Cooking with Kids: A Taste of Africa and the Middle East

As you probably know, the kids are studying world cultures this semester and the focus has been on Africa. Last week, the kids and I made several African and Middle Eastern dishes for dinner. We used the Kids Multicultural Cookbook and Cooking up World History for ideas.

We made korma chicken (we added broccoli) with rice:

The next night we made almond soup and Moroccan couscous. The almond soup was very, very rich. Everyone liked it and ate it, but Hubby and I definitely liked the soup better over the couscous rather than as a separate soup.

The winner of the week was the homemade pita bread and the lentils-and-rice dish we made. The pita was wonderful and we’ll definitely incorporate this meal into our repertoire! LD said it was the best meal EVER!  I don’t know about that, but everyone liked it. We also made a black bean dip (the darker brown you see below).

I’ll share the recipe for pita because it was so easy (and yummy!!):

• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 Tablespoon honey

Dissolve yeast, water, honey

Add in:

• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 6 cups of flour

Stir until you can’t mix the dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Place dough in a buttered bowl, coat on all sides and cover with plastic wrap and a towel.  Let it rise for an hour or so.

Punch it down and shape into 10 balls. Let the balls rest for 15 minutes (I didn’t) and shape them into 7-inch round/flat.

Preheat oven to 450. Bake 10-12 minutes.

This is a recipe from Syria.

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Lentils and rice:

Rinse 1 cup lentils. Cook in 7 cups of water for 30 minutes.  Then add 1 cup white rice, 3/4 tsp salt and cook for 30 more minutes until water is absorbed.  Saute 1 large, chopped onion in olive oil. Mix into the rice-beans.

After rice and beans were cooked we added 1 4oz can of chopped green chilies,  1/4 cup salsa (medium), 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cumin.

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We also want to make peanut soup (a dish from Ghana), but haven’t gotten to it yet!

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter! ~Liesl