One of the most difficult vegetables to feed kids is broccoli. Most children don’t want anything to do with food that is green in colour. But something with a strong taste like broccoli gets an added disadvantage. And kids don’t listen to easy logic like “it’s good for you”. They don’t care what’s healthy or not, they want to eat what tastes good. Here are some super tasty broccoli recipes which will make it easy for you to get your kids to eat this superfood.
1. Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese
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Ingredients:
1 cup macaroni, uncooked
300 grams broccoli
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 cup maida
2-3 cups milk
300 grams cheese, preferably cheddar
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Boil the macaroni in salted water in a large saucepan. Check with a fork to see if it’s cooked. Boil the broccoli separately for 2-3 minutes, or add it to the macaroni about 2 minutes before it’s done. When the macaroni and broccoli are boiled, drain in a colander. If your kids are particularly fussy about the sight of broccoli in their food, cut the florets into tiny pieces so that the vegetable gets hidden in all the cheese.
In the same saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the maida, mustard powder, and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes and keep stirring throughout.
Whisk the milk into this mixture, adding it into the saucepan gradually and in small quantities. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Add the cheese, and keep stirring till it melts.
Add the macaroni and broccoli to this mixture, and mix well to combine.
Serves 2-3.
2. Loaded Broccoli Omelette
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Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
100 grams smoked chicken, chopped or sliced
1/2 cup broccoli, chopped
1 cup baby spinach
2 square slices cheese
1/2 teaspoon herbs of choice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
Heat olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add onions, carrots, bell peppers and broccoli, and stir till they are softened. Beat eggs in a bowl. Spread the vegetables out evenly on the pan and add the eggs to the pan when the vegetables are cooked. Ensure the beaten eggs cover all the vegetables. Spread the mixture out evenly by swirling the pan.
After about 2 minutes, lift one side of the omelette and let any liquid egg go to the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle salt, pepper and herbs on to the omelette. Add smoked chicken and cheese slices. If the cheese isn’t the kind that melts quickly, you can chop the slices into smaller pieces.
Once the cheese starts melting, add baby spinach on one side of the omelette. Flip one side over the other to cover the spinach with the other half of the omelette. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to let the omelette rest for 1-2 minutes.
Serves 2.
3. Cream of Broccoli Soup
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Ingredients:
1 medium-sized broccoli head, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 teaspoon herbs of choice
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup full fat milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon maida
Vegetable stock, optional
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
Boil the broccoli florets in water with a pinch of salt, for about 2-3 minutes. Once done, drain the water and keep the broccoli aside.
Heat butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add a small amount of cooking oil to ensure the butter doesn’t burn. Saute the onions and garlic till they are cooked. Add maida and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Don’t stop stirring during this process.
Add the drained broccoli to the saucepan. Stir it in and add vegetable stock, if you have any. If not, add water. Cover the pan and let the broccoli cook, for about 7-8 minutes. Use a fork to check if the broccoli is cooked through.
Meanwhile, heat milk in another saucepan. Take the broccoli off the heat when it’s cooked to allow the mixture to cool. Once it reaches a potable temperature, pour the mixture into a blender or use a hand blender to puree the ingredients together.
Once pureed, add hot milk to the mixture and stir well. Put the saucepan back on low heat and keep stirring. Add herbs, salt and pepper. Take it off the heat once it comes to a simmer.
Serves 2.
4. Broccoli and Cheese Parathas
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Ingredients:
1/3 cup atta
2/3 tablespoon ghee
1/2 cup broccoli, blanched and grated
1 tablespoon coriander, chopped
1/8 cup grated cheese
Salt, to taste
Method:
Combine the atta, ghee and salt in a big bowl, add small amounts of water gradually and knead into a dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the broccoli, coriander, cheese and a pinch of salt to make the stuffing for the parathas. Divide this stuffing into two equal portions and keep aside.
Break the dough to make two equal halves. Roll each portion into a ball, and use a rolling pin to flatten it like a roti. Put one portion of the stuffing on to one half of the flat circle. Press the stuffing down to ensure it spreads evenly. Fold the other side of the paratha on to the stuffing to cover it and form a semi-circle. Seal the edges by wetting your fingers a bit and patting down the dough.
Heat a non-stick tawa and add ghee. Cook the paratha on this pan and flip occasionally to ensure even cooking. Repeat for the second paratha.
5. Broccoli And Oats Tikki
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Ingredients:
1 cup broccoli, steamed and chopped
1 cup paneer, crumbled
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, crushed
1/2 cup instant oats
1 green chilli, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon cornflour
Salt, to taste
Cooking oil of choice
Method:
Add all the ingredients, except the cooking oil, in a large bowl and mix well. Taste and add more garam masala or salt if needed. Make patties out of this mixture and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the patties one by one, or more if they fit comfortably on the pan. Cook the patties for 2-3 minutes, and flip until they are brown on both sides.
Serve with chutney or sauce.
6. Cheesy Garlic Broccoli
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Ingredients:
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
100 grams Cheddar cheese
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Spread out the broccoli florets in a baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix the cheese and garlic together. Sprinkle this cheese and garlic mix over the broccoli, ensuring you cover every floret with it.
Add salt and pepper. Make sure you don’t overdo the salt since cheese is salty too.
Bake for 20 minutes, and check to see if the broccoli is done. If not, bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Serves 3.
7. Chicken and Broccoli Noodles
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Ingredients:
400 grams chicken breast, diced
200 grams broccoli, cut into florets
250 grams spaghetti
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sriracha
1-2 tablespoons cooking oil of choice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
Method:
Mix honey, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil and rice vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. Boil noodles in salted water, and add the broccoli florets in the last 3-4 minutes of boiling. Drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chicken strips to the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes on both sides. Add the ginger and garlic to this pan, and cook the chicken for another 3-4 minutes. Check the chicken with a fork to see if the strips are cooked through.
Remove pan from heat for about 30-40 seconds. Add noodles and broccoli to the pan. Pour sauce, which was prepared earlier and kept aside, evenly over the ingredients in the pan.
Return pan to low heat, and stir till the noodles look well covered in the sauce. After about 2 minutes, remove pan from the heat again. Add chopped green onions, stir and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Serves 4.
8. Thai Green Curry
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Ingredients:
250 grams prawns, deveined and cleaned
1 packet Thai green curry paste
Cooking oil of choice
400 ml coconut milk
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 cups broccoli florets
1 handful spinach, washed
Method:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the green curry paste when the oil is hot. Stir in well and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the spinach to this and stir well. When the spinach reduces, add coconut milk and combine well. Ensure there are no lumps of the paste.
Add carrots and broccoli florets to the mixture. Combine well and lower heat. Cover pan and let the vegetables cook for 5-7 minutes.
When the vegetables are nearly cooked, add prawns. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, till the prawns become opaque. Take the pan off the heat since prawns can overcook quickly. Serve with steamed rice or noodles.
Serves 4.
With these broccoli recipes, you can rest assured that your kids are getting a healthy dose of this vegetable. They won’t be able to resist these dishes.
Another superfood for the winter is beetroot. Click here for a list of delicious, healthy and easy beetroot recipes which you can try this season.
