Kitchen Garden

Our Year 3/4 students recently enjoyed a vibrant Kitchen Garden session featuring zucchini as the hero ingredient.

Working collaboratively in small groups, students prepared fresh rice paper rolls filled with noodles, grilled zucchini, grated carrot, lettuce, fried egg and fragrant herbs. Each group was responsible for preparing different components, building teamwork and organisation skills along the way. Students carefully practised their rolling techniques with many quickly mastering the art of creating neat, tightly wrapped rolls!

With lunchtime approaching, energy levels were high and the classroom was filled with wonderful aromas. The sizzling sound of zucchini on the hot plate, the scent of garlic in the dipping sauce, freshly fried eggs and bright, fragrant herbs created an atmosphere full of anticipation.

To complete the session, students baked chocolate chip and zucchini cookies, discovering just how versatile zucchini can be in both savoury and sweet recipes. The freshly baked treats were a delicious surprise and a highlight for many.

Throughout the lesson, students developed valuable cooking skills including measuring, grating, slicing, shredding, grilling, folding, whisking and frying. More importantly, they built confidence in trying new flavours and learned how vegetables can be used creatively in everyday cooking.

A sincere thank you to our wonderful volunteers, whose guidance and support help make our Kitchen Garden program such a success.

Ms Leda Semercioglu

Kitchen Garden Coordinator

Rice Paper Rolls

Ingredients

1 packet of vermicelli noodles

1 packet of rice paper wraps

2 zucchinis

2 carrots

½ iceberg lettuce

Fresh mint

Fresh basil

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

1 tablespoon of olive oil

3 eggs, whisked

Dipping sauce

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 lime

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of castor sugar

Method

Step 1

Cook the vermicelli noodles by adding it to a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes, then allow it to cool and drain. Cut the noodles with kitchen scissors.

Step 2

Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the soy sauce.
Put the frying pan onto high heat and add the olive oil. Pour the egg mix into the hot pan and cook on a high heat until the eggs are cooked right through and it looks like a big omelette.
Remove from the pan, place on to a chopping board and slice into long slithers.

Step 3

Thinly slice the zucchinis. Heat the hot plate or grill in the oven with a little olive oil, until golden and charred around the edges.

Step 4

Peel and grate the carrots using a grater.

Step5

Thinly slice the iceberg lettuce.

Step 6

For the dipping sauce, first crush the garlic and juice the lime. Mix all the dipping sauce ingredients together.

How to assemble the rice paper rolls.

Place a rice paper wrapper into a shallow bowl full of water for 2 seconds and remove.
Place a small amount of vermicelli noodles, then a small amount of each ingredient onto the rice paper. Roll over once, tuck the loose ends into the roll and then roll up. Stack the rice paper rolls onto your serving tray.
Serve the rice paper rolls alongside the dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Choc-Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup of grated zucchini

1 cup of oats

1 cup of choc chips

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

½ cup of melted butter

½ cup of caster sugar

½ cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Method

Grate the zucchini and squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar and the egg.
Add the flour, baking powder, oats, zucchini and choc chips, and use a wooden spoon to stir and combine.
Place the dough into the freezer or fridge for approximately 10 minutes. This will make the dough firmer and easier to roll. If the dough is too sticky, add a small amount of flour.
Using a spoon, scoop out the dough and with your hands roll into a ball. Place each cookie ball onto a lined tray.
Using a fork, gently press the cookie dough balls, to flatten them slightly.
Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes at 175 degrees.

Note: this batch of cookie dough makes approximately 30 bite size cookies.

Enjoy!