On February 20 nine students met the
challenge of our "Basic Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking for Teens
and Parents" class at Vernon Hills High School. The aspiring
vegetarian and vegan cooks learned how to prepare brown rice, black
beans, and slow simmered root vegetables. Then they split into four
teams. Each team blanched radish roots and greens and then steamed
carrots and broccoli.
Then it was time for Stir Fry Mania.
Each team stir fried green peppers, collard greens, and mustard
greens, but each team's dish had a different taste. One team cooked
an East Indian style stir fry with onion, garlic, ginger, coriander,
cumin, and turmeric. The second team cooked an East Asian stir fry
with onion, ginger, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. The third
team cooked a Northern Italian stir fry with garlic, balsamic vinegar,
and olive oil. The fourth team cooked a Latin American stir fry with
cumin, cilantro, tomato, jalapeno pepper, and lime juice.
The participants left with a homework
assignment – to make a meal based on whole grains and vegetables
and write a comment to this post to tell us what they made and how it
tasted.
