Vegetarian children.

[Brad S]

My younger daughter who is 8 years old has been a solid vegetarian for almost 7 months.

She has her reasons and my wife and I respect them.

However as children grow they are in need of so many nutrients and we want to be sure that our little one is recieving them.

As you we're growing up what are some of the things that you enjoyed that were vegetarian?

How was your introduction to spices, what I mean is, are dishes prepared milder for young one's? or are they spiced at the same level as an adults taste.

I have been successful with the use of cumin,ginger,chili's....not so successful with curry ( I use Madres)

Any idea's tips or even recipes would be much appreciated.

[Suvir Saran]

I have a friend.. my co-writer actually, her daughter became vegetarian for her own reasons soon after Stephanie and I started writing the book.

She has grown to love the Dals (lentils and beans) and also the chickpeas, kidney beans and some other lentil and bean preparations. They seem to have made it easy for her to be vegetarian, get the nutrients and also get to grow into accepting spices.

She also fell in love with Indian breads... and got into making them. She especially loved the flat breads that were stuffed and the puffy deep fried Pooris. Both of which she learned to prepare.

I would be happy to PM you recipes for the breads.

Will think of more ideas and post. I was headed out.. saw your post and had to respond.

This will be much easier than you think. And between us eGulleteers... we will help you through it.

[persiflage]

For good vegetarian recipes with mostly mild spicing, try Bharti Kirchner's Healthy Cuisine of India.

This book is full of Bengali-inspired dishes that rely on fragrant spices like bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamon. The author gives the recipes twee names, but lots of recipes in this book have become stand-bys.

Particular favourites include:

Bhuni Kichuri (rice with toasted split mung dal and fragrant spices)

Kumror Ghanto (squash with mustard sauce)

Bandhakopir korma (Cabbage and potatoes in yogurt-onion gravy)

Dahi rice (rice with yogurt and ginger)

Mater alu dalna (potatoes and peas)

Another good book is Yamuna Devi's Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. Recipes are often prefaced by curious anecdotes about guru Srila Prabhupada, such as "This salad was a constant on my breakfast menus for Srila Prabhupada. He taught it to me in 1967 and commented that ginger root for breakfast aided his digestion all day. Eight years later, when I forgot to soak the chickpeas one day and had to omit the dish, he again reminded me how important this 'digestive' breakfast salad was for his health."

Nonetheless, this is the sort of book where you can look up the vegetables you've got on hand in the index and whack out a tasty dish in no time. It has good sections on dals and panir, which provide an important source of protein.

I don't use commerical curry powers. The manufacturers tend to substitute chilies for more expensive spices. You can make your own very easily with basic spices and a grinder. They'll taste fresher and you can control the level of heat to your liking.

[Suvir Saran]

Particular favourites include:

Bhuni Kichuri (rice with toasted split mung dal and fragrant spices)

Bandhakopir korma (Cabbage and potatoes in yogurt-onion gravy)

Dahi rice (rice with yogurt and ginger)

Mater alu dalna (potatoes and peas)

These were some of my favorites as a child as well.

[Suvir Saran]

For good vegetarian recipes with mostly mild spicing, try Bharti Kirchner's Healthy Cuisine of India.

This book is full of Bengali-inspired dishes that rely on fragrant spices like bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamon.  The author gives the recipes twee names, but lots of recipes in this book have become stand-bys.

It is a very good book. The food is honest home food for the most part. And like Bengali cooking in general, it is very delicate whilst still having every complexity of Indian cooking.

My copy recently made it back to my library. It had traveled to London and back.

[Saffy]

If you are looking for indian cuisine imparticular, some things that are really popular with my vegetarian daughter ( has been since day 1 ! ) are samosas ( not to heavy on the spices ) and a pumpkin and lentil korma curry which she loves!

If you are not looking specifically at Indian food, then baked beans are an excellent one for getting that much needed protein and iron into a growing child.

[Suvir Saran]

If you are looking for indian cuisine imparticular, some things that are really popular with my vegetarian daughter ( has been since day 1 ! ) are samosas ( not to heavy on the spices ) and a pumpkin and lentil korma curry which she loves!

If you are not looking specifically at Indian food, then baked beans are an excellent one for getting that much needed protein and iron into a growing child.

Samosas are perfect. I can remember them as far as I can go back in memory lane. And the memories are fond.

We were given Dals, different kinds of potato recipes to train our palate with spices and chapati and yogurt with every meal. RIce would only be served after we had eaten at least 2 chapatis. The rice and lentil/beans make for protein. The yogurt gives protein as well. And with every meal a salad was served. Even if that salad was nothing more than just slices of cucumber, onions and tomatoes sprinkled with cayenne and lemon juice.

One or twice a week we would be served Sambhaar (South Indian style lentil dish, served as a side with Dosa) so that we would get more veggies in our diet. Peas and sweet peppers were two vegetables I remember acceptable to most of my peer.

We were served soups almost daily through the winter months. An hour before dinner. This was another way we would be served veggies.

Omlettes on the weekends. An egg, two slices of whole wheat bread (jam and butter) and a tall glass of milk was breakfast prior to school.

As we grew older (in our teens) more exotic veggies were added. In fact sometime after I turned 15, I developed a taste for bitter gourd. Many of my peer even now, cannot accept that vegetable.

On the other hand, my sister, just a couple of years older to me, ate all veggies from the very begining.

[Stone]

Not quite Indian food, but I love tofu chilli. Tofu scrambles are also great.

But doesn't she need the rice/legume combination in order to get all her protein?

[Suvir Saran]

Not quite Indian food, but I love tofu chilli.  Tofu scrambles are also great.

But doesn't she need the rice/legume combination in order to get all her protein?

Yes that is why in India we always have rice with lentils and or beans. It is great for one to get proteins.

[Suvir Saran]

Tofu scrambles are also great.

Scrambled Tofu Indian Style

[Stone]

Not quite Indian food, but I love tofu chilli.   Tofu scrambles are also great.

But doesn't she need the rice/legume combination in order to get all her protein?

Yes that is why in India we always have rice with lentils and or beans. It is great for one to get proteins.

that's what I thought. I've mentioned this on another thread, but I always read about people talking about tofu as being high in protein. My understanding that unless it is eaten with rice, it is still an incomplete form of protein. (I don't know if that means that tofu alone has certain necessary amino acids, but not all; or that it doesn't have any complete amino acids, but if eaten with rice, supplies fully each of the amino acids (22, I think) required.)

Where are those smug scientific bastards when you need them?

[Suvir Saran]

Where are those smug scientific bastards when you need them?

Where are they???

I have heard that rice and beans/lentils make for very good protein. And protein that is easiest for the body to digest. Maybe those scientific types you refer to can shed more light on all of this.