Asian Noodle Soup Recipe

This soup is warm, comforting and bursting with flavor. Inspired by Malaysian noodle soup and Thai Khao Soi, its creamy coconut base and beef broth is extremely nourishing and delicious. The recipe below makes a stockpot worth of soup, so feel free to halve the recipe, or simply share with another family. :-)

Ingredients:

3 pounds beef shank (with bone)

2.5 - 3 tbsp red curry paste (I use 1/3 packet of Mae Ploy brand)

3 tsp turmeric powder

8 tsp coriander seed powder 

6 tsp cumin seed powder

6-7 cardamom pods (cracked)

1 2 inch stick cinnamon

2 dried red chilies

10-12 curry leaves

1 large bay leaf

33.8 oz coconut cream (I use 1000 mL Kara brand)

Whole wheat noodles

Sliced boiled eggs

Directions:

1) In a stock pot on medium high heat, sauté the beef shank with red curry paste.

2) Add the seasonings (not the coconut cream) and continue sautéing. Add a little water to prevent burning. Continue sautéing until all seasonings are mixed well and fragrant.

3) Add water until it’s at least 2 inches above the meat, or at most 2 inches from the top of the pot. Lower the heat, cover, and let it simmer for a few hours until the meat is tender. I let it cook 5-7 hours.

4) Lower the heat to the lowest setting and stir in the coconut cream.

5) In a separate pot, boil the noodles to desired firmness.

6) Ladle the soup over the noodles. Serve with sliced boiled eggs. 

Reviewing with Children

Lack of motivation is a common problem when memorizing. Although we really want to continue memorizing the Qur'an and desire to have the words of Allah preserved inside our hearts, we still struggle with the portions we have already memorized and need to review. I have noticed this lack of motivation in myself, my children and other students of the Qur'an. Following are some tips which I have used to make reviewing with my kids easier. Try whichever ones you feel will work; sometimes different methods work on different days.

1) Make du’a for Allah to put the Qur'an in the hearts, minds and actions of your child and for it to be easy for her. The only way anything happens is first, with the help of Allah, and then with consistent and persistent effort. It’s amazing how strong and effective du’as are.

2) Let your child see you when you are reviewing. The biggest motivator for a child to perform a behavior is seeing her parents do it. Reviewing is no exception. When your child sees you reviewing, she will internalize the importance of review.

3) Talk to your child and remind her about the importance of review. Memorizing without maintaining review is like carrying a bucket of water with a hole in it; eventually everything will be lost. I find that even though my daughter knows the importance of review, this reminder is needed often.

4) Do the hardest review first. Save the easier review for the end when the brain is more tired. For my children, the hardest review is usually what they memorized in the last 3-6 days, followed by their weekly review. We do the remainder of the recent review in the end.

5) Make Qur’an first on the to-do list. The brain is freshest and least cluttered in the morning. Use the morning freshness to your advantage and knock review off the list. Often my kids will do their most recent review and their new before having breakfast. On days they’re too hungry, they do it immediately after breakfast.

6) Schedule a break. My children complete their cycle of old review during the weekdays, so on the weekends they only have recent review and new memorization. This break allows them to rest their brains but still move ahead in new memorization. There have been times where we took a day of the weekend completely off, but that’s rare.

7) Snuggle during review. I have a friend who listens to her son’s review with her head in his lap. I often review with my daughter in my lap or snuggled next to me, even though she is 10 years old! It brings us closer together and makes her feel like it’s her special time with me. 

8) Be gentle. When your child makes a mistake, don’t get frustrated, and don’t get angry. It may seem strange that she is repeating the same mistake multiple times, but when the mistake is solid, it is difficult to fix. Remember that it is difficult to review, but it is even more difficult when the person listening to you is upset with you. When your child fixes an old mistake or completes a portion without mistakes, give her a thumbs up or another gesture to indicate she did well; speaking to her when she is doing well may throw her off and cause her to make a mistake.

9) Review in a distraction free area. My children often review in the car, because there is nothing around to distract them. Sometimes we review in the garage or in the office with the door closed if there are other children around.

10) Set a timer. Set a fixed time to concentrate and see how much can be finished in that time. I used to set a 30 minute timer for my daughter, and that really helped her focus on getting done as much as she could without getting distracted in between surahs. Often she would finish all her review, even though she though she anticipated it taking much longer. Caution: Ensure your kids are not reviewing fast. Reviewing too fast compromises tajweed.

Which of these methods have you tried before? What works for your children?

Crunchy Cereal/Granola Recipe

This granola is perfectly crunchy and full of wholesome goodness with just the right amount of sweetness. It’s an amazing substitute for cereal when paired with milk. For a snack, its crunchy sweetness balances out the tart creaminess on a bowl of homemade yogurt. This recipe is so easy my kids make a double batch (without my help) to keep on hand for busy days. 

Ingredients:

2 c rolled oats

1/2 c sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds)

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

3/4 c sliced almonds

1/4 c coconut oil

1/4 c honey

Optional: 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

2) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

3) Put the oats, seeds and almonds on the parchment paper.

4) Melt the coconut oil and honey together. I use a glass measuring cup and microwave for 30-60 seconds until the coconut oil is melted.

5) Stir and pour the honey/oil mixture onto the dry ingredients on the parchment paper.

6) Mix until everything is coated with the oil and honey mixture, and spread it all out evenly on the parchment lined baking sheet.

7) Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown, stirring 1-2 times to ensure even browning.

8) Let cool completely before adding optional raisins or other dried fruit.

9) Enjoy with milk or yogurt. Store in an airtight container.

There's a hole in my bucket...

Inconsistent review is like having a hole in your bucket. Even if you are memorizing new portions of the Qur'an, your old portions are slowly leaking out. Unless you plug the hole by reviewing, you will eventually lose everything you memorized.

Instant Pot Yogurt Recipe

My family LOVES yogurt! We eat it plain, add berries, cook with it, or use it as a replacement for sour cream! This yogurt is deliciously thick and creamy while having just the right amount of tartness to it. Yogurt is already simple to make, but the instant pot shortens the hands on time and ensures consistent results.

Equipment:

Instant pot

Steaming rack

Glass container to fit on the steaming rack inside the instant pot

Funnel

Ingredients:

Whole Milk - enough to fill the glass container almost to the top.

2 tbsp yogurt

Water from your tap at the hottest setting 

Directions:

1) BOIL: Pour the milk into the instant pot and close the lid. Put the glass container on the steaming rack. Put the vent in the sealed position. Press yogurt; then press adjust so the display reads boil.

2) STERILIZE: When the milk boils (in about 30 minutes), open the lid and pour the milk back into the glass container. If you have a thermometer, put it in the milk, but you don’t need one. 

3) COOL: Wait until the temperature is between 110 F to 115 F (about 50 minutes to an hour). My thermometer broke, so I wash my hands and use my finger to measure the temperature—If I can keep my finger in the milk, it’s ready for the starter yogurt. If it’s a comfortable temperature, it’s too cold. 

4) STARTER: In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of yogurt and a couple of tablespoons of the cooled down milk from the glass container. Mix gently and pour the mixture back into the glass container. Mix it all up gently (don’t blend).

5) WATER BATH: Turn your tap water on to its hottest setting. Put the steaming rack with the glass container into the instant pot. Use the tap water to create a water bath around the glass container, filling water all around it. Use a funnel to ensure water does not get inside the glass container.

6) INCUBATE: Close the instant pot and press yogurt. The display should show 8:00. The instant pot will maintain incubation temperature for 8 hours.

7) REFRIGERATE: After 8 hours, remove the glass container from the instant pot, place the lid on it, and place in the refrigerator.

8) ENJOY: your fresh homemade yogurt!

* I use whole milk, but skim, reduced fat, and even cream will work.
* For more tart yogurt, incubate for a longer time. For less tart yogurt, incubate for a shorter time.

*Adapted from: https://trinaholden.com/easiest-yogurt-recipe-ever/ and https://instantpot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DUO-Series-Manual-English-January-24-2018-web.pdf

Qur’an Memorization Tips

1) The night before you memorize, read the word for word translation of the portion you’re memorizing. Study it so you understand and internalize what the words and verses mean as you recite. This will not only help you during memorization and review, but also in implementing what you memorize.

2) The night before you need to memorize, read from the mushaf the portion you need to memorize until it’s easy on your tongue. That means it rolls off your tongue smoothly, without any hesitation. Make sure you do this with proper tajweed so your tongue is used to the correct recitation. For some people this is 10 times, for others it’s 40. If it’s easy on your tongue, it will be easy to memorize.

3) Listen to it on repeat. You can listen to it as you’re falling asleep, while you’re cooking, doing your chores, or any other time your body is doing work that is automatic and does not require much thought. It’s amazing how much just hearing the Qur’an will aid in memorizing it—even if you think you’re not an auditory learner.

4) Mark your mistakes. If you keep forgetting a certain word, circle it in pencil, or make a box around it, and repeat that word with the word before and after it. When you’re reciting it from memory, the mark will help you remember the spot on the page where you were messing up—even if you think you’re not a visual learner.

5) Recite to someone before you recite to your teacher. If you do not recite your new lesson to your teacher daily, you need to find someone who will listen to your new memorization the day you memorize it. It also helps to have someone listen to the combined new lessons the day you’re reciting to your teacher, to make sure your recitation is free from hesitation and mistakes. For example, if you recite to your teacher once a week have someone else listen to your new lesson daily. Also, have someone listen to all 7 days of lessons combined right before reciting it to your teacher. 

6) This last tip is only relevant if you get nervous when reciting to your teacher, and your mind goes blank: Stay around 2 days ahead of what you need to recite to your teacher. That way, when you get nervous, you still remember your lesson, because it’s 2 days old (and you’ve been maintaining your review!!).

Choc-oat-late Truffles Recipe

These truffles taste like delectable, chocolatey, crunchy bites of heaven in your mouth. They are sweetened with nothing but dates, and use only wholesome ingredients.  When your sweet tooth strikes, whip up a batch of these and enjoy them guilt-free! Be warned: One truffle is never enough...at least for my family ;-p

Ingredients:

1 packed cup pitted medjool dates
1 cup rolled oats
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 heaping tbsp cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 to 2/3 cup sliced almonds

Directions: 

1) Put all the ingredients except the almonds in food processor. Blend until the mixture turns into a ball. If the mixture isn't sticky enough, add more coconut oil and keep blending.

2) Add sliced almonds and pulse until just mixed, or mix them in by hand. The more almonds you add, the crunchier the truffle will be.

3) Roll into small balls.

4) Refrigerate (if you have the patience to wait).

5) Enjoy!