Bilal Cooks Daal

"Novelist Saeed makes her picture-book debut with this delicious tale about a boy and his beloved daal.

When Bilal’s father begins to make the South Asian legume stew, Bilal and his friends Morgan and Elias are eager to help, but Abu tells them, “This dish takes patience.…This dish takes time.” The children choose to make chana daal (with split chickpeas) and line up the spices: turmeric, chili, cumin. But when Morgan and Elias wonder aloud why the daal “looks” and “smells” funny, Bilal becomes concerned that his friends won’t like his favorite food at all. The daal simmers all day—as Bilal, Morgan, and Elias play hopscotch, swim, and hike and other friends join them—and once the sun begins to set, Bilal’s father show more calls them all home. They break naan around the table and share the steamy, soupy, garlicky, salty, sweet, creamy daal. “Bilal, you were right—daal tastes great!” they say. The tale centers on a situation familiar to many children of immigrants—the othering of the foods of their homes—and validates young readers’ cultural experiences. Saeed’s inclusion of a South Asian father engaged in domestic work is radical and welcome, and Syed’s inviting, bold, cartoonlike illustrations depict brown-skinned Bilal surrounded by children of a variety of skin tones (Morgan presents white and Elias presents black).

A quietly radical, eminently delightful book. (author’s note, recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)" www.kirkusreviews.com, A Kirkus Starred Review show less

I absolutely loved this book! One of my favorite things to explore when learning about different cultures is food. Food brings people together and it is so entwined into cultures. This story is about a boy who is excited to share a part of his culture with his friends, making daal. He overhears his friends commenting on the daal and wondering if they will like it and he has a moment of doubt. This is short-lived and he and his friends go play while the daal is cooking. When the daal is almost ready the friends are invited to help prepare the finishing touches and share the meal with Bilal. There is a short author’s note at the end explaining what daal is and the author includes a daal recipe as well.

Bilal's dad calls Bilal and two friends in to help prepare daal for dinner. Bilal's friends have a lot of questions about daal ("What's daal like? Is it salty? Does it taste really good"?). Bilal is happy to share with his friends, but a little worried that they won't like daal. After the initial preparation, they go out to play again, and join other neighborhood kids - boys and girls of many skin tones. Finally, the daal is ready for the last steps. Everyone helps, then sits down to taste - and they like it!. "Daal is tiny. Daal is tough. But with a little time, and a lot of patience, it becomes the softest, tastiest, best thing in the whole wide world. And the best part is sharing it with friends. That's why Bilal loves daal so show more much."

Author's note. Recipe for Chana Daal. show less

Source: Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book 2019
Age Range: 5-9
Evaluation of Quality: The story teaches overcoming anxiety about cultural differences and also provides some information about Indian cooking.
Assessment of potential use: Can be used to teach kids about patience, diversity, or trying new foods.
Assessment of appeal to children: Children will relate to the feelings of the main character, Bilal, and love the evocative description of the tasty daal.

This book is about a kid named, Bilal and his family who have a tradition to make Chana Daal! Bilal loves the way this meal taste, but it sure takes a lot of time to cook. Bilal introduces this meal to his friends, but as they make it they make small comments about "this is weird" "this smells weird" making Bilal worried. In the end they love tit and want to eat more!

I recommend this picture book to a intermediate classroom. I think this shows the kids the importance of what patience looks like and how it takes time for anything special food to cook and settle in. It helps kids realize it is important to be slow to judge and to wait for the outcome because that is where you can decide if you like something or not.

This is a savory story of a little boy who share one of his favorite foods with his friends. Super cute and fun story! This is a great picture book for K-4th grade. I think I might use this book when talking about a star student project or show and tell. Sharing this book with students might encourage them to be brave and share different parts of their home culture with the classroom.

This is a good book for a primary age group. This book tells the story of a young Indian American boy that decides to show his friends how to cook his favorite dish, daal. They prepare and wait for it to be ready, and they all enjoy it a lot. I would certainly have this in my classroom to encourage kids to try new food and explore aspects of other cultures.