Saadia Noorani
Saadia is a nutritionist specialising in public health nutrition who has worked at the Food Standards Agency, World Action on Salt and Health and EFSA (European Food Safety Authority).
Saadia’s Summer Loving Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce
Saadia Noorani
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
In season now
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
12 rice paper rolls
1 carrot
1 red pepper
½ cucumber
¼ red cabbage
3 spring onions
handful of coriander or mint
handful of sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons peanut butter (no added sugar or salt version)
2 teaspoons low salt soy sauce
juice of ½ lime or lemon
4-6 tablespoons water
sprinkle of chilli flakes (optional)
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Recipe donated by Saadia Noorani for Veg Power.
These summer rolls are great fun to make with the kids. Perfect for lunch boxes or a light lunch or snack.
Method:
Thinly slice the carrot (you can use a peeler if you prefer) pepper and cucumber into matchsticks and place in a bowl. Finely slice the red cabbage and spring onions and add to the bowl. Pick the leaves of the coriander (or mint) and add to the bowl. Give it all a good mix.
Next, fill a tray or large bowl with some water. Take a rice paper roll and place in the water for about 5 seconds. Take it out and place it on a tea towel or chopping board.
Grab a handful of the vegetable filling and place in the middle of the rice paper roll in a line.
Carefully fold the sides, then the bottom flap over the filling and roll the rice paper upwards to form a neat roll shape -using your hands to tuck the filling in as you roll.
Repeat for the remaining rolls.
Finish off by sprinkling the rolls with sesame seeds, cut them in half and serve them with the dipping sauce.
To make the dipping sauce, place the peanut butter, soy sauce into small bowl, squeeze in the juice of ½ lime and sprinkle in some chilli flakes (if using). Mix well and add water if needed to thin the sauce.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
With this recipe, children can dip the rice paper rolls in water and then lift them onto a tea towel or chopping board. They’ll love filling these, too – so get them to grab handfuls of the vegetable filling, put it in the middle of the paper rolls and fold them up. If the folding is too tricky for little hands, they can sprinkle the rolls with sesame seeds instead.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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