How it decides
Rules decide what's halal. A model never does.
Nivala checks every ingredient of every dish against a fixed table of rulings, each with a reason and a named source. A dish that fails is removed before you see it. An ingredient the table doesn't know is treated as doubtful, never as halal.
Pork: outUnknown: held backFour steps, one direction
Plain rules do the deciding. The last step only talks.
RuleFilter
Dishes that break anyone’s rules or allergens are removed first. This is where halal is decided.
RuleScore
What’s left is ranked on how well it fits tonight, by fixed scoring rules.
RuleMix
Three picks that differ from each other, so you aren’t offered the same dish three times.
Words onlyExplain
A model may put the reason in plain words. It cannot add, remove or reorder a dish.
The one-way door: the first three steps are fixed rules, and the fourth can't override them. Words come last, after the rules have decided.
Try a ruling
Real entries from Nivala's ingredient table, with the reason and source shown as the app holds them. Pick an ingredient, then pick how strict the household is, and watch where it lands.
Halal
Nothing in the table raises a question about it.
Allowed
Depends on source
Could be fine or not depending on where it came from, which a label rarely says.
Excluded
Mushbooh (doubtful)
Scholars differ, or it may contain something doubtful.
Excluded
Your pick is hereHaram
Prohibited.
ExcludedPork
HaramPork is explicitly prohibited.
Source: Qur’an 2:173
A dish takes the worst ruling among its ingredients.
Fail closed, on purpose
If we don't know, it's out.
A wrong "this is fine" costs more than an honest "we're not sure". Nothing is quietly assumed safe.
A new ingredient
It isn't in the ingredient table yet.
Doubtful (mushbooh)Marked doubtful
Never halal by default.
The dish is held back
For anyone who avoids haram and mushbooh. Nobody sees it by accident.
"We do not have a verified ruling for this ingredient yet."
The sentence Nivala shows for an unrecognised ingredient.
Eight rule sets, per person
Rules can differ from one person to the next, and every dish is checked against everyone at the table. Allergens are set separately.
Halal
No pork or alcohol; meat from a halal source.
No beef
Chicken and mutton are fine, beef never.
Vegetarian
No meat or fish.
Eggetarian
Vegetarian, but egg is fine.
Vegan
No animal products at all.
Jain
No root vegetables, no honey.
Pescatarian
Fish yes, other meat no.
Kosher
We screen the clear cases; certification is on you.
Numbers with their doubt showing
Calories are calculated, then shown as a range.
Every figure comes from the ingredient table, never from a model's guess. It is shown as a range with a label for how sure we are, so a number never looks more precise than it is.
The dishes on this site are calculated from ingredients. None is marked weighed and checked until a dietitian has reviewed it.
A real dish
How the label changes the shape
Shapes only. These are not real dishes.What Nivala doesn't claim
Plain limits, so you know what you are relying on.
We don’t certify food.
Nivala applies rules to ingredients. Certification stays with you and your butcher, and "halal" on a dish page never means certified.
We don’t let an AI decide.
A model may explain what the rules decided. It never rules on an ingredient or a dish.
We don’t call food healthy, clean or guilt-free.
Those words say nothing checkable, so they are not used anywhere on this site.
We don’t set calorie goals or tell anyone to eat less.
This site shows ranges for a dish. It sets no goals, and there are no streaks or scores.
We don’t hide the gaps.
Where a cuisine is thin in the app, it says so instead of padding the list.
Rulings are held in Nivala's ingredient table. Questions or a correction: cfaysal099@gmail.com.
For creators
Cook on YouTube? Put your video on the dish page.
Sign in with Google, tick the videos you want featured and pick the dish each one belongs to. Your channel name and a link stay on the page. You can disconnect any time and your videos disappear.
Cook it in the app
Timers, ingredients at the stove, steps read aloud
The app is coming to iPhone and Android. Until then, Tonight and every recipe page work in your browser.
- Coming soon to theApp StoreiPhone
- Coming soon to theGoogle PlayAndroid
