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Kids can cook – easy party dishes |
You're planning that Christmas party or holiday get-together with your friends and family, and are dreading that rush to get everything ready when the day finally arrives. Why not give your children an important role to play? Get them to be the chefs for once, so that you can be free to take care of all the other logistics involved. Have a look at these recipes below - all are simple enough for kids 6 years and above to help prepare the key ingredients, with some help from mum and dad or older siblings for the cooking part. And while these recipes are kid-friendly, the dishes are sure to be crowd-pleasers that will have your guests asking to 'book' your children's catering services
Kool Kebabs
Ingredients:
- chicken breasts - slice into 5-cm chunks OR chicken sausages cut into 4-5 cm lengths
- small shiitake mushrooms
- thumb-sized plum tomatoes
- green, red and yellow capsicum - slice into 5 cm chunks (parents or older siblings to do the slicing)
- Hoisin sauce
- Plum sauce
- black pepper
- clean wooden skewers (satay sticks), soaked in water for an hour before use
- Oil for brushing
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Method:
- Make marinade sauce by combining 2 parts hoisin sauce to 1 part plum sauce.
- Cut chicken breasts into chunks and marinate with the combined sauce for 2 hours in the fridge. Use about 1 level tablespoon marinade for every 150g of chicken.
- Arrange the different ingredients in small bowls side by side. Pick up a satay stick, and skewer a tomato, followed by a mushroom and then chicken chunk. Repeat so you have 2 chunks of each ingredient on each stick.
- Preheat the grill in your oven for ten minutes, set to a 'medium' setting, Place your kebabs on a metal baking tray and brush with an oil + hoisin sauce mixture.
- Grill your kebabs a few at a time until the chicken is cooked.
- When all kebabs are cooked, keep them warm in an oven set to low temperature e.g. 110 deg C, or cover them with aluminium foil till ready to serve.
- Serve with chilli, tomato and ready-made satay sauce on the side.
(Note: you can omit the capsicum or add zucchini if you like)
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Meatball Volcanoes
Ingredients:
- 1 kg minced chicken or beef
- 2 cups crushed cream crackers or breadcrumbs
- 2 medium-sized onions, minced fine
- 4 cups tomato spaghetti sauce
- 2 teaspoons cajun powder
- Small round dinner rolls
- 250g cheddar cheese, cut into 2 x 2 cm chunks
- Oil for brushing
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Method:
- Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
- Mix the meat with 2 cups of tomato spaghetti sauce, onions and the cajun powder.
- Shape the meat into rounds slightly larger than a ping-pong ball (about 5 cm in diameter). Press a chunk of cheese into the centre of each meatball.
- Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
- Arrange the balls on a baking tray and brush with oil. Place in oven and bake for about 13-15 minutes until meatballs are cooked (cut one in half to check that juices are clear and that meat is no longer pink). The cheddar cheese will be oozing out of the top of each meatball - this is normal.
- To serve, slice each dinner roll, spread one side with a little butter and toast the bread for a few minutes. place one meatball or two (if rolls are large) in each roll and top with more spaghetti sauce if desired.
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Oreo Sandwich Surprise
Ingredients:
- 30 Oreo cookies with double stuffing (chocolate or vanilla - your choice)
- Vanilla and/or chocolate ice-cream (keep in freezer until needed in Step 2)
- Some M&M chocolates
- Small pieces of fudge or nougat (each about 1 cm in size)
- A metal or ceramic plate, a small metal spatula and a metal bowl (placed in freezer for at least 30mins until needed in Step 2)
- A round cookie cutter or clean glass jar about the same size of the oreo cookies
- Chocolate sauce (e.g. Hersheys)
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Method:
- Using a spoon, scrape out the filling from the Oreo cookies (resist the temptation to lick them!)
- Scoop about 2 cups ice cream onto the cold plate. With a large metal spoon, press the ice-cream till it forms a layer about 1.5 cm thick.
- Use the cookie cutter to create ice-cream rounds
- Using the small spatula, lift each ice-cream round and place on an oreo cookie. Press an M&M chocolate, chunk of fudge or nougat into the centre of the ice-cream. Top with another oreo cookie and place this 'sandwich' into the cold metal bowl.
- Repeat until you have made 30 Oreo sandwiches. Cover the bowl and return to freezer.
- When you are ready to serve, pour out some chocolate sauce into a small bowl and top with the Oreo stuffing. Serve this alongside the Oreo ice-cream sandwiches as a 'dip'. You may wish to place the sandwiches on a cold plate that is resting in a bowl filled with ice, so that the cold will help to keep the ice-cream from melting too fast. If this happens, mash everything up and enjoy some yummy cookies & cream ice-cream!
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