TOP AND TAILING ONION Before you peel an onion, you need to ‘top and tail’ it. This means that you use a knife to cut a little bit off the […]
Cutting Onions
Sugar Violets
INGREDIENTS Violets (edible flower) Egg white Caster sugar Baking paper Tray Small paintbrush METHOD Line the tray with paper. After picking the flowers, stand the stems in a jar of […]
Mashing Vegetables
MASHING POTATOES & PUMPKIN Start with large chunks of cooked potato or pumpkin in a straight sided saucepan. Use a potato masher to keep squashing the vegetables until they are […]
Rules for the Kitchen
SAFETY IN THE KITCHEN ALWAYS ASK AN ADULT TO HELP WHEN COOKING! NEVER COOK ON YOUR OWN! Use safe cutting techniques when working with knives. Ask an adult to show you how. […]
Boiling and Simmering
BOILING LIQUID To boil liquid, the saucepan needs to go on medium-high heat until lots and lots of bubbles rush to the surface. At this stage, the liquid is very […]
Peeling Vegetables
Not all vegetables need to be peeled before they are eaten but they all need to be washed well first. Old potatoes should be peeled but baby potatoes just need […]
Shredding Cabbage
Vegetables such as cabbage are shredded so that they can be used in coleslaw and for cooking in the microwave, steamer or frypan. To shred a cabbage, it first needs […]
Grating Vegetables and Cheese
Vegetables and cheese are grated so that they are very thin; much thinner than can be achieved with a knife. Grated cheese is used in sandwiches and salads and hard […]
Healthy Food Traffic Lights
Across Australia, school canteens use the ‘traffic light’ system to help teach kids to make healthy food choices. Since this is already familiar to them, Smarty Plants has used the […]
Slicing and Dicing
SLICING VEGETABLES To slice a vegetable, hold it onto a chopping board with one hand whilst using a knife to cut it into disks. These can be cut very thinly or […]