First micro teaching session - Vegetables!

We went through our first micro teaching session conducted by our classmates and the food commodity for the lesson was vegetables. It will always be a challenge to get students to be appealed by preparing dishes using vegetables as the main ingredient but I have to say Group 1 did a fantastic job of putting together three dishes that not the conventional dishes that come to mind when one mentions vegetables.

Here're the three recipes we used (all credits go to Group 1):

Vegetarian Pizza

Ingredients

Pizza dough:
11g dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
125 g plain flour
3/4 cup warm water
1tbs olive oil

Pizza toppings:
1 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tbs dried basil
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 yellow capsicum, julienned
6 button mushrooms, sliced
3 tbs mozzarella cheese
6 pineapple cubes
1 tbs olive oil

Method

Pizza dough:

1. Combine 3/4 cup warm water, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Whisk to dissolve.
2. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.
3. Sift flour into a bowl. Add yeast mixture and oil. Mix to form soft dough.
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until elastic.
5. Cover with damp cloth. Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until dough has doubled in size.
6. After 15 to 20 minutes, punch the dough down using your fists. Knead on a lightly-floured surface until smooth.
7. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough evenly.
8. Cut out shapes on the dough using the cutter.
9. Mix the tomato paste with the dried basil and spread evenly on the pizza dough.

Toppings:

1. Arrange the toppings on the pizza dough.
2. Top with mozarella cheese.
3. Bake in the oven at 180oC for 15 to 20 minutes.

Eggplant Patty Bruschetta

Ingredients

1/2 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed

25g shredded cheddar cheese

25g Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 egg, beaten

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/2 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 french loaf, sliced into 6

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 lemon

6 cherry tomatoes for garnishing

Method

1. Place eggplant in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on medium-high for 3 minutes.
2. Turn eggplant over and microwave for another 2 minutes.
3. Drain any liquid from the eggplant and mash.
4. Combine cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, onion, garlic and salt with the mashed eggplant. Mix well.
5. Shape the eggplant mixture into approximately 6 patties.
6. Heat oil in a large skillet.
7. Drop eggplant patties one at a time into the skillet.
8. Fry each side of the patties until golden brown, approximately 3 minutes on each side.
9. Patties can also be frozen before frying and cooked later.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

75g all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3g ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

70 g caster sugar

50g canola oil

1 large egg

100g peeled and grated carrots

25g coarsely chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 165oC.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon together in a medium bowl to blend.
3. Whisk caster sugar and oil using an electric mixer at low speed until the colour of the mixture turns lighter or pale yellow.
4. Add in the egg and mix for another 2 minutes.
5. Add in the flour mixture and fold until mixture is well-blended.
6. Stir in the walnuts and carrot.
7. Divide the mixture into 2 equal parts and our them into the 4-inch baking tins.
8. Bake at 165oC for 25 minutes.

And the verdict? All three recipes were awesome! The pizzas were shaped in stars and hearts - definitely appealing to the kids. The eggplant bruschetta tasted nothing like vegetables and in fact they could pass off as chicken bruschettas! The carrot cake was moist and tasty and adding the cream cheese filling and topping gave the cake the perfect finishing touches in terms of looks and flavour.
The group did up the theme presentation in terms of a garden party and this came about because the group felt that vegetables reminded them of nature and the great outdoors. Too bad I did not have a picture of their set up. But here's a picture of the food! :)