Need an impressive veggie meal that's also halal

[marialuisa]

That's it really...any ideas gratefully received.

[motherinferior]

Won't anything veggie be halal, given that halal regulations apply to meat IIRC?

Be careful with cheese - probably best to opt for veggie rennet, but lots of very good cheese is, these days - and I'd say that's all.

[marialuisa]

Don't know MI, but thought I'd better put both just in case. I can do kosher but not sure about halal regs.

[Buckets]

There's a great zucchini slice on MN Recipes under the Lunchbox heading. Dead easy to make (just chop, mix and bake) and would be good as part of a big cold buffet.

[OverMyDeadBody]

halal only applies to meat, just look out for things with gelatine in them so don't serve jelly or chocolate mousse for pudding unless it's either veggie or halal.

Kosher is the same as Halal, in that muslims will eat kosher meat and regard it as halal meat.

I have never me a muslim who is fussy about their cheese.

Just go for any veggie recipe you want to cook.

[ComeOVeneer]

Not all muslims will eat something certified as Kosher and vice versa.

[OverMyDeadBody]

well they should CoV, Kosher meat is halal as far as regulations go.

[ComeOVeneer]

Well I have several muslim and many many jewish friends (and family) and ultra religious ones will only purchase/eat food that is certified halal or kosher depending on their faith.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Kosher and halal are similar, but not the same - I'm pretty sure that to be halal, a Muslim prayer has to be said when the animal is killed. I doubt Kosher butchers do this!

(Also:

• seafood is halal, but deffo not kosher.
• people who keep strict kosher can't eat non-Kosher vegetarian food)

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, and the other thing that might stop a vegetarian meal from being halal would be the use of wine or vinegar, depending on how strict the Muslims are.

[ComeOVeneer]

Many people assume that Halal and Kosher are the same thing. They are mistaken! If a product is Kosher certified, it does not mean the product is automatically Halal. The Kosher process differs from what is allowable by the Islamic Shari'a. For example, there are Kosher wines and alcohol but this is not permissible or acceptable for Halal foods. Another example of the difference between Halal and Kosher are slaughter procedures. For Halal meat and poultry processing, the Muslim slaughterman is required to acknowledge God's Creation and to thank God for providing sustenance by stating a prayer before each and every slaughter. Muslim slaughtermen invoke God's name before each and every slaughter with the statement, ?In the name of God ? God is the Greatest/Bismillahi Allahu Akbar.? The Shochet, or Jewish slaughterman, does not and is not required to invoke God's name on each animal before each slaughter. With Halal slaughtering, the entire carcas is utilized. With Kosher slaughtering, only the front four-quarter of the beef carcass is utilized. The Kosher hind quarters cannot be considered Halal as the Shochet does not adhere to Islamic Law and Halal guidelines and does not pronounce the name of God before each slaughter. Within the meat industry, some companies and distributors attempt to claim or purport Kosher hind quarters to be sold as "Halal" beef. Within Islam, Kosher slaughtering and handling is respected and industry is responsible to understand the guidelines and differences between Halal slaughter, invoking God's name before each slaughter, and traditional Kosher slaughter rites and not mislead consumers.

Simply put, Halal and Kosher are similar but yet as different as "vegetarian" and "vegan." However, it is a fact in some situations and circumstances, Kosher consumers accept Halal and some Halal consumers may accept Kosher.

So really it depends ho closely the peson adheres to their religion as to wether they could (as a muslim) consume Kosher meat and vice versa.

[ComeOVeneer]

EXpat what do youu mean about non-kosher vegeterian food? All my kosher friends only eat vegetarian food when they are out.

[ComeOVeneer]

Sorry I meant NQC

[OverMyDeadBody]

According to Islam meat is Halal if it was killed by any person of 'the book', so a muslim or a person from another religion recognised in the Quran, so Judaism and Christianity. That includes Kosher meat.

My comments where not related to what Jews do or do not accept as kosher, only what muslims accept as Halal.

Whether or not all muslims go by these rules is another matter of course. But technically, kosher should be accepted as halal by them.

Vinegar? I have never in my whole life come across a muslim who would be funny about vinegar.

[OverMyDeadBody]

and yes the kosher comment was only in regards to meat, not alcohol!

[fuzzywuzzy]

Halal meat is very easily available, kosher meat is only acceptable if there is no halal meat available. Meat killed by a christian butcher will not do as they electrocute the animal first.

All vegetarian dishes are acceptable so long as they do not contain alcohol, vinegar is acceptable as it is not longer alcoholic ie an intoxicant.

I am muslim by the way. Personally I'd go with the vegetarian option, or do a fish thing, or tell them to bring their own food(!)

[OverMyDeadBody]

yes christian meat is no longer accpetable as halal, although in the Proghet's time it would have been.

Of course, this is religion we are talking about, it is going to be riddled with differing opinions and contradictions.

[fuzzywuzzy]

And with regards cheese, I know lots of muslim people who check cheese for animal rennet and crisps and chocolate and whatever, as a rule of thumb I tend to check for the vegetarian sign on packets of crisps and puddings, muslim people will not eat anything with gelatine or animal rennet in it unless both are stated as hallal.

I would seriously go for the vegetarian non-alcohol option.

Obviously there are those who consider themselves muslim and eat drink and do whatever, like people of all religious affiliation.
This does not mean that a muslim who does observe a hallal diet is somehow deviating from his/her religion for it, or being unneccessarily fussy.

[NotQuiteCockney]

OMDB: I have seen some reference locally (I live in a v strongly Sylhet area) to vinegar being a problem, because of its association with wine. This may be only a Sylhet thing?

COV: I know most Jewish people are fine with vegetarian food. But I worked with a British Orthodox bloke who decided to relax the rules he grew up with - he would eat plain unprepared fruit, and drink juice. But he wouldn't eat vegetarian food when we went out, because it wasn't prepared in a Kosher kitchen. I don't think even a strict vegetarian kitchen would have been ok. DH works with an American bloke who is similarly strict, if he is eating out, they must go to a strictly Kosher place.

[fuzzywuzzy]

When the zabiha laws came into practice christian laws were not stated as being acceptable, there are very clear guidelines as to what does and does not make meat zabiha.
I do know that kosher meat is acceptable in the absence of hallal meat, but I've never heard of christian meat being acceptable as the method of killing is so different, and also pig is never going to be hallal or kosher for that matter.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Ah, and here is a page about vinegar - it looks like it's not stictly halal. As usual, it depends on your interpretation etc etc.

[NotQuiteCockney]

(Oh, and speaking of the range of what counts ... I had a Russian/American Jewish colleague who didn't know that pork was always treyf. He thought it wasn't kosher for passover, but it could be ok at other times. There aren't enough s in the world for that conversation.)

[fuzzywuzzy]

NQC, was colleague very upset at the news?? How on earth does one break that to someone gently

[NotQuiteCockney]

No, he was fine. He didn't really believe me, but he wasn't bothered at all about keeping Kosher, so it wasn't that big of a deal to him. (I have the impression that lots of Russian Jews are not that observant?)

[NotQuiteCockney]

He was in his 30s, I think. He was an adult, and had lived in the Jewish community in Russia, and then in Brooklyn. He'd known people who were really observant (e.g. had forgotten to turn on their lights on a Friday evening, and couldn't ask him to turn them on, but could try to lure him to hang about pointlessly in case he felt the urge to turn them on). He'd just never got the memo that pork = treyf.

[fuzzywuzzy]

NQC, the light thing, is it because he was also jewish that his friends/neighbours couldn't ask him to turn lights on/off for them?

My parents live in Stamford Hill, and we're forever being asked to turn lights/airconditioning units on/off whatever of a friday evening. Get to critique more peoples home deco choices this way.