Someone on my YouTube channel asked recently if my kids actually liked everything I made. I really appreciated the question, and gave her my honest reply. It was on this video. Some recipes go down a total storm; but lots don’t too! Mostly, one child likes something and the other one doesn’t, so overall we have a fairly high success rate.
The ONLY reason they are quite open to new dishes and flavours is that, as a food blogger, I constantly come up with new recipes. So they have always been exposed to a wide variety or tastes, ingredients and so on. Sure, they hate some stuff, but also they surprise me a lot with the things they really like. As kids get older they do get fussy. Whether it’s peer influence, or simply them asserting their right to complain, you just have to deal with it. I have faith that as adults, both kids will go on to be foodies, as it’s all they know.
If you are the type of parent who views nutrition as important, and wants to experience their child’s culinary horizons, as well as widen their palettes – try to be as calm as you can, and to see every tiny victory as a big one. It’s hard, I know! Equally, you must try not to fret when dishes don’t go down well. And most importantly, don’t give up – EVER!
This mild, kid friendly curry was a total blinder. I had fairly low expectations. After all, it’s a curry. But Artie and me had had a chat about how much he likes the school curry – a mild chicken one from what I can gather (school meal chats don’t tend to be information rich, much to my dismay; I’m very lucky if I find out what they have had).
They BOTH loved it. They rarely both like something, as their tastes and preferences are so polarised usually. They both had seconds; it was a happy day! Especially when you consider all the lovely hidden veggies and flavours in there. That mild curry flavour does seem to be popular with kids. Choose a good quality powder and work up to adding other flavours like chillies with older kids perhaps.
My message to you today is this: widen your recipe horizons. Try this, or something else new, today. You may be surprised.
Makes: enough for 4-6 people
Takes: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 courgette, grated
- 500g beef mince
- 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
- 2 cans plum tomatoes, chopped using scissors
- Boiling water (1 can’s worth, swished out)
- 1 beef bouillon jelly or stock cube
- 500g potatoes, cubed fairly small
- Mugful of peas
To serve:
- Microwave brown rice
- Natural yoghurt
- Dried chilli flakes
Instructions:
- Heat oil in a pan and soften onion, garlic, carrot and courgette for 10 minutes.
- Add beef mince and curry powder. Brown off.
- Add tomatoes, chop up using scissors. Add water too and stock jelly or cube. Bring to boil. Add potatoes. Mix and simmer until they are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Add peas last thing, cook through and season to taste.
- Pop on yoghurt and chilli for those who want it.
