Cooking for a toddler is quite a challenge especially one that is a fussy eater. As I am Asian, I provided my child with Asian cooking but now that I am about to put him into childcare (well, I still have to do part time as an engineer to supplement my income), I could envisage a huge battle during feed time.

Lumpy food vs whole food for toddler

My mum brought me up eating chinese porridge (rice cooked with lots of veges and meat boiled over a long period of time) for the first 2 years of my life. I've gotten comment that I should start giving my child more solid food to teach him how to chew. However when given solid food, he eats really slow and little so I have decided to give him 3/4 of the meal with porridge to ensure he has adequate nutrients in him and the 1/4 of other food. This doesnt go down well in the western culture as they think a toddler should be eating all solids but te child has a life time to chew so why not ensure he has the adequate nutrients? To those who might be interested, here's what consists in chinese porridge:

Chinese Porridge

Rice Sweet potato/potato
Spinach,Brocolli,basically any veges you have!
Carrots
Meat - either fish/chicken or pork
The ingredients are boiled/simmered for 3 hours so that its soft and easy to digest. Initially, I puree it for my child but now I just served it to him as it is with the meat shredded. I've got to say that the chinese porridge as all the food piramid in a bowl!

Fusion Cooking

I am Asian and love my Asian food but my husband still prefers Western food. Cooking for two people from different culture could be a tricky business but curry always do the trick! :) Nowadays there are pre-packed spices which make cooking curry as easy as ABC! My favourite is Brahim and Tee Gourment.
To those from mixed marriages, do you noticed that we Asians like to eat our meat with bone in and the westerners like theirs just meat? i.e I love my fish whole and not just filleted!