Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hey Everyone,

Please share any multicultural recipes that children will enjoy!

I just wanted to share some recipe ideas for multicultural foods. We come from such a diverse society with many of us having a multicultural background. I think by sharing this with children it will definitely make them more aware of the different cultures that surround us today. By saying this, I guess food is something that we all share, no matter which part of the world you are from and by introducing foods from different parts of the world to your child can begin a wonderful cultural journey…

Here are some multicultural recipes I would like to share:

Fried Rice – China

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup raw rice
3 eggs
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons oil
6 shallots cut into 1cm pieces
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Method:
1. Wash rice in cold water until water runs clear.
2. Place rice in saucepan and cover with water to 2.5cm above rice level.
3. Bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, uncovered, until water evaporates. Place lid on saucepan and continue cooking for seven minutes on low heat.
5. Do not stir or lift lid during last seven minutes of cooking.
6. Separate the grains of rice with chopsticks or fork.
7. Lightly beat the eggs and water.
8. Heat the oil in a wok.
9. Add the shallots and stir fry for 30 seconds.
10. Add the rice and stir fry until heated through and each grain is coated with oil.
11. Pour in egg mixture and continue stirring until the egg is nearly set.
12. Add soy sauce and stir.


Potato Salad – Germany

Ingredients:
5 potatoes, boiled in skin
2 dill pickles, diced (optional)
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
3 boiled eggs, diced
200 ml cream (a generous ¾ cup)
1 tablespoon mustard
1 stock cube

Method:
1. Peel boiled potatoes and chop into cubes. Add pickles, carrot, onion and eggs. Mix to combine.
2. For the mayonnaise, beat cream in a pan, but do not boil. Add mustard and stock cube to taste.
3. Pour over salad and mix well.
4. Can be served warm or cold.


Tabouli – Lebanon

Ingredients:
4 bunches of continental parsley
1 bunch of fresh mint
½ bunch of shallots
4–6 ripened tomatoes
1 sliced avocado
Juice of two lemons
2 tablespoons of crushed wheat or burghul soaked in water 10 minutes before you add it in (You can find burghul in Lebanese grocery shops)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon of chilli flakes, if desired
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Cut parsley and mint (less stems) as fine as you can (without going over it twice).
2. Once you have washed it and dried it (on a tea towel), cut shallots and add it to the parsley and mint.
3. Dice tomatoes and add it to the mix.
4. Add soaked burghul or crushed wheat after you squeezed the excess water out of it.
5. Add olive oil, lemon, salt and chilli flakes.
6. Mix together.
7. Decorate the bowl with sliced avocado.

I would really love to hear any multicultural recipes that you enjoy cooking at home or at your centre, that children will also love!

Looking forward to your recipe ideas,

Cheers ,
L.A

Hi guys,

Here is a recipe you can try - "Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup".

Just note that this is a very simple recipe that I use when making the soup and not the method where you need to cook your own stock. Making a stock and cooking an actual Vietnamese Chicken Noodle soup can take hours!

Simple Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg Chicken breast
2. 250g rice stick noodles (Vietnamese Flat Thin Rice Noodles)
3. 1L of Chicken stock
4. 3 garlic clove, (finely chopped)
5. 1 inch piece of ginger, (finely chopped)
6. 1 long red chilli (thinly sliced - optional for kids)
7. 1 tbs lime juice
8. 1/4 cup of Coriander leaves (stems and leaves finely chopped for sauce and leaves for garnish)
9. Mint leaves (to garnish)
10. Shallots (to garnish)
11. Thai Basil (to garnish - optional)
12. little salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pot, add 1L of Chicken stock, chicken, ginger, garlic, little salt to taste and bring it to boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium or low. Simmer it for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through.
2. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and let it cool down. Later, shred the chicken into bite pieces and leave it aside.
3. In the mean time, add coriander stems and leaves, 1 long red chilli to the remaining content in the pot and bring it to boil.
4. When boiling again, add the Vietnamese rice noodles to this stock and the shredded chicken and boil it for a few minutes until the noddles are cooked.
5. In the end, add 1 tbs lime juice and give it a mix.
6. Garnish with the remaining coriander leaves, Shallots and Thai Basil.

TIP:

When you add the noodles in the end, make sure that you don't add too much and stick to the quantity. First time when I made it, I ended up adding too much noodles and it wasn't a soup anymore. It was more of a chicken noodle clump! Hope you don't make the same mistake.. Oh and you don't need to add the chilli as kids may think it's too spicy...

The above quantity should serve 2-4 people, well..depends on how much you eat.

Hi L.A,
Thanks for starting a threat on multicultural Ethnic recipes for kids and sharing China, Germany and Lebanon recipes with others. Never tried Lebanese dish Tabouli so will start with Tabouli and share my reviews later with you after making Tabouli on weekend.