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Mr. Mom Returns to the Kitchen

Published

November 3, 2009

Background

Last Saturday, Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala blessed our family with our latest addition to the family, our daughter Taymiyyah. I’m home this week to help my wife with her chores while she adapts and recovers and among the duties I’ve shouldered is cooking. Flipping through my healthy eating books, I found this amazing recipe for chili. I made it yesterday, and it came out really well, so for anyone that wants to make 10 servings of chili and not cook again for 3 – 4 days, try the recipe below.

Required Tools

Extremely huge pot, or two large pots.
Knife for chopping veggies
Blender
Stirring spoons
3 or 4 medium sized tupperware containers to store chopped veggies
1 TableSpoon and 1 Teaspoon
Your scrubbiest clothes, you will likely smell like an onion after this is done.

Ingredients

4 lbs Extra Lean Ground Beef
4 Cans of Kidney beans (15.5 oz per can) – make sure to drain and rinse thoroughly
2 large onions, chopped (prepare to cry)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 lb of carrots, peeled and sliced into smaller pieces
4 bell peppers, any combination of colors will do (green, red, yellow, orange)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
Two 46 fl oz bottles V8 Vegetable Juice, Spicy Hot
1/2 lb Cashews
Spices
- 4 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Celery Seed
- 1 tsp Fresh Ground Peppper

Directions

Combine 1 lb ground beef, the onions, and the minced garlic and brown the beef on high heat. When this is complete, continue adding 1 lb of beef, browning it, and keep doing so until all the beef is added and browned.
Now add all the spices and continue frying the beef while stirring for 3 minutes
Add the kidney beans, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, and V8 Juice. Stir it all up, and keep the heat high until it’s boiling. If it becomes too much, lower the temperature slightly, but let it keep going.
While the meat cooks, blend the cashews in short bursts (not all at once, don’t want it to become butter, just grainy) – this is how you make the cashew meal. Add this to your chili and stir.
Keep the chili cooking until the carrots are soft (could be between 30 – 60 min). Once the carrots are soft, your chili is good to go.

Lessons Learned

Cutting onions makes you cry and your clothes stink. Don’t wear nice clothes when cutting them.
V8 is a weird ingredient, but it really works. Trust the process.
If the portion proposed is too big, cut all the ingredients needed in half and go from there.
Anyone can make an amazing chili, even a kitchen dunce like myself. I wish I had this recipe in college.

Let me know if you try it out, I’ll be happy to answer any questions if you do. If you decide to use this recipe, tell me how it works out, insha’Allah.

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Related Topics:chili cooking food zabiha

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Siraaj Muhammad

Siraaj is the Executive Director of MuslimMatters. He's spent over two decades working in dawah organizations, starting with his university MSA and going on to lead efforts with AlMaghrib Institute, MuslimMatters, and AlJumuah magazine. He's very married with wonderful children

41 Comments

UmmOsman

November 3, 2009 at 7:12 AM

Assalamo elikuim
Jazak Allah khair Brother for the wonderful recipe – my kids will love it.

“Cutting onions makes you cry and your clothes stink”

So true. Being a Desi we use onions in everything , except desserts :).
What I ussually do is cut the onions in half and leave them for 5-10 min before I need to slice them- this takes the edge off it and when you slice them , no tears Inshallah.

Wasalam
UmmOsman

Reply
- abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
  
  November 3, 2009 at 1:48 PM
  
  Onions can be sweet, too, alhamdolillah: sweet/spicy onion jam. I tried it, and it is the most amazing jam you’ll ever try (at least in this world).
  
  May Allah subhanahu wata ala cause your daughter to be a great blessing for your family.
  
  Reply
- Amatullah
  
  November 5, 2009 at 8:28 PM
  
  JazakAllahu Khair for the tip
  
  Reply
Farhan

November 3, 2009 at 9:11 AM

I expect to cook a little less than ~50% of the time for my fiancee-to-be-wife, in sha Allah. I’ve been looking for recipes online.
http://www.desicookbook.com !!!

Reply
- Ahmad AlFarsi
  
  November 3, 2009 at 9:20 AM
  
  weak :) … akhi, by such statements, ur giving our wives unhealthy ammunition. stop. :)
  
  Reply
  - ummaasiyah
    
    November 3, 2009 at 9:38 AM
    
    Sometimes we like food that ISN’T cooked by us…it can get a little boring after a while…after all, variety is the spice of life! (pun intended) :D
    
    Reply
  - Hassan
    
    November 3, 2009 at 10:55 AM
    
    I also take responsibility of cooking food, and always I outsource it to some restaurant.
    
    Same goes for cleaning home, sometimes I clean, by bringing cleaning services.
    
    I think both should be credited for me delivering what is needed.
    
    Reply
    - Amad
      
      November 3, 2009 at 11:56 AM
      
      Hey it doesn’t matter who does it, as long as it’s done. Especially the thought of eating food made by Hassan, esp. after you read a post from me on terrorism, is quite scary. Shalamar zindabad anytime.
      
      Mashallah Hassan, I am glad that you have progressed in your marriage. The last time I checked you counted your contribution thus: “My wife cooks, I eat. My wife washes, I dirty. My wife irons, I wear”.
      
      Reply
no more tears

November 3, 2009 at 10:43 AM

let the onions soak in a bowl of water before cutting, it will take the cry out of them
u can also keep them in thge fridge, cold onions make u cry much less than regular ones

Reply
Sista

November 3, 2009 at 11:50 AM

I clicked on the title expecting a mouth watering picture.! lol
nice recipe, will try it soon InshAllah :)

Reply
Amad

November 3, 2009 at 11:57 AM

Btw, Siraaj, how many brownie points have you earned via MM? We should start charging all husbands per brownie point earned here.

Reply
ilmsummittee

November 3, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Subhanallah, what a coincidence! Just coming across this, after our first time cooking chili yesterday and it turned out to be great! walhamdulilah

Especially with the cold coming…..chili is a very warming bowl.

For the recipe I used, it called for : ground beef, onions, green and hot peppers, packet of chili seasoning, cilantro [optional], freshly cut tomatoes, can of kidney beans, and can of tomato sauce (or V8); but again there are like a million different ways of cooking this.

By the way, Barakah Allahu lakuma fee Taymiyaah, May she grow up to be a pious and obedient daughter and a coolness to both your eyes. Ameen :)

Reply
Abd- Allah

November 3, 2009 at 12:43 PM

Akhi Sirraj, BaarakAllah for you and your family in your new daughter Taymiyyah, and may Allah make her grow up into a righteous Muslimah.

Reply
Iesa Galloway

November 3, 2009 at 1:20 PM

Mabrook Bro!

May Allah protect your family and make them a source of blessing for you in this world and the next, as well as you a source for them! – Nice start BTW!

I am a HUGE chilli fan… a Texan can convert, but we still love TX-Mex! (Halal that is :))

Iesa

Reply
LILayla

November 3, 2009 at 2:57 PM

As Salaamu Alaykum…

May ALLAH bless you brother. I didn’t notice if anyone suggested it but if you like the chili so much try making a double batch and freezing half. It will be great on those days that both of you are just floored and can’t imagine cutting up an onion. Just let it cool and place it in a freezer bag. It should keep for a couple months, inshaaLLAH.

Reply
- Holly Garza
  
  November 4, 2009 at 9:10 AM
  
  very good tip!
  
  Reply
Siraaj

November 3, 2009 at 4:08 PM

Salaam alaykum everyone,

Jazakallaah khayr for the du’aas on my new daughter Taymiyyah, ameen to all of them :D I will also take all suggestions about cry free onions and try them for the next time I make this recipe, insha’Allah.

Amad, most men do not acquit themselves well when it comes to brownie points – what they do artificially, I do naturally, and not due to a subconscious whip ;)

Siraaj

PS – my daughter was born 10/10, this article written a little after that, so it really wasn’t “last week”.

Reply
Masculinist

November 3, 2009 at 4:17 PM

You woman.

Reply
- Holly Garza
  
  November 4, 2009 at 9:11 AM
  
  for wanting to eat? Man I certainly hope you never become woman-less! You’d surely starve
  
  Reply
Ibn Masood

November 3, 2009 at 5:18 PM

How sneaky… I imagine you want your grandson to be called ‘Ibn Taymiyyah’

Reply
- Ahmad AlFarsi
  
  November 3, 2009 at 6:37 PM
  
  lol, i was thinking that too :)
  
  Reply
- Siraaj
  
  November 4, 2009 at 2:14 PM
  
  Can’t sneak anything past you, that’s for sure :D
  
  Siraaj
  
  Reply
UmA

November 3, 2009 at 9:41 PM

Mabrook on the birth of another girl ma sha Allah. Do you have a biography of the original Taimiyyah?

Reply
- Siraaj
  
  November 4, 2009 at 2:14 PM
  
  Don’t have a biography, only know that she was named Taymiyyah because her father thought she looked like a woman from Taym.
  
  Siraaj
  
  Reply
i heart kraft

November 4, 2009 at 3:47 AM

The BEST website for a beginner or even an experienced cook is the kraft foods website. It not only has delicious recipes but plenty of times they have a demo video showing you exactly how its done step-by-step. The website has recipes for everything from desserts, main courses, appetizers, health conscious meals, budget friendly meals, to holiday meal planning guides & Money saving tips when grocery shopping. It literally has everything covered. Plus, if you sign up for their email list, they’ll occasionally send you coupons for their products as well.

I can honestly say that it has saved me time and time again. When I have to make something and I need a little inspiration, I go on there and browse through all the options for numerous ideas. Dont know what you want to make or eat? thats fine too…just check it out. It’s such a great website. (I sound like I’ve been paid to endorse the product, hah!)

check it out for yourself: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx

Reply
- Amatullah
  
  November 7, 2009 at 8:08 AM
  
  I love that website :)
  
  Reply
Holly Garza

November 4, 2009 at 9:16 AM

Asalaamu Alaikum Siraj I love this recipe post. I make my own chili as well but I never tried to add the cashews and V8 so I’m glad you added the bit about ‘trusting the process’ because I may not have been encouraged. JazakAllah Khayer for sharing

Also JazakAllah to all the brothers and sisters who gave tips on the onion stentch and crying avoiding. It’s really Helpful as a woman, a picky one, I feel there is nothing worse than smelling. I have to not stink nor do I like teary eyes in the kitchen so Thanks for sharing everyone.

Reply
- Siraaj
  
  November 4, 2009 at 2:13 PM
  
  As it so happened, the day I cooked was the night I totaled my car, and I didn’t realize how bad I smelled til I got out of the house, so I kept apologizing to the medics and nurses for smelling like an onion (otherwise, it’s just bad daw’ah).
  
  Siraaj
  
  Reply
  - Holly Garza
    
    November 4, 2009 at 5:11 PM
    
    what?! You totaled the car! Are the kids, Liv, and you okay? well obviously….I wouldn’t worry about it, I’m sure rescue has seen worst
    
    Reply
    - Siraaj
      
      November 5, 2009 at 11:45 AM
      
      Alhamdulillaah, wife and kids were NOT in the car when it happened, just me alone, and alhamdulillaah, no harm done. Here’s a souvenir:
      
      http://twitpic.com/ljzfx
      
      Reply
      - Holly Garza
        
        November 5, 2009 at 11:59 AM
        
        SubhanaAllah, Thank God you came out fine and the wifey and babies were not in there.
Omar

November 4, 2009 at 4:55 PM

So InshaAllah you want to have a grandson called Ibn Taymiyyah … nice

Reply
Abu Rumaisa

November 5, 2009 at 12:36 PM

Keep water running or a large bowl of water nearby when cutting onions.

Reply
Abu AbdurRahman

November 6, 2009 at 7:56 PM

With all this fitnah Siraaj is spreading, I’m gonna inshaAllah make sure my future wife hasn’t read MM….

Reply
- Umme Ammaarah
  
  November 7, 2009 at 6:28 AM
  
  :) I’m sure if a girl read this, she wouldn’t wanna BE ur future wife….. what say?
  
  Reply
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed

November 7, 2009 at 12:46 AM

I reread the recipe — all the salt seems to come from the V8. Since most varieties of V8 are very high in salt, I was wondering if any of you have ever cooked with low-sodium V8? If it worked just as well, that would allow a cook to add as much salt to the recipe as taste required.

Reply
Amatullah

November 7, 2009 at 8:12 AM

I’m a little late in sending out the congrats but mubarak Siraaj on the new addition to your family :) I hope your wife is doing well. May Allah bless you and your family and grant you all that is good in this life and the next. Ameen.

I love the name you’ve picked mashaAllah, and your older daughter and I have something in common :D even though mine is kinda fake.

Reply
Umm Uthmaan

November 8, 2009 at 4:47 AM

Mabrook on the latest addition. Keep these recipes coming. Do u have one for meatloaf?

Reply
Pingback: Some Advice for Muslim Husbands on Giving Your Wife a Break | MuslimMatters.org
Zeshan

March 22, 2017 at 7:47 AM

JazakAllahu Khair for the tip. I will must make food for my wife. Thats why iam following this Pakistani Food site https://www.sooperchef.pk/. They providing us recipes as well as quick cooking videos

Reply
saba

March 22, 2017 at 7:55 AM

Nice recipe I will try this one for my husband. Thanks for effort for us.

Reply