Family Meal Plan: Kid-Invented Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls+Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce+Refreshing Mint Tea

Kid-Invented Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• grate :

  to reduce food, like a carrot, to very small shreds or pieces of the same size by rubbing it on a tool with an outside surface that has holes with cutting edges (a grater).

• juice :

  to extract or squeeze out the juice of a fruit or vegetable, like a lemon, orange, or carrot, often cutting open or peeling the fruit or veggie first to access its flesh.

• julienne :

  to cut fruits or vegetables into short, thin, matchstick-like strips.

• knife skills :

  Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls). 

• mince :

  to chop into teeny tiny pieces.

• peel :

  to remove the skin or rind from something using your hands or a metal tool.

• simmer :

  to cook a food gently, usually in a liquid, until softened.

• tear :

  to pull or rip apart a food, like basil leaves, into pieces instead of cutting with a knife; cutting breaks cell walls more, so herbs can discolor faster.

• thicken :

  to make a liquid mixture thicker by adding a thickening agent, like flour, cornstarch, or arrowroot powder, or by reducing the amount of liquid through boiling.

• wrap :

  to encase a food filling with an edible outer package (wrapping), like lettuce, pita, rice paper, seaweed, or tortilla; the wrapped food may also be called a wrap.

What are Rice Paper Wrappers and Spring Rolls?

• Rice paper wrappers originated in Vietnam, where they are called "bánh tráng" (pronounced "baan trahn"). They are thin, almost translucent, and made with rice flour, tapioca flour or starch, water, and salt. They are traditionally dried using sunlight.
• The wrappers have almost no taste or smell, so they become the silent support to the tasty ingredients inside. These typically include pork, shrimp, and vegetables. 
• In southern Vietnam, they use the wrappers for "gỏi cuốn" (pronounced "goy koon"), also called spring rolls, salad rolls, or summer rolls. These rolls are served fresh, not fried.
• When shopping for rice paper wrappers, the name on the package may be spring roll wrappers; however, if the ingredients include wheat, they aren't proper rice paper wrappers.
• Spring rolls are a filled, rolled appetizer or small dish found in East and Southeast Asia countries. Depending on the region, the rolls may be fresh or fried, use different wrappers, contain assorted meat and vegetable fillings, and go by various names.
• For example, in Indonesia and the Philippines, spring rolls are called "lumpia," and in Vietnam, fried rolls are called "chả giò" (pronounced "tshah zheeyoh") and, as we learned above, fresh rolls are called "gỏi cuốn." Spring rolls served with a sweet, hot chili oil is customary to the Sichuan Province of China.

Let's Learn About China!

• China's official name is The People's Republic of China. It became a republic in 1912; however, the first Chinese dynasty appeared around 2100 BCE. China is one of the largest countries in the world, and it has the most people!
• The official language of China is Mandarin. However, various dialects are spoken in different regions of the country. For example, in Shanghai, they speak Shanghainese.
• China is around the same size as the continental United States but only has one official time zone. The continental US has four.  
• China's capital city is Beijing, while the most populated city is Shanghai.  
• The Great Wall in China is the largest man-made construction on Earth, stretching an incredible 5,500 miles. Its builders used mortar that included sticky rice to bind the Great Wall's stones! 
• China's land is diverse, with high mountains, low coastal lands, deserts, and damp tropical areas. Just like the United States!
• The Chinese are known for their papermaking, porcelain, and silk cloth. In addition to paper, they also invented the compass during the Han dynasty (202 BCE to 220 CE), woodblock printing in the Tang dynasty (by 7th century), gunpowder in the Tang dynasty (9th century), and movable type made of porcelain (for printing) between 1039 and 1048 CE, during the Song dynasty.
• Chinese cuisine varies by region. Climate, local agriculture, ethnic and class backgrounds, and outside influences all contribute to China's food diversity. There are eight major regional Chinese cuisines: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang.
• Wheat is farmed in northern China, so noodles and other foods made from wheat are consumed more in the North. On the other hand, rice is cultivated in southern China; therefore, rice is a staple in the South.  
• Tea has long been part of Chinese culture across all parts of society. China was the first country to grow and drink tea and, today, it exports the most green tea worldwide.

What's It Like to Be a Kid in China?

• School success is greatly emphasized in China. Chinese kids go to school five days a week (six days before 1995), and their school day runs from 7:30 or 8 am until 4 or 5 pm. After school, they might do homework for three hours.
• In primary school, kids learn the Chinese language, which is made up of about 7,000 characters, not letters. The characters represent words. By the time they finish primary school, they will have learned about 4,000 characters. They will also learn a foreign language, especially English.
• Kids may not have aunts, uncles, or cousins because, at one time, the Chinese government allowed couples to have just one child due to the high population. That later changed to two, and in May 2021, the policy changed again to allow three kids, so now a child may have a sibling or two. 
• Some of the holidays that kids celebrate with their families are Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, and National Day. National Day is celebrated with fireworks and parades to commemorate the formal proclamation of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. 
• Kids enjoy playing ping pong, basketball, volleyball, and badminton. They also play video games and ride their bikes. 
• Rice and noodles are staples, and kids may eat these at every meal. They'll eat their food using chopsticks, not forks!