We love our kids, and lots of them are ever so brave and try lots of different food but almost every child will have a bit of a fussy period at some point. Some kids really struggle from day one, others are fine until they are 5 or 6 then stop trying anything new. One of the common hurdles is curry and as one of our nations favourite foods it seems such a shame so many kids wont eat it. Pizza and pasta gets requested all day long but getting them to love even a Korma can be tricky. If you enjoy the food its natural your keen to get your kids eating curry.

So here are some great tips and suggestions for bringing your kids into the “curry club”.

Why Bother?

Before we look at how to get them eating curry let’s look at why it worth the effort. First of all, curry is delicious, saying you don’t like curry is like saying you don’t like pasta. There is literally 100s if not 1000s of dishes including snacks, starters, main meals, lunches and all manner of different textures and tastes. So getting them into curry means you can sit down to a treat takeaway or a homecooked feast and that’s always fun. It is also worth remembering that curry as a rule is full of amazing herbs and spices that have a wide range of health benefits. Cumin, Turmeric, Cardamom and more all have well documented benefits and are well worth including in a growing child’s diet.

Almara Miah runs Indian Cookery classes at Zari in Crawley

“Indian food is such a broad range of food and there are so many health benefits. Kids will enjoy it if the right dishes are chosen and cooked carefully. Ignore the fatty poor quality food many takeaways serve and consider Indian food full of goodness as well as flavour”

It’s Spicy!!

This is the big thing that stops most kids trying curry. They fear the potential heat and that is fair enough! Serving a Madras cooked properly to a 6-year-old would be cruel to say the least. So it is really important that both parents and kids understand curry does not have to be hot. There are lots of curry dishes with cream and very mild spices, but you can make hot curries without the chilli. There are lots of mild curry powders out there and most of the other key spices have no heat to them at all. Cumin, turmeric, cardamom, bay, cinnamon, and coriander are all key ingredients that bring no heat to the food. It is important to remove the culture of spicy food from the idea of eating curry to get most kids interested. Some…however, will thrive on the challenge and think a bit of spice is funny. Assess your child and be careful if you chose the spicy path. One suggestion would be to have a small side dish with some heat so they can dip a finger in it without having on the place to get used to it.

Breads, Rice and Crisps???

Kids love plain food, we know that. They love pasta and most love rice, they love bread too! So go big on the accompaniments. A small portion of the sauce part of a curry with lots of rice or naan will really go a long way. Crisps? Well OK poppadum, but as far as kids are concerned, they are giant crisps so bring them on! They will love dipping in the sauce and having what feels like a fun snack. It will help them make friends with Indian food while you begin trying new dishes.

What to Cook

This article is not about recipes, there are tons online to look at. But it is worth just thinking about cooking curry as a whole for kids. First, as mentioned already, buy mild curry powder! The base ingredients must be free from chilli or any heat if this is going to work. Initially go super simple, just get some chicken or Quorn chunks, and cook with some cream and curry powder. This will be super mild and quite plain, they will love it. As you progress you can try more in depth flavours by using onion and garlic (blend them before coking to remove too many bits), garam masala as a base and even fresh coriander. Once they are happy you can move away from creamy dishes and create very mild tomato style dishes with some stock and spices. Try using red lentils that soften down to make a lovely thick sauce full of goodness. Once they get going, they will want more and more.

Get Them Cooking

The big cheat with getting kids into different food is getting them to be involved in cooking. Obviously younger kids will be a bit limited here, but they can stir and watch and taste and that will really help! Bigger kids can start taking more tasks on and cooking for the parents which should be enjoyable…if it turns out well.

The bottom line here is Indian food can be a little intimidating but choosing a gentle entry point, including food types they already enjoy and involving them in the preparation will really help. Curry is a great way to eat veg, beneficial spices and to broaden a growing pallet as well as meaning you can enjoy more curry at home too!