The Biryani Soup Experience
...Or should that read 'Experiment'?
I like homemade vegetable soups. Quick and easy to make, warming and tasty when hot, stores in fridge for days and freezes for keeps - what’s not to love? Everyone in the family enjoyed them - or did - until son who ate everything as a rapidly growing toddler, discovered the power of food fads aged four, and refused point blank to eat soup of any sort for over a decade.
Luckily, in his mid teens, son discovered curry. And from a preference for bland pasta dishes, became a connoisseur of spicy, mostly chicken, dishes. I had always pepped up my homemade soups with a little curry powder, so I started a slow campaign of subversive experimentation...
On the curry side, ensuring that son became accustomed to more vegetable curries plus spiced pulse or lentil based side dishes. On the soup side, adding more spices, thickening up the stock with pulses and lentils. Last year, I finally cracked the ideal combination and consistency to coax son. He thought that he was eating vegetable and lentil curry with a spoon. The rest of us called it spicy soup and were equally content.
Yesterday, faced with the prospect of conjuring lunch for four out of various vegetables and some leftover cooked rice, I created a new taste sensation that can only be described as sloppy saucepan-style vegetable biryani! But hey who cares? Everyone wolfed it down served with pitta bread (no naan) and mango chutney. Mr T and I went wild, stirring in a spoonful of natural yoghurt to taste.
But this is not about multicultural mash-up in the kitchen. I'm no great cook and I'm not pushing my very variable recipe. It's all about son needing to want, and to know how, to cook vegetables in various forms for himself before he sets off in September for a new life of student self-catering. Maternal need to ensure son eats a healthy balanced diet must be satisfied! And now I must find a way to program him to eat fresh fruit without parental prompting. A daily text reminder to pick up an apple perhaps? Eventually he'll surely get the nutritional message... :-))
I like homemade vegetable soups. Quick and easy to make, warming and tasty when hot, stores in fridge for days and freezes for keeps - what’s not to love? Everyone in the family enjoyed them - or did - until son who ate everything as a rapidly growing toddler, discovered the power of food fads aged four, and refused point blank to eat soup of any sort for over a decade.
Luckily, in his mid teens, son discovered curry. And from a preference for bland pasta dishes, became a connoisseur of spicy, mostly chicken, dishes. I had always pepped up my homemade soups with a little curry powder, so I started a slow campaign of subversive experimentation...
On the curry side, ensuring that son became accustomed to more vegetable curries plus spiced pulse or lentil based side dishes. On the soup side, adding more spices, thickening up the stock with pulses and lentils. Last year, I finally cracked the ideal combination and consistency to coax son. He thought that he was eating vegetable and lentil curry with a spoon. The rest of us called it spicy soup and were equally content.
Yesterday, faced with the prospect of conjuring lunch for four out of various vegetables and some leftover cooked rice, I created a new taste sensation that can only be described as sloppy saucepan-style vegetable biryani! But hey who cares? Everyone wolfed it down served with pitta bread (no naan) and mango chutney. Mr T and I went wild, stirring in a spoonful of natural yoghurt to taste.
But this is not about multicultural mash-up in the kitchen. I'm no great cook and I'm not pushing my very variable recipe. It's all about son needing to want, and to know how, to cook vegetables in various forms for himself before he sets off in September for a new life of student self-catering. Maternal need to ensure son eats a healthy balanced diet must be satisfied! And now I must find a way to program him to eat fresh fruit without parental prompting. A daily text reminder to pick up an apple perhaps? Eventually he'll surely get the nutritional message... :-))