Islam and Chicken Marsala

[Fahd and Jalilla 0]

Hey guys,

So, I have an interesting and possibly stupid question. I was talking with my fiancee the other day (were getting a K1), and I was telling her about this delicious Italian recipe that my family likes to make called "Chicken Marsala". I'm sure at least some of you have heard of this. It's chicken, made with a sauce that's made from primarily cream and Marsala wine with mushrooms. Now, when I told her this, she said it sounds delicious but said she will not eat it because it contains wine (she doesn't drink alcohol obviously because it's against the religion).

Now, I explained to her that the alcohol evaporates when cooking the sauce, so there is no alcohol and it will be fine. She wouldn't have it. She refused and said she doesn't believe it's right. What bothers me is my mom makes it all the time, so when we eat dinner together, what will she not eat? I would never make her drink alcohol, but this is different. It's such a good recipe and a lot of other recipes are made with alcoholic beverages for flavoring, like pasta with vodka sauce, hot sauce with bourbon, jack daniels bbq sauce, along with the marsala sauce. This bothers me cause she's gonna be missing out on so much good food that's a big part of our culture even though there's no alcohol in the food after it's cooked!! This seems like it could be considered such an insignificant issue but it's bothering the heck out of me. Do other American-Muslims think this way about this as well?

I am an American Muslim and I wouldn't eat it. My fiance is from Morocco and I don't think it is right to question their culture and especially a person's religion. There are other things to eat.....Moroccan food is delicious!!!

[Ihavequestions 419]

On another note I had chicken tikki marsala tonight and it was 1/3 the price. Shhh... I consider it research for how they make it here. They put things in it I don't for example cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaves so it wasn't the same as home. However it was good but not as tasty and it needed some salt but I liked their rice. The rice here is different too because it's cooked over gas so that's an experiment all it's own as it cooks faster. Any suggestions on how not to burn the pot and get the rice finished cooking?

Taban.

1.) Scoot husband out of the kitchen so he doesn't see what you're doing because if he sees what you're doing, you will be doing it wrong.

2.) Put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

3.) Wash the rice and pick out anything that doesn't look like a grain of rice (maybe it's a stone, ya never know).

4.) When the water is boiling hard, put the rice in.

5.) Let it boil until it's cooked.

6.) Strain it in the sink.

Yeah, just like making pasta. It's that easy.

When I make rice my way, it turns out perfect. When my husband makes rice his way (with, like, NO water), it turns out sticky and he complains about how it didn't turn out good. However, if he sees me cooking rice my way, it's not the right way. Go figger.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Yeah for sure. Everything I cook is done the wrong way if he's in the kitchen. I cooked short grain rice like I do in the states in the same pot I use in the states and the only thing that was different is it was a gas stove. He told me there wasn't enough water but it was the same amount I always do and then it burnned the bottom of my pot and I had to buy steel wool to clean it out. He said it was because of not enough water and maybe so but I believe it also had to do with cooking on a gas range instead of electric as I'm used to. Trial and error.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

People can disagree all they want but if they say they respect other people's religion then choosing the words when they are expressing their thoughts is important! I don't recall any muslim here using any offensive language when disagreeing with anyone else's faith.

VW expresses her opinion on things in Islam that allow the flexibility to agree with or not and also allows many interpretations but she doesn't promote another version of Islam. She never disagreed with the basics and the firm form of the religion. So it's still Islam. If you don't like Islam but you agree with VW that doesn't mean you agree with Islam by any means. That's not intented for someone in particular it's a general note.

Concerning the police in Egypt going after Tam's husband because he converted; I don't have to believe it happened; but if it did it has absolutely nothing to do with Islam; it's very clear in our book alhamdulillah I don't have to go through that. I know a christian family who have converted to Islam and have to hide it up to this day because if the church found out they will not be left a lone. Another friend of mine converted and wanted to get married to a muslim and the Egyptian gov. wouldn't let her get married without a paper from church saying that she was not married to a christian previously and she wasn't but still the church wouldn't give her the paper and kept attacking her on why she converted and that they can help "save" her again!! Now I'm not sure if in christianity freedom of religion is allowed or not; but again it's how it is in Egypt! Oh and by the way Tam's husband should know about the priest's wife who converted to Islam and was never found again.....Police have searched for her everywhere and no one knows where she is up to this day!! Also on youtube there's a video of a christian girl who have converted and is now locked in a basement of a church for months and months and no one can do anything about it. So no religion to blame only humans.

[Ihavequestions 419]

Yeah for sure. Everything I cook is done the wrong way if he's in the kitchen. I cooked short grain rice like I do in the states in the same pot I use in the states and the only thing that was different is it was a gas stove. He told me there wasn't enough water but it was the same amount I always do and then it burnned the bottom of my pot and I had to buy steel wool to clean it out. He said it was because of not enough water and maybe so but I believe it also had to do with cooking on a gas range instead of electric as I'm used to. Trial and error.

Egyptian rice is a different grain of rice. It could have burned because there wasn't enough water, but it also could have been the flame of the stove itself. If yours is anything like mine, it could double as a blast furnace. Try turning down the heat and see if that helps.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Got any advice on Egyptian washing machines and line drying so your clothes don't turn to cardboard?

[amysaid 9]

Egyptian rice is a different grain of rice. It could have burned because there wasn't enough water, but it also could have been the flame of the stove itself. If yours is anything like mine, it could double as a blast furnace. Try turning down the heat and see if that helps.

Seeeeeriously. I had never cooked with a gas range like that before and it definitely took me a lot of trial and error. I'm still a little afraid of the oven, though, because it's like a scene out of Backdraft every time i try to light the damned thing. Now I just make him do it.

Got any advice on Egyptian washing machines and line drying so your clothes don't turn to cardboard?

Hahah. If there's a secret to this, I'd like to know it, too. The first time I hung laundry out in Egypt, I hung my undies outside on the innermost line with a bunch of other stuff in front of it covering it. No big deal, I thought, I used to do the same thing at home in the summer. OHHHH you should have heard the gasping and tsk'ing and excited yelling in Arabic when my SIL came over and discovered what I'd done. You would've thought I'd made a flag out of them and gone walking down the street waving them in the air like a banner.

[HLM 1]

Umm concerning husband saying "you're doing it wrong!" happens here with almost every meal even with meals he has never tried before...I say how do you know I did it wrong if it's the first time you've tried it ?? He is a major food critic I still learn what he likes and what he dislikes; even though I want to improve my cooking sometimes I don't take the criticism very well He bought me an amazing book that has lots of food from around the world and special meals for the slow cooker! It is an awesome book will definitely be beneficial when I start working later on.

[Ihavequestions 419]

Got any advice on Egyptian washing machines and line drying so your clothes don't turn to cardboard?

Yep. Invest in some fabric softener. They sell in supermarkets and not just the western ones.

You said you wring clothes out? Poor baby. I had a semi-automatic washer and I loved it. Now I have an automatic washer and everything comes out a wrinkled mess if I don't load it up with softener. According to The Sultan, it doesn't matter what goes in the washing machine, it has to go in for two hours. Even though the timer dial has multiple settings, two hours is the only one allowed. And it has to be unplugged for 10 minutes before I can open the door or it will ruin the machine. Not just off for 10 minutes, unplugged for 10 minutes. <Looking for the throwing myself around in the chair emoticon>

I can't give you advice about how to use one without a spinner, though ... just my sympathy. Both places I've lived, I swear, have an upstairs neighbor who waits for the sound of me putting my laundry outside to hang their drippy stuff. Makes me want to go all postal.

amysaid, haven't you noticed how to tell when a new bride moves into a flat? She puts her lingerie out on the line for EVERYONE to see. True story.

[amysaid 9]

amysaid, haven't you noticed how to tell when a new bride moves into a flat? She puts her lingerie out on the line for EVERYONE to see. True story.

Ah, well I guess our neighbors would've been unimpressed with my cotton polkadot undies, nothing risque there

[KHPerfectMatch 1]

Got any advice on Egyptian washing machines and line drying so your clothes don't turn to cardboard?

Yep. Invest in some fabric softener. They sell in supermarkets and not just the western ones.

You said you wring clothes out? Poor baby. I had a semi-automatic washer and I loved it. Now I have an automatic washer and everything comes out a wrinkled mess if I don't load it up with softener. According to The Sultan, it doesn't matter what goes in the washing machine, it has to go in for two hours. Even though the timer dial has multiple settings, two hours is the only one allowed. And it has to be unplugged for 10 minutes before I can open the door or it will ruin the machine. Not just off for 10 minutes, unplugged for 10 minutes. <Looking for the throwing myself around in the chair emoticon>

I can't give you advice about how to use one without a spinner, though ... just my sympathy. Both places I've lived, I swear, have an upstairs neighbor who waits for the sound of me putting my laundry outside to hang their drippy stuff. Makes me want to go all postal.

amysaid, haven't you noticed how to tell when a new bride moves into a flat? She puts her lingerie out on the line for EVERYONE to see. True story.

And your skills as a housewife are judged by the way you arrange your clothes on the line.... I failed. But I did use a TON of DOWNY!!!!!!

First time I did laundry in Egypt I thought the 90 setting on the washing machine was 90 degrees Farenheit... I melted my husband's polyester pajamas... (since it was actually 10 degrees under BOILING).... discovered that was why it took 3 hours to do a single load! It had to heat the water to boiling!!!! He is so disgusted that our washers here won't boil his cotton undies... I'll never understand the fixation with boiling underwear but washing DISHES in cold greasy water with a dirty sponge...

I refuse to hang my lingerie outside for the world to see... bought plastic hangers and a drying rack for the spare bedroom and hung them in there... Plus got dizzy every time I leaned over the balcony on the 9th floor to reach the clothes lines.... 3 or 4 of those suckers... WAY OUT THERE... wind from the sea whipping around so hard I had to put 6 pins on each item! NO THANKS... I hope I never have to do that again! Let me go kiss my dryer right now...

[doodlebugg 10]

I tried hanging my undies on the line the first time I did laundry and my husband quickly wisked them away and we just dried them on the back of the bedpost after that. They only take like a couple hours to get dry. I never knew why he did that though. lol.Oh and I can't do anything right in the kitchen either so after the third week or so I set down a new house rule no one allowed in the kitchen when I'm working. I did it sneaky though and said it's because my oldest always criticizes how many spices I put in so he has to do it so she will.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Smart bridget. Waleed's always saying for me never to tell him no and that I have to learn to trick him like egyptian women. I said that is so much work and I'd rather be frank and open and honest with my communication. ha ha that doesn't always go over very well.

So stock up on frabric softener. At Waleed's sisters house she had one of the automatic spinners with the door you have to wait for 2 minutes before opening it after the load is done and it always seemed to take 2 hours to do a load as well. We've gone through 2 washers in our apartment. The first one lost a wheel and wouldn't hold water very well. The second one was small and took double the time. The third one is big like the second one and lost water last night so I'm going a little nuts here with these stupid cheap machines. I just want one that works fine maybe like his sisters. Waleed says I don't have to wring it out but I do because it's a dripping mess if I don't. I do hang undies on the line inside and I don't really care that everybody stares at me and Waleed doesn't say anything. Maybe to avoid having to do it himself. That's a good idea though about hanging them on hangers or the bedpost since we can really afford and inside hanger thing. I know the thing you're talking about as his sister's place had one. One thing I notice is my clothes collect the lint rather than there being a lint collector in our US machines. I really miss that as I have to pick it off and that's tedious.

[morocco4ever 63]

1.) Scoot husband out of the kitchen so he doesn't see what you're doing because if he sees what you're doing, you will be doing it wrong.

so true.

[bhajishah 4]

wow alot of young Morrocons are modern and drink, well kudos to him. the fiancee