A key part of the Islamic religion is getting closer to Allah by following the example of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).
This has a major influence on the actions and behaviour of Muslims and covers a wide range of simple practices such as how you wash, how you speak to other people, and even what you eat. So when I was allowed to eat a meal that the Prophet (ﷺ) himself would have eaten over 1,400 years ago I was extremely excited.
It’s Halal is giving Muslims a chance to recreate all kinds of recipes which can help take off a lot of stress for planning meals throughout Ramadan. The business describes itself as the UK’s first halal non-subscription recipe box - similar to Hello Fresh but with much more halal options.
Read more: Things you may not realise will break your fast, including listening to music
They sent me a box that contains the recipe and all the ingredients I need to make Thareed, a hearty meat and bread soup that many believe was the Prophet’s (ﷺ) favourite meal. The meal is also considered a national Arab dish and is regularly eaten during Ramadan.
Narrated Anas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The superiority of Aisha to other women is like the superiority of Tharid to other kinds of food."
If you ask anyone who works a full-time job while fasting during Ramadan what they’re going to cook for tonight’s iftar, you will likely get a pretty unenthusiastic answer. Many that have to wake up in the early hours of the morning running on no food or water for the day will have very little energy.
For me, I felt that It’s Halal’s recipe box could be a way to take off a lot of the burden that one feels during Ramadan when it comes to cooking iftar. This was further realised when I examined the Thareed recipe card which told me it would only take 45 minutes to make.
So let’s talk about what you can expect in an average box. In the box you will find a paper bag with all the ingredients you will need, for the Thareed, this included good quality vegetables, spices and tomato puree.
In a separate and sustainable insulated packaging were the meat and yoghurt I would need. The inclusion of an ice pack helped to calm any fears I might have had about the freshness of the chopped beef during its delivery journey.
One small nitpick I had with the packaging was that a lot of the items were wrapped in plastic when I feel that a more environmentally-friendly option could have been used, such as paper, especially for the bread and spices.
When it came to cooking and prepping the food, I made sure to time it so it would just be done before the fast broke for that day as I wanted to see if the cooking time on the recipe card was accurate. While I tried to follow the recipe down to the letter, I did take some creative liberties - for example, instead of a large saucepan I chose to use a cast iron skillet (which may have caused problems later down the road).
Furthermore, the recipe and ingredients I received were for a serving size of two people, however, I had four people to feed for iftar so I bulked up the meal with rice (the recipe card does say you can double up the recipe for four people but I was only using the ingredients given to me). One thing that stood out to me when frying the meat was how fragrant the Bharat spice made it.
I’ve never used a Bharat spice mixture in my cooking and a quick Google search told me that it can contain a wide variety of spices, so I suppose the secret to this particular mixture is known only to the It’s Halal team. Nonetheless, it elevated the flavour of the meal and gave it a wonderful characteristic taste.
The only major issue I ran into when following the recipe was the amount of water that was left in the pan when everything was cooked. Thareed is supposed to have a thick soupy texture but mine looked more like a stew - which I suspect was due to the fact I was using a cast iron skillet and not a saucepan like the recipe card suggests.
Fortunately, this was fixed just by mixing in more boiling water to the pan and reducing it until I got my desired consistency. Overall though, I was able to get everything cooked and ready to serve around five minutes before iftar so the timing on the recipe card was accurate.
At the dinner table, the food got a positive review from everyone and I, for one, was immensely impressed at the quality and taste of the food that was sent to me. The beef tasted as if I got it fresh and the spices were perfectly balanced.
All-in-all I will certainly keep the recipe card to use again for future iftars or maybe even for Eid.
It’s Halal has a series of traditional boxes available depending on how many meals and people you need to feed. The cheapest box for two people that contains six meals is priced at £38.99 (6.49 per meal) with a similar vegetarian option for £36.99 (£6.15)
Read next:
- Teacher 'banned indefinitely' after drunkenly headbutting 16-year-old - and told to pay him £1,295 in compensation
- Energy company wants to charge pizza restaurant owner £32,000 to exit 'extortionate' contract
- Wythenshawe brothers targeted wealthy couples for Rolex and Patek Philippe watches in upmarket Hale - they've now been jailed, along with three others
- "It's an accident waiting to happen": Angry residents put up SPIKES to stop problem parking
- The deadly weapons seized by police after underworld disputes spilled onto the streets
