Feeding the kids

You know, I just saw this article in the New York Times about helping kids eat healthy foods, and all I have to say is, New York Times, do you realize that you’ve opposed every parenting book published since 1985 that wasn’t sponsored by the Christian Coalition (motto: nothing like a good smack to help Johnny eat his broccoli)?

I mean, how dare you suggest that we should not let our kids eat whatever they feel like eating.  I know several serious authors — serious! — who insist that toddlers instinctively know what their nutritional needs are, and will eat exactly as much as they need to fulfill those needs.  Which makes perfect sense, because I, as a perfectly functioning adult who can cook an entire meal, instinctively know what tastes good is good for me.  Which just doesn’t explain why I eat so many cookies…

My favorite tip in the article, however, is the one about dressing up the vegetables with a little fat.  When I lived in Japan, I was surprised to find how delicious the vegetables were.  Cabbage dishes that melted in your mouth, spinach concoctions that tasted of sesame and rice wine, sprouts browned to perfection in a savory sauce — oh, there were some classy veggies!

Then, when we moved to Arizona with Ben, I noticed a similar phenomenon; Abuela vegetables.  Ben, who wasn’t a big fan of greens as a baby (still isn’t) would ask for 2nds and 3rds at Abuela’s house — even when it was purslane, a green weed she used to pick in the arroyo.  Ben learned to say frijoles before he could say mama, practically, and uncle George loved to give him the choice of Abuela’s beans, or ice cream, just to watch Ben choose the beans (he always did, indicating an early talent for sucking up).  Anyway, the secret of Abuela’s vegetables isn’t really a secret; they were fried in garlic-saturated oil, they had chunks of Mexican cheese nestled among the greens, or they swam in a lovely butter sauce.  They were about a thousand calories per bite, but they were also full of all the wonderful nutrients that we desperately want kids to eat.

I’ve decided that the problem here is that most Americans eat vegetables like they do penance.  Tofu has a bad name; just try offering tofu to an American male, and you’ve immediately challenged his manhood (try it in the summer, raw and ice cold with some spring onions on the top, drizzled with soy sauce — even my father loved it).  Also, we don’t love our vegetables the way we should; they linger in the fridge and wilt, so that by the time they’re cooked they’re practically compost.  I’m not pointing a finger here; I’m equally guilty.  I’m just saying it’s no surprise that kids don’t like vegetables, when so many of our traditional dishes (peas and carrots, anyone?) are mushy and tasteless.

Anyway, I know how hard it is to get children to eat well — oh yes, I know! — and I’m sure Ben will be forever traumatized that we make him count up bites when he’s reluctant to try something (listed as a parental mistake in the article, incidentally).  But, I had an elderly Japanese woman tell me if I wanted my kids to eat vegetables, to start them off easy, with tempura (breaded, deep-fried vegetables with a dipping sauce).  With that in mind, I’ll share the recipe, and much luck to everyone in getting their kids to eat a decent meal.

Vegetable Tempura
For vegetables, any will do — carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, beans, onion, lotus root — you can try just about anything. Just cut the vegetables into manageable pieces; for potatoes/sweet potatoes/lotus root, cut thick circles. For broccoli, each large floret can be dipped and fried, and for carrots, cut a large carrot into thirds and then cut into four strips. Medium to large shrimp are also delicious dipped in the batter and fried.

Dipping sauce (you can buy this in the store also, check the Asian foods aisle):
1 cup dashi broth (this is fish broth; you can also substitute 1 cup water and 3 tsp salt)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin (if you don’t have it, add 1 tbsp cooking sherry plus 1 tbsp sugar)

Put all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then let cool. Heat a frying pan with a couple inches of vegetable oil in the bottom.

Photo courtesy of An American in London

Tempura batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup ice-cold water

Very lightly mix the eggs, flour and cold water (the colder the better) in a bowl until ingredients are just blended but the batter is still very lumpy. Test oil temperature by dropping a little bit of the batter into the oil; if it sinks for a second and then rises up, it’s the right temperature. Dip vegetables into the batter and then fry in the oil. Carrots and green beans can be dipped in clusters of 3 or 4 and fried together. Frying too many bunches at once can cause the temperature in the oil to drop, making the resulting tempura a bit droopy, so watch the temperature.

You should end up with lightly cooked vegetables nestled in a crisp batter shell. Dip in the sauce and enjoy!

Thanks to the book, Japanese Family-Style Recipes by Hiroko Urakami, for the ingredients list; substitution suggestions, however, are mine.  The photo of vegetable tempura can be found at the interesting travel site An American in London; for some reason it won’t allow me to put the link in the caption.