Health on High
Making children eat health food is quite a task and I am sure most of you would agree with me. Children are less likely to satisfy with out traditional menus, though we all try to make it a point to make them eat the conventional food once a day, still preparing the next meal to be contemporary, different, tasty and yet healthy is very challenging.
I encounter this problem everyday so I am always on a lookout for new, tasty and healthy recipes. Yesterday my search ended with the "Thai Stir fried broccoli chicken" at sailusfood .com (http://www.sailusfood.com/2010/05/02/quick-summer-meals-thai-stir-fried-broccoli-chicken/). Being a vegetarian, i tried this recipe but with a twist.
Being a nutrition person my aim is always to prepare a meal which is wholesome, tasty and yet healthy and therefore, I am on the lookout for various new recipes. I always try the recipes and make the modifications which make them healthier for kids especially.
The modification I made in this recipe was not at all disappointing - in fact my kid loved it and I am sure yours will love it too.
The original recipe used chicken and broccoli as the main ingredient with some other vegetables too. I modified it by replacing chicken with noodles, added a lot of vegetables like green beans, carrots, onions, tomatoes, sweet corn and adding a dash of sprouts and spring onions. So this completed my recipe technically and nutritionally. The dressing however was the same as the original one and believe me its a very tangy dressing which can be used in a variety of food preparations.
Noodles being a all time favorite with kids, can help you to achieve a major success for the task of feeding veggies especially the green ones to your kids. You can add any vegetables of your choice to this dish and can use pasta, rice, broken wheat (dalia), oats or even whole wheat bread to make it more nutritious. Sprouts can be replaced by paneer/ tofu. Grated cheese can also be added.
The use of peanut butter and lemon juice together gave it a very tangy taste. So even the so called and the most popular "junkie" could also turned into a healthy and a wholesome meal!!!!!
Here's my version of the original recipe:
Ingredients:
Ching's Veg Hakka Noodles - 2 bricks
Moong sprouts (Green Gram sprouts) (boiled and drained) - 1 cup
Carrots (finely chopped/ juliennes) - 1 cup
Green beans (finely chopped) - 1 cup
Bell pepper (any color of choice; finely chopped) - 1 cup
Sweet corn - 1 cup
Onions (finely chopped/ juliennes) - 2 no.s
Tomatoes (finely chopped) - 1 cup
Cabbage (shredded) - half of 1 small cabbage
Spring onions (finely chopped) - for garnish
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Dressing recipe -
Peanut butter - 3 tbsp
Honey - 3 tsp
Chilli flakes - 2 tsp
Vinegar/ lemon juice - to taste
salt - to taste
Water (hot) - 3-4 tbsp
Procedure -
1. Boil the noodles as directed on the pack and keep them aside to drain. Roll them in oil, so that they do not stick.
2. Heat 2 tsp of olive in a non-stick pan. Fry the onions. Add carrots and beans. Add some salt and cover the pan for 2 minutes till the beans and carrots become a little tender.
3. Now add all other veggies and sprouts and saute them on a high flame.
4. Add the noodles.
5. Mix all the dressing ingredients and add to the veggies and noodles and mix well.
The healthy tangy and tasty noodles are ready to be served. This measurement would serve four.
