Kids and lentils (or chick peas?)

[NumptyMum]

Hi

I'm trying to get our kids eating more veggie food; anything with cheese is fine, but while DD likes baked beans, DS thinks they are food of the devil and won't eat anything with beans (pulses) in.

Does anyone have any recipes with lentils or perhaps chick peas, that are foolproof winners? I'm doing a soup just now which they are OK with, but something more solid would be good...

Thanks for any help offered!

How old are your kids and what sort of food do they like in general?
Lentils and chickpeas are good in curries (as well or instead of meat).

Might they like hummus? - easiest thing in the world to make yourself.

My DH has detested beans all his life, btw - chickpeas/lentils are fine though. So if your DS hates beans in particular, probably avoid chilli (either con or sans carne) for now at least.

DD is 3yo, DS is nearly 6. Hot food is NOT tolerated; in the past I've tried Korma but even that got turned down. They do like chinese, but no pulses in that!

Hummous is only ever eaten by me and DH...

My dc love dahl. It's one of there favourite things.

Veggie burgers - stick it all in the blender, serve with home made sweet potato chips and whole meal baps.

1 tin 3 bean mix
1 tin butter beans
2 T flour
1 t tumeric
1 t cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/2 t cayenne pepper
Pinch salt
50 g fresh coriander
1 medium chilli (optional)

Obviously you need to make these into patties and then fry them in a little olive oil till golden brown on each side!

My DD used to like chickpeas totally plain - sort of like nuts.

Chinese - have you tried them with tofu? The cauldron foods marinated tofu is nice in a stir-fry.

my 10 mo loves this!

Thanks everyone - I'll try the kids with the plain chick-peas, although last time chickpeas were in sausage casserole they were viewed with suspicion. I've seen a recipe for them as snacks somewhere so could try them with that; the veggie burgers and bolognaise also sound good. I don't think they'll go for dahl though, unless there's a way that it can be made to be flavoursome but NOT hot/spicy?

My 2 will eat Baked Beans but no other pulses. I usually just squash their chickpeas with a fork to hide them. But tonight they have eaten the new Heinz beans which are mixed beans(Kidney, Pinto etc) in tomato sauce. Thought I'd try a tin to get them used to the different shapes in the hope that they won't pick them out of every future casserole. Fingers crossed.

Well in my googling efforts I've found Chick-pea nuggets (aka Chick-en Nugget Falafel) which sound really good and worth a try, a recipe for chick-pea pasta which I might try tonight, and roasted chickpea snack.

Will see if I get the or face from the kids tonight...

I've never tried making falafel, but the bought ones (cauldron foods again) are very tasty.

My DD (21m) really enjoys falafel wraps for tea. They're really easy to make and don't look like pulses when served. We add some grilled veg and natural yoghurt to the wraps and they really are tasty

We had lentil and tomato soup for dinner tonight which my five all like. Easy and yummy.

We have chick peas in casseroles and I bung them in slow cooker meals, we make a turkey tagline with chick peas but obviously that's not veggie!

Falafel are good but do people actually make them? Seems a faff, I just buy them.

Falafel is a big hit in our house. V easy to make, kids can help too. Fry in v hit oil for few mins per side, whizz up some yogurt and fresh mint in blender, serve with salad and warmed pizza.

Just stealing ideas - line really aren't keen on any pulses, but kidney beans (aka purple baked beans ) have been the easiest sell so far!
We eat them in chili or rice and kidney beans.

I also put chickpeas in his pasta, and we often eat lentil stews

HFW's chick pea ketchup curry is a hit with us but it does require 7 tbsp of ketchup. I think that's way too much sugar and salt for the little ones so do half ketchup and half tomato purée. Also bean chilli which is 2 tins of beans, fried onion, a clove of garlic, a can of tomato, chilli flakes and a tsp of coco powder which seems to be the vital factor in getting them to eat it.

Also I found out on here you can do falafel in the slow cooker if you coat it in a tbsp of oil first just bung them in and leave for a couple of hours on high. I can't be bothered with frying then all.

This lentil ragu is a real winner, I cook it for a bit longer until it is a lentily vegy mush and my children love it (as well as visiting children). Great recipe to batch cook too, freezes well.

I often add some red lentils to bologniase, to bulk it out, and no one notices.

I made my big batch of tomato sauce as usual yesterday, which I freeze for pizza and pasta and it has loads of veg and a good lot of red lentils, blended up.

I know that doesn't help with the fact they don't want to eat the things with pulses in but a good way to add the goodness of the lentils.

Vegetarian shepherds pie- with lentils in disguise really good!!

Nigel Slater's Chickpea and Chorizo Stew is very popular with mine, so much so I can't really face it myself any more!

www.nigelslater.com/recipes_view_hidden.asp?nRecipe_ID={8006C689-5C85-4423-88BF-573AB4CE78A4}&nRecipeCat_ID={ACCFD0C0-6F59-4487-8C1B-B35A8DACDA8F}&sSrc=

Oh, and last time I made chilli I used a tin of green lentils with the mince and no one noticed. It was very tasty.

Wow - thanks for all the new suggestions! I've tried bought falafel but they were not liked; I'm going to try the chick-en nugget falafel to see if that works better. I'll try a mild chilli too, I don't think I've had chilli in about 10 years. The chocolate content will sell it to DD . The chick pea pasta I linked to was great - I did blitz it though...

Thanks again, it's all helpful