What’s the Difference Between Indian Curry and Thai Curry?

The curry with chickpeas or chicken that is served in PPS lunchrooms is Indian, rather than Thai. Ever wonder what the difference is?

That question is harder to answer than you might think. Indian and Thai cuisine both vary by region and comprise much, much more than just curry.

The differences between Indian and Thai curries have to do with the spices and herbs that are used, the vegetables and meats that go into the dish, and the method of cooking. Generally, Thai curries tend to use more fresh herbs and are cooked quickly, whereas Indian curries tend to use more dried spices and are cooked more slowly.

While looking for information on the topic we came across this amazing blog, Sailu’s Food, with all kinds of information about Indian cuisine and many, many recipes. Sailu also has written an article, 10 Things You Need to Know About Indian Spices and Curry, that is well worth the read.

Chickpea curry is known in India as Channa Masala. AllRecipes.com offers recipes listed both as channa masala and as chickpea curry.

Creative Cooking Corner addresses some differences between Indian and Thai curry, and explains how to make your own Thai red curry paste at home.

And for a general discussion of all kinds of curry, check out the entry at Wikipedia.

 

Where Do Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Come From?

Somehow we overlooked the fact that November 3^rd was National Sandwich Day. Supposedly, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, was born on November 3, 1718.

You’ve heard the story of how sandwiches were named after the Earl, who requested meat be placed between two slices of bread so he could eat without interrupting his gambling. This story is often told but unlikely to be true; the Earl may have requested sandwiches, but he probably didn’t invent them.

It is supposed the Earl encountered a variety of small sandwiches while traveling in the Mediterranean, and he may have brought the idea home with him. However sandwiches reached Europe, during the 18^th century they progressed from sustenance for men who were out late drinking to late-night snacks for balls and other social events.

Eventually, in the 19^th century, as the hot midday meal was pushed back later and later, sandwiches became a light, easy option for evening meals. Easily packed, carried and held in one hand, they found their way into the working man’s lunchbox and the family picnic basket.

Nineteenth-century American sandwich recipes called for using everything from biscuits to hollowed-out round loaves of bread as a base, and fillings ran the gamut from oysters to tongue. A “receipt” book published in 1869 suggested chopping up that tongue and slathering it with a chilled mixture of butter, mustard, oil, salt, pepper and egg yolk. Yum!

The beloved grilled cheese sandwich is said to date to the 1920s, when factory-processed American cheese and sliced bread became cheap and plentiful. Originally open-faced, a second slice of bread was added in the 1960s, giving birth to the gooey, toasted childhood favorite on the PPS school lunch menu this week – too late for National Sandwich Day, perhaps, but right on time for hungry little learners.

Another Cool App: Menu Planner

The USDA has a nice little interactive app, “My Pyramid Menu Planner,” that lets you put in your menu for the day and instantly see how the calories and food group servings add up.

On the downside, you won’t find entries for specialty items like Tofurkey, but you can make reasonable substitutions and still get a good idea of where you stand, diet-wise.

Useful information, bright colors, instant gratification . . . this app has it all. Check it out!

You Know Zucchini – But How About Zucchini Blossoms?

You know there are many ways to cook zucchini, but did you know you can also eat zucchini blossoms? Zucchini is a type of squash, and squash blossoms are a part of many cuisines around the world.

Seasonal Chef offers 5 squash blossom recipes:

Battered Squash Blossoms (With or Without Stuffing)
Squash Blossom Frittata
Squash Blossom Quesadillas
Squash Blossom Hush Puppies
Squash Blossom Soup

Where to find squash blossoms? If there aren’t any in your own garden or at the farmers market, you can buy them canned from some Latin and Asian markets. If all else fails, they are available – like much else in life – from Amazon!

Fresh, Local School Lunches Need You!

If you’ve checked out the school lunch menus for this year, you know the emphasis is on freshly prepared foods, made with ingredients purchased from local farms and restaurants. And if you read the recent Oregonian front-page story about the Cleveland HS lunch lady, you know years of budget cuts have hit school kitchen staffing hard.

Just as at Cleveland, our own beloved dancing lunch lady, Mona, is running the SES kitchen single-handedly. Unlike at Cleveland, Mona doesn’t even have an assistant to help serve lunch and run the salad bar.

The strong sense of community we enjoy at Sunnyside is due not just to the tireless efforts of staff and volunteers – which is considerable! – but also to the relatively small student population. However, that small population means fewer kids eating school lunches, which makes PPS less inclined to budget for professional kitchen help.

The good news is this also creates a wonderful opportunity for parents! If you love good food and healthy kids, and are handy with a knife or spoon, here’s your chance to have fun while providing an invaluable service.

If you can spare a couple of hours in the morning, even once a month, you too can build lasagna and burritos, roast carrots and potatoes, and whip up cilantro rice, chickpea curry and Marionberry dressing for SES’s delicious, nutritious school lunches. It’s fun and satisfying, and Mona and the kids appreciate it more than you can imagine.

Please explore this blog to learn about the exciting changes in the lunch menu this year, and let us know if you’d like to help out in the kitchen. You can leave comments or questions here, email seskitchen@gmail.com, or drop by the kitchen and talk to Mona.  Our kids need fresh, local school lunches, and fresh, local school lunches need you!

What is Bento, Anyway?

Traditional bento is a box containing a balanced meal for one person, usually made up of single servings of meat, rice and vegetables. Bento is mostly closely associated with Japanese cuisine but is also popular in other Asian countries and, increasingly, in the US.

Everything you could ever want to know about bento can be found at Lunch In a Box, including sources for bento gear, recipes, and ideas for packing delightful bento meals.

Our Asian Chicken Bento with Rice does not include a vegetable on the plate, but sugar snap peas and mandarin orange sections will be on the salad bar, along with the house Marionberry vinaigrette dressing. Alternatives to the bento include hot dogs and PB&J, and as always lunch includes unlimited fruit.

Way Cool: “Analyze My Plate”

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a pretty awesome website called Fruits and Veggies Matter with a fun interactive tool called “Analyze My Plate.” You build a meal by choosing menu items, dragging them over to your plate, and clicking to get a table showing how many fruit and veggie servings and calories your meal contains. Try it with your kids!

The wonder of garbanzo beans!

Garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, have been a part of the human diet for up to 10,000 years, and they are used for everything from falafel to coffee substitute. These mild, slightly nutty-tasting beans have been shown to lower cholesterol, and their high levels of folate and magnesium also help prevent heart attacks. They are high in protein and fiber and are a good source of iron and other minerals.

This year’s PPS lunch menu includes two dishes made with garbanzos: Tomato and Garbanzo Bean Salad, and Indian Curry with Chickpeas. The salad is served with the Three Cheese French Bread, and the curry comes with couscous and Cumin Roasted Carrots. Cumin, as it turns out, also lowers cholesterol, so this combo packs a double punch. And if you think high cholesterol isn’t a concern for school children, the American Heart Association says this:

There is compelling evidence that the atherosclerosis (fatty deposits of plaque in artery walls) or its precursors begins in childhood and progresses slowly into adulthood. Then it often leads to coronary heart disease, the single largest cause of death in the United States.

Pretty compelling stuff, and good reason to work more garbanzo beans into your family’s diet. Check the monthly lunch menus to see which days we’ll be serving chickpea salad or curry at SES, and take a look at this tasty recipe for Killer Roasted Red Pepper Hummus you can make at home.

Cilantro, Cilantro Rice & Sunnyside Lunch

Cilantro is the leafy portion of a plant known around the world as coriander; in fact, it is known elsewhere as coriander leaf. In the US, the spice we know as coriander is made from the seed of the coriander plant. Thai cuisine also makes use of coriander root.

Cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley, is a member of the same family as carrots, celery, dill, parsley, parsnips, fennel, caraway, anise, coriander, cumin and — disconcertingly — poison hemlock. It is a biennial aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean basin, and was cultivated in Egypt 3,500 years ago.

As much as some people love the fresh, tangy, citrus-like taste and smell of cilantro, some others hate it. There has been speculation that reaction to cilantro is genetically determined, but this has not been proven. Even people who intensely dislike cilantro at first can develop a taste for it.

We combine fresh cilantro with real lime juice to make the Cilantro Rice that goes with our bean burritos, which are made with refried beans from The Original Taco House. We make the burritos by hand in the SES kitchen on the same day we serve them for lunch. All this with unlimited fruit and salad bar - lunch doesn’t get much better than this!

School Lunch News from The Messenger, 11-6-10

Helping K-1-2 students with the school lunch program

The school lunch program has made amazing changes in the last years with an abundance of local food, fresh fruits and veggies, and whole grains. We are implementing a new program that will help younger students navigate the lunch line or even just grab a milk without the timely task of finding and pulling their lunch cards or even running it through at the end.

Here’s how it works: Starting Monday, parents can find their child’s lunch card and put it in the boxes indicating “milk” or “lunch” as well as “just for today” or “always.” This will allow them to go through the line without worrying about their cards and it’s good for a full lunch or just milk (which costs 50-cents a day). If you put the card in the “always box” and fill it with enough money, you won’t have to pull the card again.