SPOTLIGHT RECIPE: Tex-Mex Chicken Quesadillas w/Habichuelas Rosadas

Have a craving for something salty, cheesy and crunchy but don't want to reach for a bag of chips? These Tex-Mex style Chicken Quesadillas make a delicious and satisfying meal. Served with salsa, sliced avocado and pink beans—they're full of tangy flavor. Spice them up with hot salsa, or keep it on the mild side. It's up to you.

YOU'LL NEED...
Quesadillas

   3 chicken breasts
   salt, pepper,
   1 teas. Mexican chili powder 
      (garlic powder, paprika, cayenne or ancho chili, oregano, cumin)
   1/4 cup lime juice
   8-10 flour tortillas
   10 oz. CABOT cheddar or monterey jack cheese
   sealable plastic bag or container
   cast iron skillet or grill


Habichuelas Rosadas (Mexican Pink Beans)
   1 can GOYA Pink Beans
   1 onion, chopped
   Mexican chili powder (to taste)
   salt
   vegetable oil or chicken fat


Sides (Optional)
   1 avocado, sliced
   LA MEXICANA fresh Mexican salsa: mild, medium or hot.
   chopped cilantro (green coriander)
   sour cream, or Greek-style plain yoghurt


DIRECTIONS
   1. WASH chicken breasts in warm water. Remove visible fat and membranes.
   2. MIX chili powder, salt, lime juice and vegetable oil in a sealable bag or container. Add chicken breasts, coating all sides. Set aside.
   3. HEAT pot over medium-low.
   4. FRY chopped onion in oil until translucent.
   5. ADD Pink Beans with water from can, Mexican chili powder, and salt to onions. COVER, cooking on low.
   6. HEAT skillet or grill on medium-low.
   7. When grill is HOT, place chicken breasts and grill both sides until meat just cooked through.
   8. REMOVE chicken breasts and set aside to cool.
   9. CHECK beans. Add water as needed to keep from burning.
 10. SLICE chicken and cheese thinly.
 11. PLACE flour tortillas on ungreased heated skillet (medium-low heat). Place cheese, then chicken slices over half the tortilla.
 12. FLIP tortilla in half once edges of cheese begins to melt.
 13. TORTILLA will be golden brown and crispy on the bottom.
 14. REPEAT until all quesadillas are cooked.
 15. SERVE with Pink Beans, salsa, avocado and/or sour cream.

SPOTLIGHT HALAL: Sushi (寿司)

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	ALCOHOL (?)
	Sake and mirin, both Japanese rice wines, are common ingredients in sushi rice. Try our recipe for gravlax, Swedish salt-cured salmon!

WHAT IS IT?
Sushi (寿司) is a Japanese dish of vinegared rice topped with other ingredients, noteably raw fish, seafood and/or vegetables.

There are various types of sushi. In America, the most familiar kinds are maki rolls (makizushi) which are rolled in sheets of nori (dried, pressed seaweed), and nigirizushi which are clumps of hand-formed sushi rice topped with fish, seafood, fresh vegetables and/or egg. Sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi, not sushi.

Common toppings for sushi are: saltwater eel (anago); amberjack (hamachi); mackerel (hikari-mono); tuna (kihada); fatty tuna (toro); salmon (sake); avocado; cucumber; cod (tara); shrimp (ebi); octopus (tako); squid (ika); sweet egg (tamago), and freshwater eel (unagi).

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HOW IS IT MADE?
Sushi is made with sushi rice — white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing made of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Commonly sake (酒) (pronounced: sa-ki), a traditional Japanese rice wine, or mirin (みりん), a sweet Japanese cooking wine, are added to the sushi rice. Sushi rice is served topped with fresh fish, seafood, egg, fresh vegetables or pickles and served alongside slices of tender pickled ginger, wasabi paste and soy sauce.

Sake is a traditional Japanese rice wine. Its color is clear to white. Sake has an alcohol content of 18-20%, compared to an alcohol content of 12% for typical grape wines. Mirin is a rice wine similar to sake, but very sweet. Mirin has an alcohol content of 14%. When called for, the typical sushi rice recipe uses ¼ cup of sake or mirin. Mirin and sake are stirred to the rice after cooking.

-- Love smoked salmon, but hate the price? Try our Swedish gravlax (cured salmon) recipe. Make it at home and save a bundle! --

WARNING LEVEL: HIGH 
Seafood dishes are often ordered by Muslims who want to avoid eating non-zabiha meat. However, Muslims unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine may not be aware that sushi rice is commonly made with sake or mirin — both Japanese rice wines.

As we have learned in previous issues of Spotlight Halal, Muslims should not automatically assume seafood dishes to be halal. Clam Chowder often contains pork fat, and Shrimp Scampi is made with white wine.

AMNA RECOMMENDS:
Before ordering, ask your waiter to check if that restaurant uses sake or mirin in their sushi rice. Sake is almost never listed as an ingredient of sushi on restaurant menus.

AVOID sushi with deep-fried toppings such as deep fried soft shell crab ('spider roll'), fried tempura shrimp roll ('crunchy roll,' ebifurai-maki), and fried oyster rolls. These are likely deep-fried in the same fryer oil as tonkatsu — deep-fried, breaded pork chops.

SPECIAL NOTE: ALCOHOL & COOKING
AMNA classifies any food that is usually, but not always, made with an alcoholic product as ALCOHOL(?), even if it has been sautéed, simmered, baked or set on fire. The conventional wisdom accepted by just about everyone is that all the alcohol you add to a dish evaporates during cooking. It’s wrong.

In fact, according to a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory, you have to cook something for a good three hours to remove virtually all traces of alcohol.

[ Learn about Alcohol Cook Off Rates ]

SPECIAL NOTE: ARE SHRIMP, OCTOPUS & SQUID HALAL?
Sunni: These foods are halal food in the Malaki, Hanbali and Shafa'i Schools. Within the Hanafi School, there are varying opinions. Shi'a: These foods are not halal in the Jafari School.

WHAT DOES ALCOHOL(?) MEAN?
ALCOHOL(?) is the rating that we give to any food that likely, but not always, contains alcohol or an alcohol-derived product. The "?" next to the wineglass on the icon prompts you to take a second look at foods that you otherwise may not have suspected. Ask informed questions of your waiter when dining out. Take a closer look at the Ingredients list on food packaging. We rate Sushi as ALCOHOL(?) because sake and mirin are common, traditional ingredients in sushi rice.

At SPOTLIGHT HALAL, our Guiding Principle is to provide the diverse Muslim communities living in Western countries with practical information about the wide range of food choices they face on a daily basis, but from an Islamic perspective. We don’t say a food is haram or halal; we say: "This food is made with alcohol and pork," or, "That food normally contains chicken." Whether or not you observe zabihah, our flexible and informative approach allows you to make informed decisions on what to buy and eat.

SPOTLIGHT RECIPE: Homemade Swedish Gravlax (cured salmon)

SPOTLIGHT HALAL Magazine provides North American Muslims with practical information about food choices. Please ChipIn your support. Shukran.


Forget about spending $12 a pound for Norweigan smoked salmon!

Try this simple recipe for Swedish gravad lax to make at home. Our version yields a tastier slice and firmer texture that you can really sink your teeth into. 

Serve it the traditional Scandinavian way, thinly sliced with mustard on crispbread. You can also try sliced gravlax with cream cheese on a bagel, over a green salad, or as a sushi topping.


YOU'LL NEED...
   1 lb. filet of fresh salmon or steelhead trout, skin off.
      (Choose a thick, firm and smooth filet. Wild-caught sockeye salmon is best.)
   ¼ cup coarse kosher or sea salt
      (Do not use fine table salt, "reduced sodium" or "lite" salt.)
   ¼ cup unbleached sugar
     (Turbinado, or "Sugar in the Raw" brand)
   6 sprigs fresh dill, or 1/8 cup dried dill
   1 teas. whole or crushed white pepper seeds
   1 teas. juniper berries (optional)
   sealable plastic bag or container

DIRECTIONS
When handling the salmon, be sure that your hands are absolutely clean. You'll need 3 days to prepare. If you are not going to eat it directly (it lasts a couple of days) move it to a fresh plastic bag or jar, removing the salty liquid that have formed in the original bag. If you keep it in the original bag the risk is that it may be too salty once you are about to serve it.

   1. WASH fish filet in cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.
   2. (REMOVE skin from unskinned filet, using a sharp knife.)
   3. MIX together salt and sugar in a jar. CHOP dill finely.
   4. PLACE salmon filet on a plate.
   5. RUB a generous amount of sugar/salt mixture on both sides of the filet.
   6. COVER the first, then the other, side of filet with dill, white pepper, and juniper berries.
   7. PLACE salmon in plastic bag. SEAL. PLACE in refrigerator.
   8. TURN OVER plastic bag twice a day for three days.
   9. AFTER three days the salmon is ready to serve.
 11. SLICE thinly with a sharp knife and serve.

SPOTLIGHT HALAL: Chowder

SPOTLIGHT HALAL Magazine provides North American Muslims with practical information about food choices. Please ChipIn your support. Shukran.

	PORK / ALCOHOL (?)
	Chowders are traditionally prepared with salt pork or bacon. Some canned products contain alcohol. View our halal recipe for Authentic Seafood Chowder.

WHAT IS IT?
Chowder is a type of soup popular in New England and Atlantic Canada. Although the word chowder commonly refers to clam chowder, it can be any variety of the rich, chunky and usually creamy soup. Common chowders include corn chowder, seafood chowder and fish chowder. Of the clam chowders, thick and creamy New England Clam Chowder is the most popular variety. Other varieties of clam chowder include the brothy Rhode Island Clam Chowder, milky Maine Clam Chowder and tomato-based Manhattan Clam Chowder.

The word "chowder" was introduced to New England by French-speaking Breton fishermen from Newfoundland, Canada. The fishermen would throw portions of the day's catch and other available foods into a large pot, called a 'chaudron' (a cauldron). In New England, Manhattan clam chowder is considered inferior to the creamy and clear varieties. The tomato-based chowder was a contribution from Portuguese immigrants in Rhode Island. Scornful New Englanders called this modified version "Manhattan-style" clam chowder because in New England calling someone a New Yorker is considered to be an insult.

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HOW IS IT MADE?
Chowder is made by first frying onions and diced potatoes in salt pork or bacon and then cooking these further in a fish or seafood broth or clam juice. Sometimes corn or celery is added. Towards the end of cooking, milk, evaporated milk or cream is added, and then finally fresh chopped clams or other seafood.

Salt pork is the salted, preserved belly fat of pigs. It is used to flavor many traditional American dishes including chowders and Boston baked beans. Salt pork is similar to bacon, but unsmoked and much fattier and saltier. Unlike with bacon, it is the fat of salt pork that is used as a flavoring, but the small amount of attached pork meat is not. Some modern recipes call for bacon to impart a mildly smokey flavor. Butter can be used in place of either.

WARNING LEVEL: HIGH 
Clam Chowder is a very popular soup with Muslims who order seafood dishes to avoid eating meat. Because salt pork is a fat, not a meat, it is impossible to see it in the chowder. Salt pork is almost never listed as an ingredient on restaurant menus. Chowders containing bacon are easier to detect. These chowders have small pink bits floating in the soup.

Some canned varieties of chowder may not contain pork, but will list an alcoholic beverage like sherry, brandy or a wine like chablis in its ingredients.

Homemade Clam Chowder. Yum!

AMNA RECOMMENDS
No matter what kind of chowder you're buying—clam, fish, corn or chicken, Manhattan or New England style—check the ingredients. If the chowder contains 'bacon', 'salt pork', 'sherry', 'brandy' or 'chablis', skip it. When eating out, ask your waiter if that restaurant uses salt pork or bacon in their clam chowder recipe.

A big pot of tasty, satisfying New England clam chowder is easy to make at home for under $15. Try our authentic New England recipe. If that doesn't work for you, see our SPOTLIGHT REVIEW of popular chowder brands.

SPOTLIGHT REVIEW: CHOWDER
Click on any of the chowder products below to see a listing of brands, their products and SPOTLIGHT HALAL's rating on each. To know how we did it, read our methodology (next section).

Canned Chowders

BRAND	VARIETY	CONTAINS...	RATING
Bar Harbor®	Cherrystone Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Corn Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Fish Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Lobster Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Manhattan-Style Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Salmon Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
Campbell's®	Chunky Healthy Request Soup, New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Chunky Healthy Request Soup, Chicken Corn Chowder	Artificial bacon flavor (from soy). Contains chicken.
	Chunky Soup, New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Chunky Soup, Chicken Corn Chowder	Bacon
	Condensed Manhattan Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Condensed New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Select Harvest, New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
Kettle Cuisine®	Clam Chowder, New England (box)	Salt Pork
Natural Sea®	Clam Chowder, New England Style	no pork or alcohol products.
New England Country Soup®	New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Chicken Corn Chowder	no pork or alcohol products. Contains chicken.
Phillips®	New England Style Clam Chowder (box)	Bacon
	Crab & Corn Chowder	White Wine, chicken
	Crab & Shrimp Chowder	White Wine, chicken
	Cream of Crab Soup	Sherry, chicken
Progresso®	Rich & Hearty New England Clam Chowder	Chablis Wine, Brandy
	Rich & Hearty Chicken Corn Chowder	Bacon
	Traditional 99% Fat Free New England Clam Chowder	Chablis Wine, Brandy
	Traditional Manhattan Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
	Traditional New England Clam Chowder	no pork or alcohol products.
Taste Adventure®	Sweet Corn Chowder (pouch)	no pork or alcohol products.
Wolfgang Puck's®	Organic Corn Chowder	Alcohol
	This list was compiled & published by SPOTLIGHT HALAL Magazine.

RESTAURANT Chowders

RESTAURANT	VARIETY	CONTAINS...	RATING
Friendly's Restaurants (New York, New England)	Homestyle Clam Chowder	bacon bits
Legal Sea Foods[1] (New England, NY/NJ, Mid-Atlantic states, GA, FL)	Legal Seafood Clam Chowder	salt pork
	Legal's Inaugural Fish Chowder	monterey jack cheese
Phillips Seafood (NY/NJ, Mid-Atlantic states, GA)	New England Style Clam Chowder	bacon
	for other Phillips Seafood chowder varieties, see above
	This list was compiled & published by SPOTLIGHT HALAL Magazine.

HOW WE DID IT:
Our goal was to compile as thorough a list of chowder brands  as possible, identifying which are made with pork products like bacon or salt pork and/or alcohol. Information for each product was taken off of the products' Ingredients lists, or in the case of restaurant foods, off the restaurant's web site or published cookbook. All ingredients listed are current as of the date of this article's publication. Because product recipes and ingredients change, be sure to check a product's Ingredient list at the time of purchase.

SPECIAL NOTE: ARE CLAMS HALAL?
Sunni: Clams are halal food in the Malaki, Hanbali and Shafa'i Schools. Within the Hanafi School, there are varying opinions.

Shi'a: Jafaris do not consider clams to be halal.
And the two seas are not alike―the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other salty and bitter.  Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh and tender and ye extract ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the Bounty of Allah that ye may be grateful.
—The Qur'an. Suratu Faatir: 12

CAN MUSLIMS USE KOSHER SYMBOLS TO KNOW IF CHOWDER IS HALAL?
NO. Clams, shrimp and other mollusks and cephalopods (squid, octopus, etc.) are not kosher.[2] Chicken chowder can not be kosher because it goes against the halachic prohibition against mixing meat and dairy (milk, cream, etc.) in the same meal. This means that you won't find a kosher symbol on a can of clam, seafood or chicken chowder even if it doesn't contain a pig product like pork fat or bacon. You need to turn the can around to look at the ingredients list.

SPECIAL NOTE: ALCOHOL AND COOKING
AMNA classifies any food that has been made with an alcoholic product as ALCOHOL, even if it has been sautéed, simmered, baked or set on fire. The conventional wisdom accepted by just about everyone is that all the alcohol you add to a dish evaporates during cooking. It’s wrong.

In fact, according to a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory, you have to cook something for a good three hours to remove virtually all traces of alcohol. After it has simmered for 15 minutes, 40% of the alcohol remains in the canned chowder.

-- Learn more about Alcohol cook-off times at: http://www.isitharam.com/halal_info/prohibited/alcohol_cooking.jsp --

		PORK is the rating that we give to any food that always contains pork or a pig-derived product.
		ALCOHOL is the rating that we give to any food that always contains alcohol, even if it has been cooked.
		HALAL(?) is the rating that we give to food that 1). Commonly contains meat from a halal animal that may not have been zabiha-slaughtered; 2). To food containing cheese possibly made with animal rennet; 3). Certain seafood whose permissibility varies according to methhab.
		HALAL is the rating that we give to food that is always halal. In line with the Quran and Sunna, IsItHaram.com and SPOTLIGHT HALAL includes all seafood in this rating.

At SPOTLIGHT HALAL, our Guiding Principle is to provide the diverse Muslim communities living in Western countries with practical information about the wide range of food choices they face on a daily basis, but from an Islamic perspective. We don’t say a food is haram or halal; we say: "This food is made with alcohol and pork," or, "That food normally contains chicken." Whether or not you observe zabihah, our flexible and informative approach allows you to make informed decisions on what to buy and eat.

REFERENCES:

[1] The Legal Seafood Cookbook. Legal Seafoods Clam Chowder.
[2] Torah. Leviticus 11: 9-12

LEGAL
All brands described in this article are registered trademarks of their owners. Bar Harbor® is a registered trademark of Bar Harbor Foods, Inc.; Campbell's® is a registered trademark of Campbell Soup Company; Kettle Cuisine® is a registered trademark of Kettle Cuisine; Natural Sea® is a trademark of Natural Sea; New England Country Soup® is a registered trademark of New England Country Foods, LLC; Phillips® is a registered trademark of Phillips Seafood Restaurants; Progresso® is a registered trademark of Betty Crocker, a General Mills company; Taste Adventure® is a registered trademark of Will-Pak Foods, Inc.; Wolfgang Puck's® is a registered trademark of Country Gourmet Foods, LLC; Legal Sea Foods® is a registered trademark of Legal Sea Foods; Friendly's® is a registered trademark of Friendly Ice Cream Corporation; Phillips® is a registered trademark of Phillips Seafood Restaurants.

SPOTLIGHT: Altoids© Mints

SPOTLIGHT HALAL Magazine provides North American Muslims with practical information about food choices. Please ChipIn your support. Shukran.

	PORK / HAWWAM
	Altoids© mints contain gelatin sourced from pigs and other animals. Some varieties contain shellac, made from insect cocoons. Try our recipe for Italian Toasted Almond Biscotti!

WHAT IS IT?
Altoids are a popular brand of breath mints marketed under the slogan "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Mints." Though the brand is owned by Wrigley, the confections have been manufactured and produced by Callard & Bowser-Suchard in Wales, the United Kingdom, since the early 1800's.[1]

Altoids mints are much stronger than typical mints; the secret of their strength lies in the use of real peppermint oil in the recipe. Because of this strong mintiness, Altoids are often chosen as a breath freshener as well as an after-coffee mint. Altoids mints are currently available in eight flavors: peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, cinnamon, ginger, liquorice, chocolate, and crème de menthe.

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HOW IS IT MADE?
All Altoid mints, including Chocolate-Covered Altoids contain: SUGAR, GUM ARABIC, ARTIFICIAL OR NATURAL FLAVOR (OIL OF PEPPERMINT), and GELATIN.[2] Chocolate-Covered Altoids contain CONFECTIONER'S GLAZE, another name for shellac which is made from crushed and processed insect cocoons.[3] Shellac is used as a glaze on food and medicine to provide a shiny coating. Its E Number is E904.

Altoid Sours, Altoid Gum, and Altoid Mini products do not contain gelatin or shellac.

WHAT IS GELATIN? 
PRODUCTION, ISLAMIC REGULATIONS & U.S. LAW
Gelatin (gelatine, E-Number: E441) is a translucent, colorless, brittle, nearly tasteless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, medicine, and cosmetics.

Materials used in gelatin production

Gelatin is derived mainly from pig skins, pork and cattle (cow) bones, or split cattle hides. On a commercial scale, gelatin is made from by-products of the meat and leather industry.

Gelatin is extracted from animal skin and bones by boiling them in water or acid. This dissolves and releases the gelatin from skin tissue, tendons and cartilage. The gelatinous liquid is then filtered to remove impurities such bits of blood, meat and hair that would affect the appearance, taste and texture of the final product. The liquid is then evaporated and dried into sheets and ground into powder.[4]

We've heard some Muslims contend that gelatin is halal because it has "gone through a purification process." However, as Muslims, it is important for us to refer to food import regulations of Islamic countries. These are established by experts on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) following a thorough examination of food production practices. Saudi Arabia bans foods containing ingredients derived from pork, including (pork) gelatin. However, Saudi Arabia allows gelatin from permissible (halal) animals to be in food products, so long as product labeling declares the animal source.[5]

Muslims in the United States should consider all gelatin as coming from swine, unless a product's labeling states the source animal (ex.: 'fish gelatin'). U.S. Law makes it illegal to misstate the source animal on product labeling. AVOID products listing 'kosher gelatin' unless that product also carries kosher certification. The term 'kosher' itself has no legal definition under U.S. law, because of "separation of church and state." The term 'kosher' can legally be used on product packaging as manufacturers see fit. Most use the term as a marketing tool to win consumers to their product.

[ Read about what is required for gelatin to be certified as kosher here. ]

WHAT DOES PORK - HAWWAM MEAN?
We rate any foods that contains both pork (or a pig-derived product) and vermin as PORK-HAWWAM. HAWWAM (هوام), is an Arabic word collectively referring to vermin — insects, rodent, reptiles, snails, frogs, worms, spiders and other crawling, slithering animals — the consumption of which Islamic Law forbids.

SPOTLIGHT HALAL, rates Altoids minds as PORK-HAWWAM because the gelatin used in Altoids is derived from pig parts and; because Chocolate-Covered Altoids contain pharmaceutical glaze, another term for shellac.

At SPOTLIGHT HALAL, our Guiding Principle is to provide the diverse Muslim communities living in Western countries with practical information about the wide range of food choices they face on a daily basis, but from an Islamic perspective. We don’t say a food is haram or halal; we say: "This food is made with alcohol and pork," or, "That food normally contains chicken." Whether or not you observe zabihah, our flexible and informative approach allows you to make informed decisions on what to buy and eat.

REFERENCES:
[1] Wikipedia: Altoids. (March 5, 2009)
[2] U.S. Nutrition Information: Altoids. Wrigley web site. (March 5, 2009)
[3] Spotlight Halal: Shellac.
[4] Wikipedia: Gelatin. (March 5, 2009)
[5] USDA Gain Report: "Saudi Arabia: Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards" [ PDF], 2006.