RECIPES

Fuelling young warriors

Bristol cookery teacher and food writer Jenny Chandler’s new book is all about putting plants on plates, smiles on faces and fire in little bellies in the name of fighting for the planet

It’s widely accepted that getting children to eat their greens is a challenge at the best of times and yet Bristol cookery teacher and food writer Jenny Chandler’s latest book is one for kids, filled with vegetable recipes. She reckons parents may be surprised, once they try dishes such as the Vietnamese summer rolls below –where the vegetables take the starring role rather than acting as a sidekick –to find the veg are far more likely to get eaten.

Green Kids Cook aims to teach children how to cook and eat food that’s as good for them as it is for the planet, with a view to encouraging an engaged new generation –“climate change warriors rather than worriers”. Cooking is a vital life skill that’s too often neglected, and kids who cook, and understand where their food comes from, not only have a head start when they set out into the world to fend for themselves, they’re also more likely to eat well and thrive as they grow up.

Jenny has spent years sharing her experience and passion for promoting plant-based tucker with adults and children alike. Having trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, where she’s now a visiting lecturer, and cheffed on sailboats and distant shores, she’s now also a teacher in various primary school classrooms. Her focus is the undeniable environmental and health benefits of plant-rich diets, and to these ends she works with catering industry chefs too, creating more sustainable menus for our favourite restaurants.

The new book isn’t directed at vegetarians or vegans (although virtually none of the recipes contain meat or fish) but is about getting more plants on plates, since most diets in the western world are woefully lacking in natural fruit and veg. We reckon you’ll have a lot of fun along the way, with fun sewing projects, foraging tips and instructions on how to sprout your own pulses, in addition to dozens of healthy, sustainable recipes which come with handy variations and eco tips on how to do your bit and make a difference.

• Recipe extracts from Green Kids Cook by Jenny Chandler, £14.99, published by Pavilion Books, photography by Kirstie Young.

Vietnamese summer rolls (makes 12 servings)

Summer rolls are so crunchy and refreshing. You can fill them with whatever veggies you fancy, or need to use up. Wrapping and rolling rules: imagine that your wrap is a round face. Place the filling where a mouth would be. Don’t over-fill. Then... chin up. Fold the bottom of the wrap up, pushing the edge of the wrap right over the filling. Ears in. And roll. And that’s a wrap... Boom! Boom!

Ingredients

100g dried rice vermicelli noodles 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1⁄2 tsp sesame oil Pinch of sugar 24 mint leaves 24 coriander leaves 12 x 20cm rice sheets (sometimes called spring roll wrappers)

Veggies: at least six, such as...

3 spring onions 1 large carrot, peeled 1⁄2 cucumber 1 red or yellow pepper 12 small lettuce leaves Handful of beansprouts Your chosen dipping sauce to sauce

Other veg alternatives could include:

2 handfuls of shredded red cabbage 1 avocado 6 radishes 24 mangetouts or sugar snap peas

Method

• Put the noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for about 5 minutes or until they soften, then rinse and drain them in a sieve under cold running water. • Put the noodles back into the bowl and sprinkle over the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. • Slice your chosen vegetables into matchsticks, or thin slices if it’s easier, and place in neat piles on a tray, along with the mint and coriander leaves. • Half-fill a roasting tin with warm water. Dip a rice sheet into the water until it begins to soften (about 15 seconds), then lift it carefully across to a clean chopping board. So here we go: herbs + veggies + noodles + more veggies and now it’s time to... wrap and roll! Remember... practice makes perfect (and if they do collapse, you could always get a bit of practice in with your chopsticks). Place a small pile of the fillings in the lower third of the rice sheet and roll it up. • Serve your summer rolls with one of the dipping sauces. n Veg is centre stage in these gorgeous, colourful rolls