It's been a while since I wrote up a 'Cooking with Small Child' post, but I found these photos from last year and thought that this easy recipe was definitely worth sharing. Before we started cooking this one, I talked Small Child through the basics of being extra careful about food hygiene when it cooking with raw chicken - being sure to wash our hands every step of the way, washing any equipment that comes into contact with raw chicken separately, and wiping down work surfaces immediately after use.
When it comes to teaching Small Child to cook, I'm trying to show him that cooking really 'useful' food (e.g. everyday family meals) can be just as much fun as baking cakes and biscuits. Cakes and biscuits have their place, of course, but I think that there is often too much emphasis on them as a suitable thing for children to be cooking, when in fact children (and adults) are perfectly capable of cooking healthy, savoury foods too. I've observed that Small Child is at his very proudest when he can say 'I made this dinner', as he understands that the preparation of family meals is an essential part of our daily routine, and therefore that he is able to make a valuable contribution to our family by helping to cook them.
I created a simple marinade for these chicken kebabs that was easy to measure out and quick to put together. Small Child was put in charge of the kebabs, and I provided the 'sides' of pitta bread and mixed salad, so as not to overwhelm him with too many things to do at once.
As with previous posts in this cooking series, I’ve attached a PDF copy of the recipe at the end of the post for you to print out if you would like to try challenging your own ‘Small Child’ to give it a go. I’ve also outlined the recipe below, feel free to adapt it to suit your needs; for example I used lime juice and dried coriander leaves, but you could substitute them with lemon juice and herbs of your choice, or add spices to the mix.
Ingredients
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Tbs Olive Oil
- 2 Tbs Lime Juice
- 2 Tbs Honey
- 1 tsp Dried Coriander Leaves
- Black Pepper
- 500g Chicken Breast Pieces
Method
Gather your ingredients together. Peel and crush the garlic.
Put all of the ingredients apart from the chicken into a big bowl and whisk them together.
Add the chicken to the bowl and mix until well coated. Cover and put in the fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour.
Push the chicken pieces onto skewers. We used bamboo skewers that had been soaked in water before use, but metal skewers would work too.
Grill the kebabs for around 10 minutes until cooked through, turning once. This was the only part of the process that I did for Small Child - an older child may be able to use a grill; please use your judgement and knowledge of your own child to decide when they are ready to use the oven, stovetop and/or grill.
Serve up the kebabs with whatever sides you prefer - on this occasion we served ours up with pitta breads, mayonnaise and a selection of salad vegetables (lettuce, sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes, grated carrot and spring onions). They were delicious, and as you can see from the picture above, Small Child was very proud indeed of his efforts!
If you’d like to print off a child-friendly copy of this recipe for yourself, click on the link below to download the PDF file.
Do comment and let me know if you try it. Happy cooking!
Grace
This post was linked up at 'Tasty Tuesdays' - click on the button below for more yummy recipes!
Anne says
And no wonder Small Child looked so pleased, they really do look yummy, in fact I'm going to try these with my littlies, we are looking for something more savoury and they do love chicken.
Thanks for linking up to Kids in the Kitchen 🙂
Grace says
They were very tasty indeed! Hope they enjoy it! 🙂
thebeesleybuzz says
We are totally with you on the 'teaching kids to cook savoury stuff' - it is one of the things i love about my little boy - he is just as passionate (if not more so) about cooking savoury food and family meals and lots of herbs and spices. He even had anjali Pathak (of Patak's fame) write a blogpost about him once to this effect. Those kebabs look so tasty and healthy too! x
Grace says
I think it's really important to get the basic cooking skills learnt, and cooking a 'proper dinner' does seem to fill him with more pride than a pudding! Plus, it won't be too long before he can share the cooking with me! ;-P
Sophie at Franglaise Cooking says
I love chicken kebabs and these look delicious, I also love that I could make these with the kids too. Thanks for sharing!
Popping over from #tastytuesdays
Grace says
Thank you, they were simple but very tasty!
Honest Mum says
These look delicious and as you can imagine, we love kebabs in this house, you could also try marinating them in yoghurt too for a change. Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
Grace says
Thank you. I'll try yoghurt, sounds delicious, but unfortunately my husband can't have dairy so we'll have to wait for a day when he's away!
Grace says
He was very proud! Baking is fun too of course, with plenty of valuable skills to be learnt, but there's no reason why children shouldn't cook savoury foods too 🙂
Rafal says
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe. I did add a little dried mint, bread crumbs to thicken, and a pinch of fresh parsley. Turned out amazing.
Grace says
Thank you for letting me know, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I the recipe as simple as possible to keep it easy for children but your add-ons sound delicious!
Four Hungry Dragons says
I wanted to introduce an easy and healthy new dish to my rotational menus, which need a few new zingy options! The chicken kebabs were just perfect. My boys loved them. Result! The flavour wasn't overpowering, and it took very little prep time. Thank you.
Grace Hall says
I'm so pleased you enjoyed the recipe!