Zoe's Spinach and Sweet Potato Curry with Chickpeas

Zoe’s Spinach and Sweet Potato Curry with Chickpeas

Zoe Griffiths

Featuring:

Pulses

Spinach

Sweet potatoes

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

300g brown rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large onion, cut in half and sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon medium curry powder

500g frozen, diced sweet potato

250g frozen spinach

500ml boiling water

400g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

This recipe was developed by Zoe Griffiths for World Cancer Research Fund. It forms part of their work to help people eat well and live healthier lives. For more recipes that support a healthy, balanced diet and help reduce the risk of cancer, visit www.wcrf.org/recipes.

This delicious curry is brimming with spices, frozen veg and chickpeas. It’s a source of fibre and contributes 4 of your 5 A DAY. It is an ideal budget and family-friendly dinner that you can batch cook and freeze.

Method:

Cook the rice according to packet instructions.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the crushed garlic and curry powder and cook for a further minute.
Add the sweet potato, spinach and boiling water. Bring to the boil, cover with a saucepan lid and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the spinach. You can add a small amount of boiling water if your curry starts to dry out.
Add in the chickpeas and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
Serve with the rice.

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

Kids could help you rinse the rice and measure out the rice and water for cooking, and help get handfuls of the frozen veg out and (carefully!) let you stir into the pan.

Master these skills:

Tasting

More about Kitchen Ninja Skills

Activities

For sweet potatoes, why not try drawing a sweet potato (bonus points if you find a funny-shaped one)? What colours would you use? What shapes do you see?

Kids more interested in science? You can find lots of at-home science fun with veg with our videos from Stefan Gates’ here.

Find loads more free veg-themed crafts here and games here.

Sensory

Sweet potatoes are just that…sweet. So if you think they might go for it, this can be a slightly safer one to explore through taste. Start by easing them in through exploring a raw sweet potato through sight and touch. What does it look like? What does it feel like? What does it remind you of? Then bring in some cooked sweet potato (perhaps try sweet potato fries to start) and try them together. Do they taste bitter or sour or sweet? What do they remind you of? How would you describe them?

Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!

Serving

When serving it up, why not let your child help you plate it up and add any toppings or make it look as attractive as they can!

Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.

Zoe Griffiths

Zoe is a Registered Nutritionist with over 25 years experience working in public health at a national, regional and local level. Zoe has specialised in working with children especially projects related to increasing fruit and veg consumption such as the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme. Zoe currently runs her own freelance nutrition business, ZG Nutrition, where she runs courses, undertakes food and health research projects and is a Nutrition writer.

zgnutrition.co.uk/

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