Amelia Christie-Miller
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp neutral oil, such as sunflower oil
1–2 tsp crispy chilli oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 large eggs (or 4 medium if extra hungry)
4 slices sourdough bread, toasted
handful of coriander, roughly chopped
1–2 spring onions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
FOR THE PICKLED CUCUMBER
100ml (31⁄2fl oz) white wine or apple cider vinegar
100ml (31⁄2fl oz) water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp fine salt
1 cucumber, very thinly sliced
1 large carrot, very thinly sliced or peeled into ribbons
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped into large chunks
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
FOR THE CHICKPEAS
1x 570g jar (Queen) Chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp cream cheese
2 tsp sesame oil
Recipe donated by Amelia Christie-Miller from ‘Full of Beans’.
This upgraded toast features creamy smashed chickpeas, a spicy, crispy chilli oil fried egg, and tangy pickled cucumbers. Dreamed up by founder Amelia’s husband, Fred – who spent six months riding a motorbike through China, hellbent on tasting ALL the local cuisine – it’s bursting with flavour and texture. It also happens to be Amelia’s favourite brunch dish that he makes, which gives it a big Bold Bean seal of approval. If you can’t get hold of chickpeas, white beans work just as well in this thanks to their creamy texture – ideal for “smashing”!
If you can’t be bothered to make the pickled cucumber, simply top with any shop-bought pickles you like for that hit of acidity.
Method:
(To make the pickled cucumbers, combine the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Combine the cucumber slices, carrot ribbons, garlic chunks and chilli flakes in a large jar, then pour in the vinegar mixture. Leave to pickle, ideally for at least 24 hours, before serving.)
When you’re ready to cook, roughly mash the chickpeas in a bowl, leaving some chunks. Stir in the cream cheese, sesame oil and a little splash of pickling juice from the cucumber jar. Season to taste with salt and lots of black pepper, and mix until creamy yet textured.
Heat the neutral oil, crispy chilli oil and sesame seeds in a frying pan over a medium heat. Crack in the eggs and fry for about 3 minutes until the edges are crispy and the yolk is done to your liking. Baste the eggs with some of the cooking oils for extra flavour and crispiness.
Divide the smashed chickpeas between the slices of toasted sourdough and spread to cover. Add a layer of pickled cucumbers, then top with the fried eggs and garnish with the coriander and spring onions.
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
The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.
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.
Amelia Christie-Miller
Amelia created Bold Bean Co after searching high and low for the tastiest bean varieties, cooked and seasoned to perfection like preoper chefs do. Her mission is to make the world obsessed with beans by giving them the best of beans.
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