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Halal-conscious recipe

Butter bean and chorizo stew, Halal

Esther Clark's four-ingredient butter bean and chorizo stew with Halal-certified beef chorizo in place of pork, simmered with tomatoes and finished with a swirl of rennet-checked pesto.

  • Cuisine British
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 4 bowls
  • Time 20 min
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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A bowl of orange-red soup topped with cream, pumpkin seeds and parsley, beside a dish of almonds
Photograph from our ingredient library: a bowl of soup, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Why Halal checks matter here

The stew starts with 200 g of cooking chorizo, which is ordinarily pork sausage, and the pesto swirled through at the end is made with hard Italian cheese whose rennet needs checking.

This is a four-ingredient stew: chorizo, tomatoes, butter beans and pesto. Ordinary chorizo is pork sausage, so here it is the same weight of beef chorizo with a Halal certifier's mark; that swap is ours.

It follows Esther Clark's butter bean and chorizo stew for BBC Good Food. The other Halal check is the pesto, which is made with hard Italian cheese such as parmesan; read the label for the cheese's rennet.

The chorizo fries for 5 minutes, then everything simmers for 10.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Cooking chorizo Ordinary chorizo is pork sausage, and the published stew fries it first so it flavours everything else. Use a beef chorizo with a Halal certifier's mark, as here. See Chorizo.
  • Pesto Classic pesto is made with hard Italian cheese, Parmigiano or Pecorino, and its rennet decides the ruling; jarred pesto can add whey powders and flavourings. Read the label for the cheese and its rennet, or choose a pesto with microbial or vegetable rennet or a Halal mark. See Pesto and Parmesan.

Safe substitutes

  • 200 g pork cooking chorizo → 200 g Halal-certified beef chorizo (our swap)
  • Pesto made with animal-rennet cheese → A pesto whose cheese uses microbial or vegetable rennet

Allergens

milk (pesto cheese), nuts (pesto pine nuts)

Ingredients

Stew

  • 200 g Halal-certified beef chorizo, sliced (our swap for pork cooking chorizo)
  • 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, 400 g each
  • 2 cans of butter beans, 400 g each, drained
  • 130 g fresh pesto (1 tub) or a jar, rennet checked (see below)

Method

  1. Fry the chorizo. Tip the sliced Halal chorizo into a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry gently for 5 minutes, or until it starts to turn dark brown.
  2. Add the tomatoes and beans. Add the chopped tomatoes and the drained butter beans and bring to the boil.
  3. Simmer. Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Finish with pesto. Swirl through the pesto, season lightly and ladle into four bowls.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Butter bean & chorizo stew' by Esther Clark (serves 4: 200 g sliced cooking chorizo fried gently 5 minutes in a large saucepan over a medium heat until starting to turn dark brown; 2 x 400 g cans of chopped tomatoes and 2 x 400 g cans of drained butter beans brought to the boil and simmered 10 minutes; a tub of fresh pesto or a 130 g jar swirled through; seasoned lightly). We replaced the pork chorizo with the same weight of Halal-certified beef chorizo; that swap is ours. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Butter bean & chorizo stew — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Esther Clark. Serves 4, prep 5 minutes, cook 15 minutes: 200 g cooking chorizo fried 5 minutes, 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and 2 cans of butter beans simmered 10 minutes, pesto swirled through. We replaced the chorizo with Halal beef chorizo.

  2. Chorizo analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why ordinary chorizo is Haram, and when beef or chicken chorizo is Halal.

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