Niki Webster
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, roughly sliced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 large tomatoes, chopped
1.5 litre veg stock
200g red lentils lentils, rinsed
250g chickpeas, drained
250g butter beans, drained
2 tbsp runny tahini
200g spinach, chopped
1 big handful dill
1/2 tsp sea salt and black pepper
Top with:
Pinch za'atar
More tahini
Extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Cook the onion in the oil on a medium heat for approx. 10 minutes until soft.
Add the garlic and spices to the mix and cook for a further minute.
Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until they are soft then add the stock and lentils. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the lentils are soft.
Add in the chickpeas and beans and spinach. Cook for a further few minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Stir in the tahini and dill and season well.
Serve with topped with za’atar, tahini and extra virgin olive oil.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Let kids help you carefully add things to the pan. Or put them in charge of draining and rinsing the chickpeas and butter beans! They might enjoy helping with the final toppings, too.
Find more ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
Master these skills:
Washing hands, Cleaning vegetables, Tasting, Mixing
Activities
Why not get a selection of different dried or cooked beans and lentils and try and capture the different colours, textures and shapes with colouring pencils? Or make a rainmaker with an empty, clean lidded crisp tube or milk bottle – pour in some dried beans or lentils, decorate them and seal the lid tightly before shake, shake, shaking!
Kids more interested in science? You can find at-home science fun with veg with our videos from Stefan Gates’ here.
Sensory
Why not explore beans through touch and sight? There are so many different kinds of beans and lentils. Get a few types that are a good mix in size/shape and colour, dried vs cooked, etc. and see if you can and your child can describe them. What do they look like? What colours, shapes and patterns can you see? What do they remind you of? What do they feel like? Are they rough, smooth, slimy, hard?
Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
Niki Webster
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