There has been a lot of press recently about the need to reduce the sugar our children are having every day, but it’s not always easy finding sugar-free snacks. These veggie ‘nuggets’ are delicious hot or cold – and so can easily be included in a lunchbox as well as featuring at snack time.
All you need:
- 2 medium potatoes (about 300g) – or leftover mashed potato
- 1 medium carrot (about 100g)
- 1/3 head broccoli (about 100g)
- 50 g cheddar cheese (optional)
- 1/2 small onion
- 1 small clove garlic
- Gram flour
- Ground flax seed (optional)
- Butter &/or olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove
- Salt and pepper
Makes 12-15
All you do:
- Finely chop the onion and fry in a small glug of olive oil or butter until soft and translucent; add the minced garlic and continue to fry for a further 2-3 minutes
- Steam or boil the scrubbed potatoes until soft (no need to peel) – I used Maris Piper as they are wonderful mashed. Add the broccoli for 3-4 minutes to soften
- Grate the carrot and the cheese, chop the broccoli finely and mash the potato
- Stir the potato, cheese, carrot and broccoli together to a thick goop. Season to taste. Place 3-4 tbsp gram flour and 1 tbsp ground flaxseed on a plate
- Form small ‘nuggets’ and coat in the gram/flax seed mix and place on a lined baking tray. Brush with melted butter or olive oil
- Bake in a 170C Fan oven for 30-40 mins, turning after 20 mins
- Serve hot or cold. They are quite soft when hot, but firm up on cooling
- I served with a dip made from yoghurt flavoured with paprika, cayenne, turmeric and a spoon of ketchup – you can adjust the spiciness to suit your/your child’s taste
