Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Toddler’s Tiffin Box

It can be incredibly difficult to decide the contents of a tiffin box for a toddler. Toddlers hold their spoons like daggers. They enjoy massacring their food, and if its not interesting, it will never see the light of their mouths. It has to be healthy too, no deep fried stuff. But since it isn’t lunch, it can’t be too heavy. To innovate every day amidst the chaos of filling water bottles, clean uniforms and hankies is no child’s play. Here are a few ideas to keep your little child surprised and full!

Bread Roll

You will need:

2 slices of fresh bread (Make sure the bread is fresh, or it tends to break due to dryness)

1 egg

Butter

Scramble the egg lightly and season with salt.

Cut off the edges of the bread. Now, with a rolling pin press out the bread slices like a roti. It becomes thin and compact. Spread butter on the bread.

The result should be something like this:

Now keep half of the scrambled egg on the slice. Carefully roll the bread till it snugly settles. Do the same with the second slice.


For a change, you can use jam instead of egg. I once tried cherry jam and it was a big hit!

Vegetable Cutlet

This is a great comfort when you are sad that your child didn’t even touch his/her sabzi for dinner. You will need:

Leftover dry vegetable dish (Something mashable)

Wheat flour

Mash the leftover vegetables in a bowl. Use a mixer if it helps.

Add the wheat flour bit by bit as you form a dough. I add a bit of oat meal flour too for more nutrition. The dough should be wet and sticky. Use as less flour as possible or the taste might become bland.

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a non-stick pan. Smear some oil on your palms and fingers. Now pick up a handful of the dough, flatten it out and fry each side till the outside is golden brown and crunchy. Drain out the oil in a napkin.

Carrots, cauliflowers, beans…all will disappear. And you will be the coolest Mom too!

4 comments:

  1. For the bread roll, you can also put in grated carrots, grated carrots n sprouts!! You'll have to fry it then! That will be healthy and delicious!!
    Even for the vegetable cutlet, you can also beat an egg and add some salt according to your taste..then you can dip the dough in the beaten egg. Then layer the dough with some bread crumbs...and then fry it!!
    You can try this also!!

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  2. Wow! Deepa, I love your suggestions. Thanks a lot for them. Definitely trying them on my son soon. How come my Ma never thought of these!! :-D
    But you know, my Ma is a great cook. In school, I used to tell her not to pack a good lunch coz I never wanted to share her yummy food.

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  3. My mom used to do the same for me.....I never liked those veggies.....n she used to find all new n innovative ideas to make me eat my tiffin...!!
    But now I regret not eating that tiffin coz I am stuck wid the PG food now which tastes the same everyday!!

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  4. Tell me about it Samentha. It took me a year in hostel to appreciate my Ma's cooking, and then there was no stopping me!

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