How I magically turned a Halal roast beef dinner into a fish pie.

My sister Janet and her husband Tariq, (who is of Pakistani heritage) are staying with me at the moment. They now live in Spain but sadly, Tariq’s brother (the lovely Maz) passed away suddenly last week so they have returned to England for his Muslim burial.

Thirteen years ago I thought my own brother was going to die (he didn’t) when his liver failed and while we waited for news, my family fought hunger because cooking and eating seemed like a sin. But in the end the body insists on being fed and, however upset you are, you have to eat. It still felt terribly wrong though; like we were re affirming our life when my brother could be losing his.

Maz’s widow was not allowed to cook because she was in mourning but everyone who came to the house to pay their respects had to be fed over 3 days. This task was given to outside caterers as the numbers were huge. On the day we were there, 160 people were fed with curry and chapatis.

Interestingly, there was no rice because rice is seen as a celebratory food. If the deceased has had a long life then it’s ok to serve rice with the curry but Maz was only 51 so it would have been wrong. There is no celebration of a life taken too soon. Likewise, no puddings or sweets could be eaten until the third day of prayers had passed.

I’ve been waiting for my chance to feed Janet and Tariq for a week now as Maz was so loved that people kept arriving to pray long after the official 3 days of prayers had passed and Tariq, as the eldest brother, had to stay at the house until the last mourners had left. When my chance finally came I decided I would make a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner with all the trimmings. Not as a celebration but as a condolence and a comfort. Roast beef dinners are hard to come by in Spain and a part of me wanted to give them something they miss to make them think about coming back. When people die suddenly it makes you realise that the best place for your family is living next door, not hundreds of miles away.

So I had to find Halal beef. We have a truly amazing Pakistani supermarket in Burnley called Kashmiri Superstores with a Halal butcher who doesn’t speak a lot of English. I gestured at my ribs and mooed to convey the cut of beef I wanted then I went for a gander around the fruit and veg while the butcher searched in the cold store for my rib.

This is just a tiny selection of curious foodstuffs I found. The Guanabana juice was a new experience and a hit with Joe. The bottom picture is allegedly of the yellow insides of the jackfruit but as one, whole, fresh jackfruit was over £40, I’m not convinced. Anyone out there know?

. A fish pie with pastry! But it did have boiled eggs in the recipe and there was a note that mash could be used instead of a crust so I’ll forgive her.

This is basically what I did. Fish, bechamel, eggs, puréed potato (whipped with egg and butter), baked in a slow oven for 40 minutes.

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RIP Maz Javed and thank you to his family for the £100 donation to my nurture group.