Our kids can certainly cook!

While staying home in compliance to the Movement Control Order (MCO) here and the various forms of lockdowns happening in cities around the world, we are getting creative with our cooking.

Vivienne putting the muffin mixture into paper muffin
cups on the baking tray

As our extended family stayed in touch through WhatsApp chats and videos, we are also sharing our homecooked dishes in photographs and videos for a virtual lunch, dinner or tea-time together.

This sharing resulted in a keen exchange of messages, seeking secret recipes from each other so that they may also try preparing the same dish in their own kitchens.

I have no doubt that there are many good cooks in the family, but I am thrilled to see that some kids from our younger generation have taken over the kitchens at home.

It must be a relieve for mothers that culinary activities are keeping the youngsters occupied for a while… also as a pleasant change from their homeschooling syllabus.

Food-Art by Vivienne: with rice as the soil, she had carrot
flowers growing, the meat were rocks and the egg white
were clouds while the egg yolk was the sun!

So, from Malaysia to Australia and the UK, our budding young chefs are proving that these kids can certainly cook.

For a start, I believe these youngsters have a natural aptitude for cooking and baking and they enjoy imitating their mothers – who have shown by example – that it is a joy and pleasure to prepare and serve happy, wholesome meals.

My nephew, Andrew’s two daughters are the youngest of the junior generation who have been exercising their culinary skills in the kitchen.

At the tender age of five, Vivienne, has shown us her active imagination. One day, when lunch was served, she decided to arrange her food creatively on her plate.

It was an ordinary kid’s meal of white rice topped with a hardboiled egg, carrots and meat but Vivienne proved that she has a gift in pretty plating.

The Junior Sou Chef, Audrey, caught in the act of
eating, more than she was helping to prepare the nuts!

We have been taught, not to play with your food but in an inspired Food-Art moment, Vivienne rearranged the food items on her plate.

Then she told her mother that the rice was soil with carrot flowers growing on the soil, the meat were rocks and the egg white were clouds while the egg yolk was the sun!

Wow!

Another day, when her mother was preparing Keema Aloo – an Indian recipe for ground beef/lamb with potatoes – Vivienne, who was still too short to reach the stove, had to stand on a low step-ladder to help with stirring the ingredients in the pan.

On yet another day, Vivienne, the budding Junior Master Chef was thrilled when her mother arranged the ingredients and set up trays to bake a batch of Raspberry, White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Muffins.

Xuan using Lego to add texture
and design to his pastry!

Audrey, her two-year old sister, could not be left out of this exciting experience so she was assigned to lend a hand in the role of Junior Sou Chef.

After leaving them for a while with their assigned tasks, their mother returned to discover that the Sou Chef was eating the Macadamia Nuts instead of preparing them for the muffin recipe.

So, she had to be gently relieved from her task and put down for a nap!

Meanwhile when cousin Dennis’ two sons longed to eat pizza, their father decided that they should have a go at making their own.

So, he bought a semi Do-It-Yourself pizza set dubbed a Boredom Buster, that came with the pastry and ingredients for kids to have a hands-on experience in making their own pizza.

At home, the boys followed the step-by-step instructions to roll out the pastry and top it with the ingredients provided before popping it into the oven to bake.

Jonathan frying up frozen Roti Pratha

It sure looked like fun so I guess this must have been a fulfilling meal in more ways than one!

After his exciting pizza-making experience, Xuan, the younger of Dennis’ two boys, had another go at pizza making.

This time, he added his own creativity by using pieces of Lego to add texture and design to the pastry!

Another Do-It-Yourself equivalent in a local recipe must be frying up frozen Roti Pratha also known as Roti Canai.

Quinlan preparing pancake mix from a
recipe he learnt from Gordon Ramsay

That was what Jonathan, cousin Melina’s son did very well.

Two more youngsters whose culinary skills would put many adults to shame, must be cousin Bernice’s boys.

For breakfast, Quinlan, the younger of her two boys, decided to make Blueberry Pancake with a side of Bacon from a recipe he learnt from celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.

He started by preparing the pancakes from pancake mix with a pinch of vanilla extract.

Bernice said that as he was preparing the items – mixing the pancake batter, sautéed the blueberries for the pancake filling and frying up the bacon strips – Quinlan was providing a live commentary step-by-step in the style of Gordon Ramsay, but without the swearing!

His older brother, Jackson, was more ambitious and bravely attempted to cook main course recipes for their family meals.

Jackson learning from his teary experience!

Jackson, however, made the rookie mistake while peeling onions.

He stood directly above the rising onion vapour which resulted in a bad teary experience.

But this teary experience helped Jackson to learn and now he has mastered the art of peeling onions!

From the impressive photos of the mouth-watering Chicken Stroganoff with Broccoli and Mushrooms topped with Sour Cream to savour with penne pasta, we can tell that it must have tasted so yummy delicious.

Jackson quickly learnt that any good sauce base would start with sautéed garlic and onion and the art of preparing skillet chicken – lightly pan-fried chicken with butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Encouraged by his success, on another day, Jackson went on to make for a dish of Chicken Florentine Spinach with penne, which turned out rather well too.

Congratulations and well done, all you budding chefs, bakers and culinary stars!

This praise also goes to all you mothers and grandmothers (you know who you are!) in the kitchen, for being such a wonderful guide and inspiration to your children and grandchildren!

Happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers and grandmothers, aunties and grand-aunties!