Adam Liaw’s ‘Multicultural lunchbox‘

As part of Multicultural Health Week 2024, this year’s theme, “celebrate culture through food with multicultural family lunch boxes,” highlights the importance of introducing children to a diversity of cuisines from a young age. Renowned chef Adam Liaw has crafted a range of creative and easy-to-make lunchbox recipes that not only caters to the busy schedules of parents but also aims to educate kids about the rich variety of cultures around them. By blending traditional flavours with fun, accessible twists, these recipes offer a delicious way for parents to promote a diverse and healthy food options at the family level – and aim towards more tolerance and greater acceptance with every multicultural lunchbox!

Potato, pea and paneer wraps

Lightly spiced potato and peas get a bit of extra protein from added cheese before being rolled into lunchbox friendly wraps.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp cooking oil (such as olive, canola or vegetable oil)
• 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp garlic and ginger paste
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• ½ tsp vegetable stock powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1 cup frozen peas
• ½ cup water
• 1 cup paneer, cut into 1 cm cubes, or 1 cup grated cheese
• 6 wholegrain wraps

Method 

1. Heat a large, lidded frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the oil and the onion, garlic and ginger and fry for about 3 minutes until softened.
3. Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two, then add the stock powder, cumin and turmeric.
4. Stir to combine, then add the potatoes, peas and 1 cup of water.
5. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. You can add more water if it’s too dry.
6. If using paneer, stir it through and cook for a further 2-3 minutes to warm through.
7. If using grated cheese, allow the potato mixture to cool first then stir it through.
8. Place a cup of the mixture in a wrap and wrap with baking paper.
9. Cut in half and pack into your lunchboxes.

Mediterranean vegetable frittatas

For this incredibly easy frittata I have used frozen vegetables to save on time and money, but if you have access to fresh vegetables, you can use them instead. You can even make individual frittatas in a muffin tray to make it even easier to pack into your multicultural lunchbox.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cooking oil (such as olive, canola or vegetable oil)
• 2 cups frozen Mediterranean vegetables (or other frozen vegetable mixture)
• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
• 6 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp vegetable stock powder
• 1 cup grated cheese

 Method 

1. Heat your oven to 180C fan.
2. Lightly oil a small baking dish or loaf tin with the vegetable oil and add the vegetables, dried herbs
3. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through.
4. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk the eggs together with the milk and stock powder.
5. Stir through the cheese
6. Pour the mixture over the vegetables and stir to mix well.
7. Return to the oven for 30 minutes, then allow to cool.
8. Remove from the baking dish and cut into slices for packing into your lunchboxes

Sushi sandwiches 

These sushi sandwiches are a great way to use leftover stir-fried dishes, or really anything that you might have had for dinner the night before. Just add a few extra vegetables and wrap it all together with the rice and seaweed. You can of course also just use your favourite healthy sandwich fillings.

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of nori per sandwich
• 1 cup of cooked rice per sandwich
• ¾ cup mixed salad vegetables, leftovers, or your favourite sandwich fillings per sandwich

Method 

• Place a sheet of nori on a piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board with the shiny side facing down.
• Spread half a cup of rice in a 10cm square.
• Top the square with your choice of filling and cover with the remaining half cup of rice.
• Fold the corners of the sandwich into the centre to create a square.
• Gather the plastic wrap around the sandwich and leave wrapped for at least 10 minutes for the seaweed to soften and stick to the rice. This will help hold the sandwich together.
• Unwrap the sandwich and save the plastic wrap for making another sandwich.
• Use a sharp knife moistened with a little cold water to slice through the centre of the sandwich to reveal the filling and pack into your lunchbox.

Pita chips with vegetable sticks and hummus

You can use leftover pita in this multicultural lunchbox to make simple chips that are much healthier for you than a packet of potato chips. Together with some vegetable sticks and hummus they make for a great lunchbox snack. I sometimes add some sliced apples to the vegetable sticks as well. 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 large pita
• 1 tsp cooking oil (such as olive, canola or vegetable oil)
• ¼ tsp dried herbs
• 1 cucumber
• 1 red capsicum
• 1 carrot
• ½ cup hummus

 Method 

1. Heat your oven to 200C (fan) or air fryer to 200C.
2. If your pita is hollow, split the pita in half to create two thin rounds. Brush lightly with olive oil or vegetable oil and scatter dried herbs.
3. Cut into thin strips. Strips make these easier to pack into a lunchbox, but you can cut it into wedges if you prefer.
4. If using an oven, spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 6 minutes until crisp.
5. Allow to cool.
6. If using an air fryer, place the pita strips in the basket and cook at 200C for 4-5 minutes, tossing the basket halfway through cooking.
7. Allow to cool and crisp.
8. Cut the cucumber, capsicum and carrot into sticks.
9. Pack the hummus into a small, lidded container.
10. Pack the pita chips separately from the vegetable sticks and hummus in your lunchbox to keep them crisp.

So let’s start small with Adam Liaw’s multicultural lunchbox recipes and teach our kids about diversity.

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