Gourmet Dinner Service

Why it’s good for mums
Stir fries are very quick and easy can be prepped and cooked within 20 mins. You can add your favourites kids vegetables if you wish.

Why it’s good for kids
Make it fun by using chopsticks rather than a knife and fork. An Australian store, Socrates (science, nature, games and puzzle products) has child friendly chopsticks. They are designed with a hinge so they stay together which makes picking up the food very easy. It also helps with their fine motor skills.

Ingredients		Method
500g chicken breast or thigh fillets,1-2 cm diced 2-3 tbs peanut or sesame oil 4 shallots, sliced, divide into white and green 2 cloves garlic 2 tsp ginger, grated 300-400g vegetables of your choice (see tip) 1/4 cup light soy sauce 1/2 cup sweet plum sauce		Heat approx 1 tbs oil in wok until smoking. Add shallots (white part only), garlic, ginger and ‘hard’ vegetables. Stir fry until half cooked and then add ‘soft’ vegetables (including shallot greens). Stir fry until vegetables are cooked approx 3-4 mins. Remove from wok. Stir fry chicken in 1-2 batches, depending on size of wok or saucepan using remaining peanut oil for approx 4-5 mins. Add back vegetables and toss to combine with light soy and plum sauce.

2. TIPS FOR MUM

Busy Mums
Vegies and chicken can be diced the night prior.
Cook the rice whilst getting the breakfast ready so you only have to heat it up.
Cook extra rice and freeze for fried rice.

Tips
You can use almost any vegetables for a stir fry. The oldies but goodies are broccoli, peas, carrots, corn, capsicum, beans, celery and zucchini. For something new try snow peas, bok choy or any Asian greens, spinach leaves and asparagus.

Divide your vegetables into hard and soft. Hard vegetables take longer too cook, ie carrot, capsicum, beans and broccoli. Soft vegetables only need 1-2 mins, ie snow peas, asparagus tips, green leaf of bok choy.

You don’t have to cook all the vegies. My son loves red capsicum but will not eat it cooked so when I add it to a stir fry I toss raw capsicum thru his portion (of course, I have to do this for my daughter too as she follows her older brothers lead!)

Use light soy instead of dark soy because dark soy tends to make the food too brown and unappealing.

Grate the ginger using the fine blades used for nutmeg or parmesan. Otherwise finely chop or dice.

Hiding vegetables
It’s hard to hide vegies in a stir fry. Go with the ones that they like the best.

If they don’t like any vegetables chose three different types and cut in bigger pieces so they can be picked out. When they start the ‘whinge’ negotiate that they don’t have to eat all three but have to eat one or two vegetables and they can pick out the one(s) they don’t like. This tactic allows them to think they have won the vegie battle.

3. MAKING IT FUN

Creating a Scene
Using a biscuit cutter of your choice and shape press the rice into it to form the shape. Remove the cutter and the rice will remain in the fun shape. Spoon the stir fry around the rice.

Game Time
Building Blocks – Choose what you have to eat and after each mouthful, each person is given one piece of a building block and they can build whatever they like. You can vary this by giving each food on the plate a different point value, ie vegetables are worth two or more blocks, chicken and rice is only one block. Your child may eat more vegetable to get more building blocks.

Hands on

wash vegetables
help sort the vegetables into hard and soft
help with crushing garlic
help grate the ginger

4. ADULT FRIENDLY

2nd sitting

It’s not easy to have a second sitting for stir frys. You have a choice of cooking for the kids first and then you later or cooking all at once and reheating.

Spice it up

Steep one fresh chopped chilli in a little soy for a few hours. Serve with stir fry. Garnish with coriander leaves