add the gnocchi. It will only take a few minutes to cook and you will be able to tell it's done when they float.
- Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, add a small amount of the cooking water to keep them from clumping.
- Serve the soup and gnocchi in separate bowls, encouraging guests to take the amount they would like of each. This will help with any leftovers there might be as the gnocchi tend to break down if left in liquid. Top each bowl with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Here are some of the other great things Saffron Road has going on around the web this Eid;
Great deals on their products at Whole Foods and Kroger nationwide!
A giveaway for a copy of Clean Your Kitchen Green from Yvonne of My Halal Kitchen and free product coupons on their Facebook page.
Speaking of My Halal Kitchen – make sure you check out these two posts to get ready for Eid too!
- Quick and Easy Eid Appetizers (and really these chicken bites are aaahmazing)
- Hajj Season and Preparing for Eid ul Adha Celebration (with a printable shopping list)
What’s on your menu for Eid? Do you have other meat-free ideas to share with other readers?
This recipe has been linked to FaveDiets November Blog Hop.
Sweets To Celebrate and modernEid Decorations
Have you noticed the abundance of holiday “gear” filling up grocery and department stores? Lately I’ve been feeling just a little depressed that there isn’t much out there for Islamic holidays. If you know me you know that I don’t do tacky and a lot of decorations geared towards Muslims go over my glitter and brightness quota. I am so happy that there are some great companies like modernEID who are filling the void and coming through with very classy and clean decorations and accessories for Eid and Ramadan. I am also really happy to announce that you’re going to get a chance to win some great goodies from modernEid!
Let's Celebrate a Modern Eid Event
modernEID is a great resource to get contemporary and chic Eid and Ramadan decorations. I love how all of their very modern Eid decorations are grouped into coordinated collections. It takes a ton of work out of the equation for me! The pictures shown here are a part of the Arabesque collection (fitting isn’t it?) and I am in love with all of it! After pouring through all of these paper goodies I decided to make some sweets for the treat bags. I’ve been promising the boys to make chocolate chip cookies soon and the timing was right.
Using the round gift box and cupcake liners that came in the kit I filled them with cute little chocolate chip cookies. Of course there had to be two portions of cookies because we all know what happens when you tell little boys to share just one. Scary. I really like how unique this cylindrical gift box is. I’m imagining all of the things that could go inside. Aside from sweet treats a lightweight coiled scarf, a chunky necklace or bracelet, or even a winter emergency kit (lip gloss, tissues, hand sanitizer – not as cute but useful!)
The kit also came with clear treat bags with Eid tags. I added some coordinating ribbon that I had around the house to tie it off. I also liked the Eid stickers to seal the bags but wanted to make sure they could be seen.
Like what you see? You’ve got a chance to win your own Eid Party Kit from modernEID right here! As a part of a joint giveaway with my fellow American Muslim Mom contributors we’ve got a great giveaway for you. Each of us will be giving away a party pack of your choice on our personal blogs. THEN, for every entry you make on this blog AND the other contributor blogs you’ll be entered to win the grand prize of a $50 gift certificate from modernEID on American Muslim Mom.
You select from the Mod or Arabesque collection ($25 value) and will get in your Eid party kit;
- decorative print
- decorative bunting
- table runner
- buffet labels
- dessert picks
Make sure to visit the other American Muslim Mom contributor posts. Remember every entry on ANY of our blogs is an entry for the grand prize at American Muslim Mom.
American Muslim Mom (watch for more updates as posts go live)
Visit modernEID, become a Facebook fan and Twitter follower.
I was not compensated for this post however I did receive products to review and use in the creation of this post. I am writing this as a part of a collaboration with American Muslim Mom Media Network. All opinions and reviews are my own.
Read MoreEid al-Adha Celebration
Please forgive my absence the last week or so. My day job has had be putting in many many hours at the office and at home we’ve been eating dinners that I’ve made ahead of time and frozen. (Thank goodness for that!). Things should be settled down now, and I am so grateful. Mixed into last week was the celebration of Eid al Adha or “festival of the sacrifice”. Some of you might not be familiar with this holiday.
Eid al Adha comes on the 10th day of the 12th lunar month of the Islamic calendar and start after the completion of the Hajj (pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia). The tradition comes from the story of Abraham’s sacrifice. Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience. Instead God replaced Ishmael with a ram after seeing how obedient Abraham was. Every year Muslim families commemorate this by sacrificing a ram. The meat is then distributed; 1/3 for the family, 1/3 for friends or other family members and 1/3 for charity. There are many more smaller details about the activities of the day, but the major events are attending Eid prayers and making the sacrifice of the animal.
Early in the morning we wake up and get dressed in nice clothing. My boys are wearing traditional Moroccan djalabbas.
Eid breakfast is usually something simple but not something that you would make everyday. Some meals are very elaborate and some are simple. Ours was simple due to time constraints. I made batbout the night before with several different toppings. My favorite dish for Eid is Harabil but it takes a little more time.
We went to the mosque for Eid Prayers and then to a friend’s farm for the sheep.
Normally we would have had a big dinner Tuesday night after the days activities we had to postpone that until Wednesday. Tuesday night I made the spice mix and rubbed it into a cleaned lamb leg. I let this marinade over night and then put in a low 250F oven for about 6 hours.
This dish is called Mechoui and is incredibly delicious. A friend of ours that came over to celebrate with us was certain she didn’t like lamb. She loved this! I did alter the original recipe and used this spice mix;
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
3 tsp cumin
2 tsp ginger powder
5 tbsp butter cut into pieces and kept cold until needed.
Cooking this on a low temperature for a long time ensures that the flavors get into all of the meat. Using the butter helps keep it moist.
I served this with two salads;
A simple steamed carrot and vinegarette salad (literally steamed baby carrots with a dressing of 1 part olive oil, 1/2 part white vinegar and crushed garlic and a little black pepper)
A roasted pepper and preserved lemon salad. To make this salad;
Roast a green pepper and red pepper until the skin is charred. Remove skin and clean inside of the pepper.
Cut the pieces into small squares. Take a quarter of a preserved lemon and clean the inside so only the rind remains. Chop into similar size squares. Top with 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp crushed garlic. Serve room temperature.
Although not as ambitious or overly creative as some celebration meals it was satisfying and everyone enjoyed it. This might become our new traditionally dinner due to its simplicity and great results!!
Are you thinking of spending Eid in Morocco? Check out Hotels in Casablanca for great hotel deals.
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