#52NewFoods: Edamame

The Petits Chefs worked with edamame last week for their #52NewFoods Challenge. A lot of them had tried the edamame in pods that you get in Japanese restaurants and told me they loved it (though one of them said “it’s because it’s salty” – I like that they are starting to realise what adds taste and flavour to food!) so I was encouraged to make a couple of different edamame recipes. We started out with a hummus made from edamame (using a recipe from my friend Monica Shaw of Smarter, Fitter) instead of the usual chick peas because I always think dips are a great way to introduce kids to different veggies.

We squeezed some lemons…

measured out some tahini…

and blitzed everything in the food processor…

Meanwhile, over on Team Pita Chips, the boys worked hard to replicate a favourite store-bought treat:

A group of the oldest boys (11 years old) was in charge of our little toaster oven and did a fabulous (and safe!) job of baking these chips up to crispy perfection…

They were perfect to serve with the edamame hummus!

Our third group of boys worked on making Jennifer Tyler Lee’s Power Lunch Veggie Stir Fry from the 52 New Foods Challenge book. Basically it’s a brown rice stir fry with carrots, edamame and corn – I knew it would be a pretty dish and one with lots of chopping to keep little hands busy!

Once we’d cut our carrots into tiny pieces, we got to stir frying. To the rice and veggies, we added some soy sauce and sesame seeds…

It made for a pretty plate, for sure!

And each boy went home with a bit of a random mash up of edamame dishes. But it was pretty!

The boys did well last week – they worked clean and were organised – it’s not always easy to manage multiple groups doing multiple tasks (even with another adult – this time we had the fabulous Ms Toguri helping out) so the boys have to practice listening perhaps even more so than in a regular classroom. I’m so pleased with the discussions we’re having about food this term though – the 52 New Foods Challenge cookbook is a great jumping off point for conversation around food.

Get the recipe for Power Lunch Veggie Stir Fry in The 52 New Foods Challenge cookbook.

Get the recipe for Edamame hummus over on Smarter Fitter.

Want to see 52 New Foods in action? Check out the 52 New Foods Junior Chef Classes at your local Williams Sonoma (call your local store for details!)

Buy The 52 New Foods Challenge at your local Williams Sonoma store or on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. What new food will YOU try this week?

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Please note: The product links from Amazon, Amazon.ca and The Book Depository are affiliate links meaning if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price which goes towards maintaining eat. live. travel. write. Thank you in advance!

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Disclosure: I received a copy of the 52 New Foods Challenge cookbook for the purposes of taking part in the #52NewFoods Challenge through Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Ambassador Community. I was asked to create one original recipe for the challenge. I did not receive any further compensation for writing this post nor any other promotion of the book I might be involved with.