how to do chicken and rice so fussy kids will eat it

[quail]

I'm so sick of my kids not eating rice. I love rice. I've tried it gloopy and cooked in the stock like a risotto and I've tried it totally dry fluffy basmati with plain fried chicken. The truth is I am a terrible cook, so I'd really appreciate some suggestions for how to make it not dry but not off-puttingly saucey. Is that just impossible? Neither of my kids will eat anything green.

Can recommend my Chicken Fried Rice.

(serves 2)

3oz brown basmati uncooked weight
1 chicken breast shredded into small pieces
2 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3oz sweetcorn
3oz peas
1/2 red pepper, cut in a very small dice
1/2 carrot, peeled and cut in a very small dice
tabelspoon or two of oil
soy sauce
sesame oil (optional)

1. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions, drain and reserve.
2. Heat half the oil in a wok or wide frying pan and stir-fry the chicken until nearly cooked. Remove and keep to one side.
3. Reheat the wok, add the rest of the oil and stir-fry the onions, garlic, red peppers and carrot until tender.
4. Add the frozen peas/sweetcorn and reserved chicken and cook until heated through
5. Stir in the cooked rice, heat through and then add a good dash of soy sauce.
6. Turn off the heat, then add a little sesame oil and serve immediately.

Colourful, tasty and not too 'green' :)

Can you give them another carb while you have rice and then everyone is happy. I'm not usually one to suggest separate meals for kids but pasta, cous cous, jacket potatos and bread and butter are all easy alternatives so wouldn't be too much trouble in an evening.

Have you tried the chicken in cream with mushrooms on rice - thats a fave in our house.

My DS hates rice and I have tried everything to get him to eat it. However, I don't believe in stopping everyone else having it so I batch cook rice and keep it in the freezer so we can always have a portion even when he's having something different.

And I'm not afraid to give them toast(wholemeal) as a carb if they are having say, beans and sausages.

I use broken Jasmine rice - it's neither dry and fluffy nor gloopy and it's our favourite texture. For a quick chicken-and-rice dish I just slice chicken thigh, slice mushrooms/carrots (optional, of course), fry with some garlic, add rice, stir a bit, add water (1.5 cup water to 1 cup rice), simmer for 10 minutes, rest for 10 minutes. Done.

Egg fried rice in this house to get it eaten with minimum mess. If you make it really eggy, and don't stir it much, you almost get a rice omelette, which is great finger food (mine are little!)

Tho I dread rice meals, the kids seem to get it everywhere!

That's why you want sticky rice. Short grain Japanese sushi rice, Jasmine rice, broken rice, even pudding rice. Dc won't eat basmati, which is just as well.

How about these?

I do risotto rice cooked in chicken stock with a bit of butter stirred through and grill the chicked with spicy seasoning in a george foreman. I cook peas and corn seperately, Me and OH have both stirred into our rice before serving and No1 son has just peas and no2 just corn - everybody happy!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I made a mushroomy creamy rice yesterday and was greeted with yuck (bad children!) but one of them ended up eating some. I'm going to try a stir fry and the just risotto in stock next. Maybe should consider a George Foreman as my fried chicken is always so dry.

oh no, dry chicken! I love my George except cleaning the bastard Chick always juicy!!

Then I'm going to try adding Jasmine rice and stock to the just cooked chicken. The thing is, I always eat it all when they don't like it, so am not exactly complaining.

Oh, I'm going to look at Georges on amazon now!

My daughter (age 2.5) is a VERY fussy eater, but I make a one pot basmati rice with chickpeas and potatoes. Its not a gloopy mess and not hard either. Little one happily eats it with a spoon, but shen she isn't in the mood, I mash it up and bit with a fork and make small balls, which she picks up with her hand and pops into her mouth. Less messy and she feeds herself quite quickly! The recipe I used is from:

www.healthyindianrecipes.co.uk/potato-and-pea-pilau-rice/

Mixing peas and sweetcorn works for mine as a side dish but they do eat plain rice.

I also make chicken in a tomato sauce and serve up with plain rice (fry two onions until soft and caramelized, add peppers and garlic half-way through. add chopped up chicken, sprinkle over two tbsp balsamic vinegar and let bubble, then add tin of tomatoes and some thyme. Simmer until chicken cooked.)

Do they like cheesy sauce? I make a cheese sauce with chicken and ham (and peas and sweetcorn in it) and then serve it up over plain rice.

Or my kids like marinated chicken (with soy sauce, sugar, balsamic vinegar and ketchup!) and will eat rice if served up on the side with the juices dripped over.

Sweet and sour chicken? Lemon Chicken?

Egg fried?

"Sweet and sour chicken? Lemon Chicken?"

Oooh, I wonder if this is a good idea, what with them eating as much sugar as they can lay their hands on! Maybe they are ready for sugary meat! (Not sarcastic!)

Re sugary chicken - I frequently do honey and soya sauce chicken for DC's packed lunches. It's one of those things that are still quite nice cold.

We did this the other day for DS who normally won't touch rice: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2342/italian-rice-with-chicken - he's a fan of pesto, so it seemed to go down quite well. In fact, he took against the chicken this time and ate most of the rice. Strange boy.

Orzo is rice shaped pasta, actually that's really unhelpful isn't it?!

Rice is good in soups, or you can do risotto fritters.

Chop up some cooked chicken into v small pieces, cook some peas/sweetcorn in the microwave and get your cooked rice to hand (i use microwave or leftover rice, makes this a very quick meal).

Fry rice and chicken in a little oil til hot, break in an egg or two and stir through for a minute, throw in peas et voila.