Kid’s choice of food depends on what they feel attached to. Unlike adults, kids find a dish more appealing through it looks rather than its taste. This is where most of the parents face difficulty, especially when it comes to the LunchBox Recipe!

A dish can be made to look attractive in many ways, but when it comes to kid’s lunch, the parents need to ensure that the look and taste enhancing ingredients are healthy. Necessary servings of green and colorful vegetables can often be managed by hiding or disguising them, but at the same time, it is to be ensured that the disguise itself is not unhealthy. For instance, you can hide the bitter taste of broccoli with lots of sugar, but the question is, is this excess sugar healthy? You have to think wisely about the right and healthy disguise and that is the challenge for modern age parents! They need to find a way to distract their kids from  attractive unhealthy foods with minimal force.

Another interesting thing about kid’s eating habit is that they want to eat what their friends eat. For instance, if  his school friend is bringing in nuggets (packaged ones that are fried instantly) in lunch and the next day your son will demand to have a box full of nuggets. Kids are smart these days and they love the new styles just as we do. Do not wonder if your find your 5-year-old kid crying to have nuggets in his lunch box (as you may wonder how come he knows about nuggets when you never served him that thing at home!!!). Can you explain to him why the packaged nuggets are not good for health? Can you make him understand the necessity of healthy foods? No way!!! He is too young to know the facts but smart enough to learn the stylish name ‘nuggets’!

So, what do you do to make the both ends meet? Make some nuggets which are healthy and look exactly same as the packaged ones. Here is one such vegetarian lunch recipe for kids which you can make with ease and it is for sure that your kids will love the taste. Combine them with a simple cucumber and tomato salad and it will be a great lunch menu which you can serve at home or pack in the lunch box.

Super Tasty Nuggets with Tahini Dip & Salad

Total time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients for making nuggets:

• 1 can chickpeas (540 ml can), drained and rinsed
• 3 cloves of garlic
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• Salt
• ¼ cup breadcrumb
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Ingredients for making the dip:

• 1/3 cup tahini
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt

Ingredients for making salad:

• 2 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 cucumber diced
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

• Keep the oven ready by preheating at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put chickpeas, garlic cloves, ground coriander, ground cumin, chilli powder, salt, and olive oil in the food processor and pulse till you get a semi-smooth paste. This will be the dough for making the nuggets and it must be pretty firm.
• Roll out medium sized balls from this dough and press them in between palms to give the flat shape to the nuggets.
• Keep the breadcrumb in a flat dish and coat the nuggets by dipping them in the breadcrumb. Place the nuggets on the lined baking sheet and then bake them by keeping on the middle rack of the oven. You will have to bake for approximately 10 minutes and then flip over the nuggets before baking for another 10 minutes. Make sure that the nuggets become firm after baking.
• Put tahini, water, lemon juice and salt in a bowl and stir them hard to make the smooth mixture for the dip.
• Put the diced vegetables in a mixing bowl and add olive oil, salt and lemon juice. Toss to coat the vegetables properly and then serve them along with the nuggets and tahini dip.