Kid-friendly Chinese/Asian recipes - anyone can recommend?

[WoolyMammoth55]

My kids are 7 and 3 and both quite picky in general and averse to meat in particular (partly on ethical grounds as they love animals - partly I think it's the texture).

I was thinking to try them with some good (and easy and quick!) Chinese or maybe Thai recipes?

They are both keen on tofu so any recipes for that would be especially gratefully received!

I would also like to make a big batch of nicely-dressed noodles - again would love to know what people use as the base for a not-too-spicy sauce.

Then I was thinking of maybe buying some prawn toasts and prawn crackers to round out the meal?

I'd be very grateful for any ideas - TIA!

My children love bao buns and gyoza. I buy ready made frozen ones for a quick dinner. I make some fried rice or simple noodles with just soy sauce as a filler (one eats spicy food so adds siracha or chilli crisp to his).

Both mine really love spam and pineapple fried rice. It’s probably Hawaiian more than Asian, but close enough. Sub the spam for pan fried tofu in soy sauce/sesame oil.

For noodles, I just do a very simple sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey.

Mine also really like tempura prawns, if they will eat prawn.

The duck pancake kits were also very popular at that age (an expensive habit!). If they won’t eat duck, you can buy the pancakes separately and do a hoisin glazed tofu.

We do Asian food for Christmas Eve every year. This year it’s Korean BBQ wings, salt and pepper chips (both homemade), then gyoza and prawn toasts (from the shop) probably with a cucumber salad.

Ooh thanks both! Where do you recommend the to buy the bao buns, gyoza and prawn toasts?

And can I have the BBQ wings recipe please @mindutopia ?

Literally anything works by this age

I make a plum, soy and ginger sauce that freezes too - sauté onion, garlic and chopped ginger, add halved plums, soy sauce and a little water, cook until the plums are soft, adding water if needed. Remove skins if bothered (I don't) and or blend if desired (I don't) then add sugar or honey to taste. Add a little sesame oil. Cook for a further minute. You can use the same base with other fruits too, orange for instance

Itsu does bao buns and gyoza in the freezer section of most supermarkets. We also have an Asian store near us so I get those too if I’m near there.

With rice or noodles you can dress with a little soy sauce, sesame oil and chopped spring onions. I like to stir-fry grated carrot, chopped spinach and sweetcorn and add this to rice or noodles.

Frozen dumplings are brilliant, I make them with a crispy dumpling skirt (google to see what I mean!) - spray a frying pan with oil and arrange them flat bottom down. Mix in a little bowl 1 tsp of plain flour, 1 tsp cornflour with 200ml water. Pour over the top, put lid on and let steam and cook, when the water disappears, take the lid off for the base to get crispy. Put a plate on the top and turn out the dumplings. I always make these for playdates as every child loves them!

Mine also love making rice balls themselves, mix warm rice with a little mirin and furikake seasoning and then roll into balls. If they like tofu then you can buy tofu pouches which you can also stuff with the same rice mixture

You can get cute panda bao buns from M&S and they have seasonal penguin ones at the moment

Sticky sesame tofu https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/sticky-soy-and-sesame-tofu-with-broccoli-rice

Egg fried rice https://www.tamingtwins.com/egg-fried-rice-recipe/

Mine used to love this when younger as it’s so easy to eat. They still like it now as adults. Recipe isn’t online so I’ve stuck it all here.

Japanese Rice (San-shoku gohan/three coloured rice)

From Good Food - September 2006

Servings: 6

INGREDIENTS

500g sushi rice
500g pork mince
Small knob of ginger, grated
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
300g frozen peas
1 tbsp honey
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Small knob of butter

STEPS

1. Cook the rice according to the pack instructions. Fry the pork in a small amount of oil in wok or frying pan over a high heat until well browned, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, soy sauce and sugar, then cook until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is crisp. Tip into a bowl and keep warm. Meanwhile, boil the peas.

Whisk the honey into the eggs. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper,add the butter, then heat until foaming. Swirl in the eggs to coat the pan evenly and cook until set. Tip out of the pan onto a board and chop. Mix with the cooked rice, pork and peas and serve at once.

NOTES

Can use gluten free soy sauce

We do a lot of random stir fry dishes with either boiled rice, fried rice, or noodles. We use tofu or Quorn pieces usually as we are vegetarian. Plus loads of veg depending on what we have in e.g. onion, spring onion, peas, bell peppers, sugar snaps, carrot, water chestnuts, beansprouts, broccoli, whatever. I usually make my own random sauces using things like sesame oil, honey, dried or frozen ginger and garlic, soy sauce etc. Add sesame seeds sometimes too.

For fried rice dishes sometimes we use eggs instead of tofu/Quorn.

Frozen edamame beans are nice and easy too. My kids also love frozen veggie spring rolls.