Home-grown carrot and mango curry with home-made spices and 5 minute naan bread (cooking with kids)

What child (or grown up) could resist a dish made with ingredients they’ve grown themselves? With carrots grown from seed and a sauce flavoured with curry powder they get to grind themselves, this is one special dish, especially when paired with homemade naan bread

This mild, mellow curry has enough gentle spice to win fans of all ages, while the balancing sweetness of the mango helps ensure there’s plenty of flavour without heat.

Getting passionate about ingredients with innocent’s Sow & Grow

I’m always on the look out for anything that helps my kids to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Core to this is trying to get JD and Jay enthusiastic about an array of healthy dishes, while using new ingredients in fun and creative ways.

As they have grown up, my children have gradually become increasingly hands-on when it comes to preparing meals, which has been a really lovely journey.

But one thing I think we could all spend more time doing with our children is really helping them to understand how the raw ingredients they cook with end up in the supermarket, in the pot, and ultimately onto their plate. For young ones, the question of how food gets produced, and where it comes from, can be somewhat of a mystery.

This is why I’m so excited about the launch of Sow & Grow, a campaign from innocent and GIY, which aims to get kids growing their own food right from seed at school, which in turn helps to engage and educate them when it comes to healthy eating.

I think Sow & Grow is a truly fantastic initiative. While modern convenience has certainly made access to a huge variety of foods easier, it also has made many of us more detached from how it gets into our cupboards.

According to a study carried out by innocent, more parents knew where their vegetables came from as kids when compared with today’s children, and 84% of parents believe children would be more open to eating fruit and veg if they knew where their food came from. On top of that, learning about nature and growing food at home or in the classroom were two of the top suggestions that parents made for ways to help kids learn about healthy eating.

So to aid in getting kids more knowledgeable about their food, and inspire them to take a real interest in what they’re eating, innocent is offering Sow & Grow kits to a quarter of UK primary schools across the UK, each of which contains enough material for a class of 32 kids to grown their own runner beans, cress and carrots from seed. The kit includes 32 growing cups, seeds, compost and a teacher’s resource booklet with growing tips, lesson plans and advice as well as a badge and stickers.

As part of the campaign, parents can also get involved directly by entering competitions as detailed on various innocent products, where they’ll be in with a chance to win thousands of packets of seeds to grow at home.

Having potted up the first seeds with my children, it’s clear that the selection has been carefully thought out. The cress, runner beans and carrots are not just tasty, but make an interesting mix of different sizes and colours. They’re also all fast growing plants, which means kids can start to see the results of their labour in just a few days, and stay engaged throughout the growth cycle.

Now, let’s get cooking this gorgeous curry.

Curry with home made spices and 5 minute naan bread

This recipe is a great way to get hands on and experience the joy of growing and cooking your own meal. It’s a fantastically satisfying and healthy option for lunch or dinner.

If you don’t have time to make the mild curry powder yourself, you can of course substitute it for the shop-bought variety, but grinding your own is a lovely starter activity as the children can explore the different shapes and colours of the spice seeds, and be treated to some lovely aromas as they get to work with the pestle and mortar.

Ingredients

For the home-made mild curry powder

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

For the curry

• 1 tsp home-made mild curry powder (or shop bought mild curry powder)
• 1/4 mango
• 180g potato
• 180g carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 pint of reduced salt vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Coriander for decoration

For the naan

• 250g white bread flour
• ½ tsp baking powder (maybe 1 tsp)
• 150 water (check this)
• Olive oil for frying

Instructions

Make the curry

Gather the spices together.

Add the the cumin, coriander and mustard seeds to the pestle and mortar. Grind the seeds well – it will take a few minutes and require a bit of elbow grease. You might like to take it in turns.

Here’s a fun fact to discuss as you work: ‘eye of newt’, an ingredient famously used by witches in Macbeth is actually an old term for mustard seeds!

Add the turmeric and cayenne pepper, and grind for another minute or two.

Peel the carrots and onions but leave the skins on the potatoes, then dice everything up quite small. A safety peeler allows children to get involved with supervised peeling, just make sure they hold the carrots by the green part and peel away from their hands.

The potatoes are quite soft and can be cut with an ordinary dinner knife, so kids can continue to get involved while a grown up slices the onion.

Put the olive oil in a pan, place the diced vegetables into it and sprinkle on 1 tsp of mild curry powder. As you’re working with heat, this part will require a grownup.

Fry on a medium heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the flour and stir through.

Add the stock and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. What happens to the stock? You can talk about how the colour changes, and how it reduces as the water evaporates and is absorbed by the veggies.

While the curry is simmering dice the mango. Again, mango is nice and soft, so kids can help chop it up and maybe help themselves to a chunk or two!

Add the mango to the curry, give it a stir and return to the heat for 5 minutes. Smell the curry and notice how the aroma sweetens now that you’ve added the fruit.

Done and time for a sneaky taste before serving.

Make the 5-minute naan bread

Add the flour and baking powder to a bowl and mix together.

Measure out the water – this is a great chance to talk about where water comes from, and to practice measuring by volume. Tip into the bowl.

Mix together. You can use a spoon or your hands for this, if you like.

Turn on to a floured work surface.

Knead in more flour until no longer tacky. This is great fun for little hands.

Divide into four.

Roll out each naan using a rolling pin. You can talk about whether they are the same size and how they feel (springy/stretchy/soft).

If you need to stack them up for space, just keep a piece of baking paper between each naan to stop them sticking.

Bring 2 tsp of olive oil up to a high heat in a frying pan and cook the naans on both sides for 2-3 minutes each side, or until starting to brown. The pan will be hot, so this is a job for grownups.

Serve the naan folded with the curry and enjoy! You can talk about the little golden patches that appear, and compare the texture of the naan from how it was raw, to how it feels now.

Look out for two more Sow & Grow recipes on the blog for even more uses for the produce you can grow with the kit. And don’t forget to remind your children’s school to apply for their own Sow & Grow kit!

If you’d like to print this curry recipe out to try it at home, just click ‘PRINT’ on the recipe card below.

Let me know if you try this curry and what your children thought of it. And are they keen to grow their own veg?

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