Cooking with Kids: This sticky salmon recipe is great for older kids learning to cook

Teach a child to fish ‘and feed them for life’

When children cook and make food themselves, they are more likely to eat it, or at least to try it.

Cooking fish is a great skill to learn, and salmon is often a favourite among children.

The recipe here is for a sticky salmon, but a child can simply pour a little oil and salt and pepper over the salmon and roast it, if that is a preferred option.

When children cook and make food themselves, they are more likely to eat it, or at least to try it.

So, cooking with fish is a great way to introduce it into a child’s diet. Repeated exposure is proven to help children eat a wider variety of foods. If a child doesn’t eat something the first time, don’t worry, many children need about 15 exposures to a food before they start to eat it.

The noodles can be served with the salmon, or they make for a tasty dinner on their own.

This recipe is suited to older children as it involves cooking at the hob. Younger children can help with the preparation and then watch as an adult or older person cooks up the ingredients.

Sticky salmon

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

You can eat your salmon with potatoes and vegetables, but it is really tasty with noodles.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 piece of fresh ginger

• 1 clove of garlic

• ½ tbsp of sesame oil or sunflower oil

• 1 tbsp of light soya sauce

• ½ tbsp of honey or maple syrup

• 4 fillets of salmon

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

2. Crush your clove of garlic into a small bowl or cup.

3. Ask an adult to show you how to use a grater and grate about an inch off the piece of ginger. Put this into the bowl with the garlic.

4. Add in the oil, soya sauce and honey and stir everything together. Soya sauce is salty so when you are making this dish you do not need to add salt.

5. Choose an ovenproof dish for the salmon, it will need to be big enough to fit the four pieces spaced out. Gently place the pieces of salmon into you dish. Wash your hands well. Pour the dressing you have made over the pieces of fish and spread it with a spoon, then put the spoon in the wash.

6. Place your dish into the oven and roast your salmon for 20 minutes. Ask an adult to take it out of the oven and to check that it is cooked.

Noodles

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

These noodles make for a tasty dinner on their own or they can be added to a dish like salmon for a bigger meal.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 small onion

• 1 piece fresh ginger

• 2 cloves garlic

• ½ red chilli

• 2 carrots

• 150g of dried noodles

• a dash sesame or sunflower oil

• handful of peas

• ¼ tbsp mild Madras curry powder

• 1 tbsp soya sauce

Method

1. Very carefully chop the onion into small cubes. Grate about an inch of the ginger and crush the garlic. Keep these all on your chopping board so they are ready to use when you need them.

2. Cut the chilli up very small. Chili peppers are spicy especially before they are cooked. Be careful to wash your hands well after handling them so you do not get any chilli into your eye.

3. Ask an adult to help you to put your noodles into a pot of boiling water. Cook them for the length of time mentioned on the packet. There are different types of noodles so following the packet will give you best results. Ask for help draining them when they are cooked.

4. Soya sauce is salty so when you are making this dish you do not need to add any salt. Heat a dash of oil in a big saucepan or a wok if you have one. Be very careful and sauté (gently fry) the onion and carrot first. Add your ginger, garlic and chilli and stir this in then add your peas and curry powder. Stir in your noodles and add the soya sauce making sure all of the ingredients mix well together.

Activity: Getting ready to cook

Before starting to cook or bake it is important to wash your hands really well. Soap will help with this. When you are handling raw fish or meat this becomes even more important. You then need to wash your hands again after you have handled the meat or fish, so that you have clean hands for the next thing you pick up, whether that is food or a piece of cooking equipment.