SubscribeMe & Grandma: Teaching my daughter to cook
My daughter loves rice, and has been eating it heartily since she was a toddler, particularly the spicy versions prepared by a former babysitter from Ghana. She is so fond of the jambalaya-like dish that Miss Bea always had some cooking when we visited during the years my daughter was growing up.
Miss Bea returned to Africa a little over a year ago so we don’t know her recipes. Still, my daughter had big ideas when we talked about preparing rice during our weekend cooking class. What she ended up cooking was far simpler. It was basic cooking of the popular grain: add rice, water, olive oil, then boil and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. We used a tasty rice medley with brown rice, wild rice, sweet brown rice and heirloom red rice. My daughter could hardly keep from lifting the lid often to check on it, though I told her it’s important to always leave the lid on when cooking rice to trap as much of the steam as possible.
I’m teaching my 15-year-old daughter to cook in a year-long effort with help from my nearly 80-year-old mother, several aunts and sisters. Of course, I need a refresher on some of the basics too so I’m using “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School” cookbook as a guide.
My daughter was surprised to learn from the cookbook that there are more than 7,000 varieties of rice grown around the world. I didn’t know that brown rice is more perishable than white rice and that it’s best to keep it refrigerated.
Along with the rice, my daughter cooked pan-seared salmon (she experimented with seasonings) and put together a mixed greens salad. She had a hard time a few weeks ago handling raw chicken and similarly didn’t like dealing with raw fish. I supposed this will get easier for her in the months ahead.
But she’s making progress. She’s more confident handling a knife as well as a spatula when turning food in a hot skillet. And, she didn’t leave the kitchen to go read a book while waiting for the food to cook. Her dinner turned out well. The rice was nutty and fluffy, and the salmon was moist and flaky.
My daughter and I still are in contact with Miss Bea and talk to her occasionally. I’ll be sending a letter soon asking her to send us a recipe.
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I am a member of the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer raising a teenage daughter and dealing with the needs of an aging mother. I am a veteran journalist, having worked for more than three decades as a reporter and editor. Mostly recently, I was an editor with the Metro section of The Washington Post.
