Little Lunches – Vegetable Eggy Rice

We’ve gone down the baby-led weaning route so LB usually eats what I eat. As I’m getting more confident feeding LB I thought I’d begin to share the recipes I make for the two of us eat in a series called Little Lunches. We’re usually at home for lunch and while sandwiches in the pre-weaning days were perfect for me (sorry LB for dropping the odd bit of cheese on you while you were sleeping on me and I was grabbing lunch). Now we eat together and for ease I make something we both can eat. It’s certainly helping me to eat better.

All these recipes are for one grown up and a little one. They’re quick to prepare or can be prepped in advance. Of course everyone (big and little) has different appetites so you may need to adjust it accordingly. These work for me and LB. I’m no Annabel Karmel but these are the dishes that both my daughter and I enjoy.

Under the age of 1 it is recommended that children have no more than 1g of salt a day. Us grown-ups can have 5g so I cook without salt (or use substitutes like low salt stock cubes) then add tweaks at the table to make it more my taste. I try, where possible, to make sure each meal has:

• protein
• fruit and or veg
• carb
• during the day at least one portion of full fat dairy

First in the series is vegetable eggy rice. One of LB’s first foods was broccoli. Back then she ate florets with gusto, now she’s older and has twigged an association with food and tastes, broccoli is falling down the popularity stakes. I still offer it to her though as she will eat it if it is roughly blended with cheese and lemon juice to make a pasta sauce and when everything else on her tray has gone she will eat florets.

This recipe great for using up those little scraps in the fridge that need eating, hence why the broccoli has a tint of yellow. The vegetables can be easily substituted in this recipe along with adding cooked meat. Sometimes we may add a bit of left over Sunday roast chicken. Depending if your little one has developed good pincer grip or not it can be worth adding an extra egg to the mix to make it stick together better and make it easier to pick up.

Vegetable Eggy Rice
1 grown up & 1 little one

• 100g rice (I usually use basmati)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• Half a handful of shredded savoy cabbage (or similar)
• Half a broccoli, cut into florets and blanched
• 1 egg, beaten (if you want the rice to clump more and make it easier to pick up, add a second egg)
• pinch of black pepper

For grown-ups

• soy sauce
• sweet chilli sauce

1. Precook the rice and put to the side to drain and cool.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a saute pan then gently soften the spring onions, cabbage and broccoli.
3. Once vegetables are cooked through add the rice to the pan. If there is still water on the rice at this point the pan may spit a bit.
4. Move the vegetables and rice to one side of the pan and pour the egg in the other side of the pan. Allow the egg to cook for around 5 seconds then stir the vegetables into the egg. Keep stirring until egg is cooked and coating the rice.
5. Stir in a pinch of black pepper before serving. For the grown up add a good dash of soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce to taste.

Original article: Little Lunches – Vegetable Eggy Rice

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