Naan Bread

my family loves the recipes from Anjum Anand's show Indian Food Made Easy on the cooking channel. web address is cookingchanneltv.com

I get concerned when I read that you want them to be healthy Americans. The traditional Indian diet is one of the healthiest around but it encompasses much more than Naan bread (which is one of the more unhealthy aspects of it). I would suggest getting conected to the Indian community where you live and see if there are any stay at home moms who would help you learn some Indian dishes from the boys' culture. I don't know whether you are Indian or not but assume not from your name, but if I were 12 years old and just uprooted from my country I would find it extremely comforting to have any food from "home." Anything else you can do to help them with the transition (food, other indians, counseling) might help them relax about the naan.

allrecipes.com......& several other websites......offer quick/easy recipes for naan bread.

As for switching to American foods, don't make a big deal out of it. Don't draw comparisons between the cultures. Don't approach anything from the mindframe of "American" vs. their culture. If anything, allow these boys to embrace their heritage & culture.....or you'll be in a world of hurt!

In our circle of family/friends, we have quite a few adopted children. Mainstreaming is difficult enough with younger children, I cannot imagine doing this with a group of 6 boys! Kudos to you.....& start brushing up on those breadmaking skills! It's probably one of their last connections to "who" they were before......

Really?

Is this a real post? It's a little odd, and it's your first post of any kind.

If it is real, then it's great that you adopted them. Hopefully you have the funds to provide for them. I guess you just start introducing other foods, and when they are hungry enough, they will eat.

Remove naan from the menu... offer up other things. They wont starve.

Maybe you could research doing traditional Indian recipes with them? Get them directly involved in the cooking.

Maybe start out easy (or maybe this sounds easier, in the writing, then it will be actuality, but anyway)--Take them to an Indian grocery store. They usually have lots of prepacked "sauce packets" that can be put over rice. For DH & I, we eat about 1 to 1.5 packets of sauce plus the rice (the packets of sauce are about $1 to $1.50; often they have a BOGO free) Buy a big bag of basmati rice (we switch between brown rice, which is healthier for you, and the white basmati); at an Indian grocery, they will often have a 10# that is cheaper than what you can get at the regular grocery store. (You may want to invest in a ricemaker; we got an expensive one that will cook tons of rice and hold it at a proven food safe temp for up to 72 hours).

While you're at the grocery, get some Garlic & Ginger paste (in a jar), and also get some Graham Masala (a spice mixture), and maybe some paneer (paneer is a kind of cheese; you can make paneer cheese at home, though we haven't done it yet, and it would probably be way cheaper). You might want to get some onions, too, since onions are used in the sauces a lot of times (but just buy regular ones at the regular grocery or wherever). From what I understand, if you're using paneer, you fry the paneer in a little butter until golden and set aside. Then you cook the onion in butter until translucent and push to the outside of the pan; add a little more butter and add the spices to the butter and cook the spices in the butter until fragrant (30 seconds to 1 min). Then you add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Palak Paneer is one of our favorites--it has tons of spinach, as well as the paneer (paneer is a good source of protein). Anyway, what we did was to first find packets of sauce that we liked, then I did research on the recipes and learned how to cook them from scratch (or mostly from scratch). Chickpeas, lentils, and some beans are also common in Indian food.

Find out what part of India the boys are from--there are apparently different cusines (sp) from different parts of India.

Also, you can add lots of stuff to naan to make it better for them: veggies, paneer (I think), etc., so that the naan is really a whole meal by itself.

You might even think about taking some or all of the kids to cooking classes to learn how to cook Indian food. If there is a large Indian community in your area, contact them to find resources. Or, you might even approach the Indian grocery store folks for some help (I have found that often, when DH & I shop at the local ones here, the folks there are super, super helpful and will go out of their way to be of help).

I make Naan bread on occasion. It's very cheap (but time consuming) to make, as opposed to buying it. However, you might think about offering it only a couple times a week, and you can encourage them to try other foods. You could make it plain to them that they certainly don't have to eat it, but that you won't be serving anything else either.

You'd have to explain in a loving way that you want them to be healthy, strong boys, and eating just Naan bread won't accomplish that. Good luck! And good for you for helping these boys in need! Not many people would open their homes to six boys at a time. =)

How to get them to stop fighting over the last piece of naan? Stop buying it. Prepare healthy foods that are versatile and I'm sure they will eat if they're hungry enough - they won't starve.

You can buy Naan bread at Trader Joe's. Do you have one of these stores near you? It is not too expensive there. also google the recipe I don't believe it is difficult to make.

I would suspect, if there's no naan in the house and they get hungry enough, they will eat. Not the healthiest idea but what about making out a calendar of "event meals" PIZZA NIGHT (have it on hand tossed and tell 'em it's really big naan ;-) cheeseburger night and maybe Saturday or Sunday "comfort food/Indian food night so they can still feel like they're getting a little of back home while learning the fun/yummy stuff of they're new home. Or maybe even on an occasional Saturday night.....Banana Splits for supper night (they'll at least get fruit!) and no cooking for you!...as the saying goes, "life is short, eat dessert first" ;-) Good Luck!

You are amazing. I like Nourshing Traditions cookbook- healthy and inexpensive.
I lived in Congo for a time, and I was surprised that there was this way that casava was prepared that had all the charm to me of eating library paste, and yet one of the scientists with whom I was working told me that when he studied in Paris- I mean PARIS!, that he couldn't wait to get home to eat this stuff! And then I realized it must be what we are raised with that has that effect on us, eh?
WestonPrice.com is another good source of info,
best, k

I agree with M S, Americans aren't healthy, nor is the diet of most Americans. America is filled with heart disease, cancer, obesity and a million other diseases directly related to diet. Many Indians eat diets rich with grains, veggies and beans, the healthiest food to eat.
I think it's awesome that you've brought them into your home and helped them out. I do think that giving them food they are used to and feel some sense of comfort is good to ease them into your environment. They probably have been through some really difficult times, awesome that you've allowed them to stay together too. I strongly suggest that you ask what Indian dishes they like, if there's a special dish they enjoy. Dal is really easy to make and healthy.