Kids Lunch Box Recipes- Veggies in Sweet and Sour Sauce

You know what’s the best source for getting great kids lunch box recipes- Other Moms!! 

Often when I run out of ideas on tiffin recipes for kids, I turn to my mom friends for their lunch ideas. One of my biggest blessings from this blog has been the opportunity to meet and interact with so many moms who have a repertoire of ideas for parenting.

I want to feature contributions like recipes for kids, DIY ideas, nursery tours, book recommendations etc. from as many of you as possible. Please feel free to write at swapna (at) themomviews (dot) com             if you have anything you would like to share with TMV readers. 

Today I am so excited to share an awesome recipe from a reader and a blogger mom Georgina Kurian. She is the creator of all things lipsmackingly good at , a wonderful blog with simple and homely recipes for moms like you and me. All moms want to feed veggies to their kids but it is an uphill task but thanks to lunch box recipes like this your children will relish veggies like never before.

*****Hey Georgina, the floor is all yours*****

 Veggies in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Recipe type: Chinese recipe

Recipe Creation: Georgina Kurian ()

A mum’s day is never done until she actually experiments recipes suited for her toddler/kid in the kitchen. With my toddler, I notice that she prefers variety be it with food or day-to-day activities. I created this recipe from scratch based on her taste buds. I am sure your toddler would love this and it’s a mom-feel good recipe too as it uses a variety of veggies.

Swapna gave me this opportunity to share yet another one of my creations with all of you. I sincerely hope you enjoy making this for your toddler and better yet your toddler enjoys it too. I do post a lot of kid-friendly recipes on my blog listed under labels such as Kids or Kid-friendly

This is a Chinese recipe and would go well with either steamed rice or Noodles. To make this easy recipe for kids,

You need:

• 2 carrots cut into thinly sliced cubes
• 1 potatoes cut into thinly sliced cubes (optional)
• 2 small tomatoes, chopped into cubes
• ¼ kg French beans, chopped
• 6-8 florets of cauliflower or broccoli (optional)
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 2-3 bunches of spinach, chopped finely
• 1 capsicum, chopped into cubes
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, diced finely
• 1 onion chopped into cubes or 2-3 bulbs of spring onions diced finely
• 1 green Chilli thinly sliced (optional)
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1 tsp of black pepper (optional)
• 1 cup of filtered water
• 1 tbsp of cooking oil / olive oil
• Salt to taste

For the sauce:

• 1 cup Homemade Tomato puree (Editor’s Note- Check out Georgina’s ) or 1 cup of Tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp of soya sauce
• ½ cup brown sugar or cane sugar
• ½ cup vinegar

The make:

Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Serves 6 toddlers

1. Heat the oil in a large wok or non-stick deep bottomed skillet. Toss the onions, garlic, green chili and sauté till translucent.
2. Next add the carrots and potatoes (optional) and sauté. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat. You can also previously parboil the carrots and potatoes separately, in which case you can add it with the beans in the next step.
3. Toss in the tomatoes and beans (broccoli/cauliflower –optional) to the carrot mix and stir well. Add the ginger-garlic paste, paprika and the salt and sauté.
4. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes until the veggies have glistened with color and softened.
5. For the sauce: In a mixing bowl, add the tomato sauce/homemade tomato puree, soya sauce, vinegar and brown sugar and stir well. Over a small skillet, heat the mixed ingredients, stir the mixed ingredients and add half a cup of water and bring to a boil. Take off the flame and add the sauce, to the veggies. If you would like a thicker sauce, you can also add some cornstarch.
6. Add the spinach and water as required and cover and cook for another 10 minutes until all the veggies have softened and cooked. Add the remaining ½ cup of water as required and stir well.
7. Uncover and raise the heat to medium and bring to a boil. Turn off and serve hot with noodles or steamed rice.

Lunch is served. Bon Appetit.

If you liked this recipe, don’t forget to visit Georgina’s blog for more of this awesomeness.

If you have any queries, suggestions or ideas about this recipe,

feel free to share through comments below.