Weekend Cooking; One World Kids Cookbook

One World Kids Cookbook; 

Easy, healthy and affordable family meals

by Sean Mendez

(2011)

"The most important ingredients in any meal are: Love, bonding and sharing."

Great advice for families everywhere!  Groovy Girl and I checked this book out from the library and browsed through it two days ago while we ate breakfast together.  Many of the recipes included odd ingredients that made her not interested.  We did love the photography and the sage wisdom sprinkled throughout made it a perfect start to our day.

"To the above, all you need to add is a dash of patience, a pinch of creativity and a heaped cup full of enthusiasm?"

Each two-page spread features a country with a map,  facts and proverbs related to food or culture.  This would make a wonderful tool for school as students research about another culture or country.

Russia's food proverb:

"The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food."  (perfect moment for this conversation)

We settled on Rice with vegetables (like I need a recipe for that...) but this dish is from Somalia and we plan to try it soon. I have to admit adding the wide variety of spices to the recipe will make it very new for me.  Groovy Girl liked the vegetable choices except she requested we use only 1 garlic clove not 3!

Rice with Vegetables (Somalia)

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 courgettes/zucchini, diced
2 peppers, any colors, diced
1 vegetable stock, cube
4 cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 1/2 cups water
4 T olive oil
salt/pepper

Heat half the oil in a large pot.  Fry onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, stirring often.  Add the cinnamon stick and spices, and cook for 3 minutes to release their flavor.  Pour in the rest of the oil.

Add the remaining vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse rice until water runs clear.  Add rice and water to pot, crumble stock cube in and bring to a simmer.  Cook rice according to package instructions.

Remove cardamon pods and cloves, if you can find them!

Tasty Tip:  This dish is also nicely finished off with a handful of raisins or your favorite fresh herbs.  For those addicted to spice, sprinkle some Tabasco over your dish and tuck in!

Directions include step-by-step photographs featuring young chefs which really adds to the kid appeal.

My favorite proverb comes from Spain:

"For wine to taste of wine, you must drink it with a friend."

Countries included:

Russia, Brazil, USA, China, New Zealand, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Morocco, Columbia, Somalia, Spain, Philippines, Iran, Australia, U.K., Ghana, Greece, and Jamaica.
My favorite recipe hailed from Morocco-couscous with chickpeas and peppers.  An extra section on smoothies is included plus lots of cooking tips.

Check out Superchef's review with another recipe, Chicken and Spinach Curry from India.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a meme hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads.  Click to her site for many more food-related posts.