Redmond students whip up healthful dishes

Inside the commercial kitchen at Redmond Junior High on Wednesday, kids wearing aprons and tall paper chef's hats wrangled mangoes, toasted tortas and, under the sharp eyes of food- service employees, rushed past each other with hot pans.

For an hour, the cooking battle was on. Every now and then, someone shouted how much time was left. Despite its title, "So You Think You Can Cook" was not supposed to be a student version of a food reality show.

Instead, the goal for the cooking contest was to get students to think more about healthful eating, said student organizers Gauri Arora and Elaine Wang.

"If they eat healthy food, they'll be more active," said Arora. She and Wang, both 14, came up with the idea to have students cook kid-friendly meals in a competition as part of a partnership with the Washington State Dairy Council and the Seattle Seahawks.

The school has a grant to put on programs that promote healthful eating and more activity. The movement to feed kids more nutritious meals in schools gained traction nationally this past year with chef Jamie Oliver's ABC show, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," but Arora and Wang said their event wasn't related to the show.

For the cooking contest, students submitted recipes, and Wang and Arora chose 12, which ranged from fettuccine Alfredo to a breakfast burrito.

The students competed for $25 gift cards and categories including "Best Use of Healthy Food Groups" and "Easy But Creative Preparation."

In one corner of the kitchen Wednesday afternoon, Alex Zhou, 14, and Christopher Yu, 13, tossed yakisoba noodles in a pan along with chopped cabbage, sliced onion, bright orange carrots, beef strips and slivered green onion. They discussed whether to garnish their dish with basil leaves and carefully wiped away sauce on the rim of the serving bowl.

Yu came up with the idea for yakisoba, a dish his dad makes at home. They practiced twice before the competition.

"It's just kind of an excuse to cook," Zhou said.

Some students picked dishes they or their parents make at home, but Lydia Hsu found her tuna-salad recipe online, with its mix of relish, pineapple, mustard, pecans and yogurt.

"It's really random ingredients, but together it tastes really good," she said.

She was right. She won the prize for "Most Satisfying in Taste."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com