GOAT TACOS

August 26, 2010

I’ve wanted to make these for a long time.

In July 2008, Gourmet magazine published a very fine piece of food journalism from Ian Knauer and Alan Sytsma.  In it, the men visited Madani Halal, one of our country’s many halal butcher shops, which carry out the slaughtering and processing of animals in strict accordance with Islamic law.

Halal is a kind of equivalent to the Jewish system of kashrut, or kosher, both signifying what is “permitted” or “clean” to eat.  In accordance with halal standards, all animals must be treated humanely in life—grass-fed only—and slaughtered swiftly in death, one quick cut of the carotid artery coming on the heels of a prayer of thankfulness to Allah for the nourishing gift of the animal’s flesh.  It is a dignified, compassionate, and demanding way of doing things.

The men who run Madani Halal are a father-and-son team, Riaz Uddin and Imran Uddin.  In the article, Imran asks the chefs to choose a goat, which he then slaughters himself, falling silent for prayer beforehand and sweating afterward.  “Do you ever get used to that?” the visitors ask.  “No,” he responds.

Imran goest on to tell Knauer & Sytsma that he hopes halal can become a bridge by which Americans can learn about and accept Islam.  Though their client population is only 65% Muslim, the rest overflow from other immigrant communities, he admitted “We lost a lot of customers” after 9/11.  They faced skepticism from the neighborhood when they acquired more property to expand the shop.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Jill and I both know Muslims; she has worked with many closely.  She has traveled to countries with large Muslim populations, like Egypt and Jordan and Turkey.  We have been invited to many a beautiful dinner spread, breaking bread with our Muslim friends as they break their Ramadan fasts.  And so, for me, there is a huge crevasse of cognitive dissonance between these people I know and the very loud screaming voices I hear about all Muslims can’t be trusted, are of the devil, who hate America, should made to be carry special ID cards.

Someone please explain to me how we manage to so easily lump together a religious group that constitutes a population of 1.5 billion people.  Who constitute practically every ethnic group and nationality, who are spread all over the globe living radically different lives from each other.  How on earth can anyone justify writing off a mass of people this way?  As if they all thought and acted in exactly the same manner, because they fall under the same religious umbrella.  I sure hope I’m not expected to claim the world’s population of Hindus as representative of my thoughts & beliefs.

I was born and raised a Hindu, inheriting a group of folks who have clashed with Muslims in India for years, each group lobbing back-and-forth their irrational hatred, their violence, their fear.  Of course, the irony is that if my parents had been born just some forty or fifty miles to the West, I might well be a Muslim myself.  And then what?

GOAT TACOS adapted from Gourmet

To make this recipe, I had to find my own halal butcher, which was easy to do here in Houston.  I wondered but did not have the courage to ask aloud if it was difficult for the proprietress of the shop to be in the presence of food all day as she fasted for Ramadan.   I got myself a goat leg.  I drowned it in a smoky tomato-chile sauce and baked it off for three hours, shredded it as it cooled, wrapping it in tortillas alongside my friends.  I recommend you do the same.

This recipe is a project, certainly, but the results were as delicious as I had hoped.  I will certainly be making it again, most likely as a dinner party dish, since everything can be prepped ahead of time.

ingredients:

3 ½ to 4 lb. goat leg, bone-in* 3 dried guajillo chiles, stems removed 2 dried ancho chiles, stems removed 1 lb. tomatoes 3 garlic cloves 1 ½ tsp. dried oregano 1 tsp. vinegar ½ tsp. cumin seeds 5 whole peppercorns 3 whole cloves 2 bay leaves

oven: 350˚

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, dropping in the chiles.  Simmer until the chiles are soft & pliable, 10-15 minutes.  Drain the soaking water and drop the chiles into a blender.  Add the rest of the ingredients (except the goat leg!) and blend until smooth.

Place the goat leg a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with salt.  Pour the sauce over the goat meat, turn to coat, then cover the entire dish with foil.

Braise for 3 to 3 ½ hours or until the meat is very tender.  Remove from the oven and cool.  Once the meat has cooled enough to handle, shred with forks and return it to the sauce-filled baking dish.  Discard the bones.

Now whole dish goes back in the oven, covered again, to cook for another half hour.  Towards the end of the half-hour, wrap the tortillas in foil and toss them into the oven to warm.

Serves a crowd (8-10) and keeps well.  If making ahead, reheat in the oven to serve.

* Ask the butcher to cut the leg into pieces if you don’t have a roasting pan big enough to fit it.

accompaniments:

corn tortillas crumbled queso fresco salsa verde cubed pineapple sliced radishes cilantro lime wedges

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MUHAMMARA DIP

August 22, 2010

It seems I’m making nice with all kinds of former food enemies—first radishes, then rum, and now red bell peppers.

The alliteration is accidental, I promise, or maybe I’m just getting back to my English-teacher self, what with school starting back up this week.  !!!

Green bell peppers can be found in our backyard garden and then, subsequently, on our backyard grill, and I like them just fine that way, or chopped up as part of the Cajun trinity, or stuffed with Indian-spiced meat, the way my mom makes.  But red bell peppers always just seemed lame to me—especially given how expensive they can be—slimy when roasted, boring when raw—not a fan.

In the last few years, though, given Jill’s travels and the diverse Houston restaurant landscape, my exposure to Middle Eastern cuisine grew and I fell in love with muhammara dip.  Not only is it fun to say (much like halloumi!), it’s also quite tasty.  And so I decided to give a homemade version a whirl.

My fellow teacher & dear friend Courtney sampled my version of the dip a few weekends ago when we photographed it, and requested that I post the recipe ASAP—because we’re both trying to be good about what we eat these days and this is just the type of thing that works perfectly for weekday lunches.  Make it over the weekend and stash it in the work fridge.  Pack some type of bread product, throw in some fruit & vegetables, and viola!  Instant healthy lunch.

(I made some flatbreads to go along with this dip, which I promise to post later in the week—provided the new crop of 8th graders don’t do me in.)

MUHAMMARA DIP

We found that the dip tastes even better a day or two after you make it.  So plan accordingly!

ingredients:

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted 1 cup walnuts, toasted 1 yellow onion, diced 3 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, & diced ¼ cup unseasoned bread crumbs 2 T pomegranate molasses or homemade grenadine 1 T harissa 2 tsp. salt ¼ tsp cayenne (optional) juice of 1 lemon

While the nuts cool, process the onion, peppers, pomegranate molasses, and harissa in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Strain the mix over the sink, pressing down to release excess moisture.  Dump the pepper/onion paste into a mixing bowl.

No need to clean out the blender/mixing bowl—just dump the nuts right in and pulse until coarsely ground.  I like the texture of the nuts at this point, but if you want a smoother dip, keep on going.  Add the nuts to the pepper/onion paste and stir in the bread cumbs, salt, lemon juice, & cayenne, if using.  Taste for salt and other flavorings and adjust as needed.

Serve, garnished with a little extra cayenne, with crackers, pita, crudités, naan, etc.

MOJITO POPSICLES

August 17, 2010

Rum and I haven’t always been friends.

After a collegiate night of bad choices featuring one too many glasses of Diet Coke & cheap rum, I swore off the stuff for years.  But a few months ago at my favorite Houston bar, I took a tentative sip of a friend’s rum-based cocktail.  And rum and I have been going steady ever since.  Dark & stormys?  Rum swizzles?  Mojitos?

Yes, please.

Popsicles seem to be the trend of this summer, and I’m okay with that.  I love this version, and this one too, both capturing the whimsy and nostalgia of eating off a dripping popsicle stick but using more sophisticated flavors.  I wanted to do something based on a cocktail and turned to my newfound love of rum for inspiration.

These little guys were a big hit when I served them to friends this weekend: tangy, refreshing, and dead-easy to make.  You’re going to want more than one, I promise.

MOJITO POPSICLES

I found these little plastic shot glasses in the dollar section of Target and used them to make 12 mini-pops, with kids’ craft sticks providing the assist.  You can make bigger popsicles, of course, in which case I’m guessing this recipe will yield 6-8.

If you’ve never bought superfine sugar, you should be able to find it on the baking aisle of well-stocked grocery stores or at specialty baking stores or cooking-supply stores like Williams Sonoma.

ingredients:

1 packed cup mint leaves 1 cup water 1 cup fresh lime juice 1 cup superfine sugar 1/3 cup white rum (I used Flor de Caña)

Purée all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Skim off any foam, then pour the mixture into molds.  Freeze for an hour, then insert the popsicle sticks (if the popsicles aren’t firm enough, wait a little bit longer).  Freeze until the popsicles are firm, overnight or up to 24 hours, depending on the size of your molds.

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