Annabel Karmel's Asian Chicken Balls

I saw this recipe on Annabel's Instagram, but changed it slightly... I wasn't sure on whether to add chilli or not and when I deseeded a small amount and tried it myself my face was on fire for a good 15 mins! And I can handle spicy food! So I chose not to include!

For this you will need

1 red chilli deseeded and diced (if you want to risk it!)

1 1/2 tsp ginger grated

1 onion finely chopped 

4 spring onions finely chopped

Zest of half a lime 

4oz breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tap Chinese five spice

A little plain flour

3 tbsp sunflower oil (I used coconut)

16oz Chicken

Measure the onion, spring onion, ginger, chilli (if using) and lime zest into a food processor. Blitz until finely chopped. Add the chicken, breadcrumbs, sweet chilli sauce, Chinese five spice and egg yolk, season and blitz until combined. 

Roll into small balls. Coat in the flour . Heat up the oil in a frying pan and fry the balls until golden and cooked through. 

Sweet Potato and Mozzarella Cheese Poppers

I saw the recipe for this on Instagram and knew I had to make them (for either the baby or for me!!) they were pretty simple to make and they turned out way better than I thought. I made mine slightly differently to the original recipe.

To make these you will need:

40g porridge oats

2 1/2 tbsp milk

2 small sweet potatoes

20g grated Parmesan or hard cheese

150g of mozzarella cut into cubes

50g breadcrumbs 

1 egg

Fresh chives (optional)

Peel and steam the potatoes in saucepan with lid on. Once soft, drain and leave to cool.

Add to a blender the potato, oats, hard cheese, milk, chives and blend. 

Preheat oven to 200C

Using ice cream scoop or tablespoon, add a scoop of the mixture into the palm of your hand and flatten. Add a cube of mozzarella and cover forming a ball by rolling in hand. (I found that it worked best with dry hands, so did keep having to wash and dry my hands!) leave balls to one side.

For the bread crumbs I toasted 1 piece of thickly cut wholemeal bread and once cooled put into a blender with a sprinkle of oats. Then I blended this until I had an almost fine grain.

You will then need to get yourself two bowls - place breadcrumbs into one and beat an egg in the other. 

I then covered one of the potato balls in the egg mixture, then the breadcrumbs and repeated. 

This leaves a nice even layer of breadcrumbs. 

Once all potato balls have been covered, line a baking tray with baking paper and place potato balls onto tray. 

Bake for 10 minutes. 

Then you are ready to eat!!

I served mine with griddled lemon and herb chicken and petite pois. I was surprised by how much Oscar ate as his appetite as been up and down at the moment because of his teeth, but he pretty much polished off the lot! I couldn't believe it! 

These are a great snack to store in the freezer and great as a lunch box snack! I will definitely be making these again!

Annabel Karmel's Chicken and Apple Burgers

These are always a big hit with my boy. They are easy to make, packed full of flavour and can be stored frozen - perfect! 

I made mine slightly differently to Annabel's. I like to use normal chicken breasts instead of mince, as I can separate the tray and use for other recipes and they don't always stock chicken mince in the supermarket. Click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients

2x mini chicken fillets

1 apple

1 small white onion

1 garlic clove

2 tsp dried sage

20g grated Parmesan or a hard cheese or mature cheddar

Stale bread for the breadcrumbs

Hand held food processor 

Method

Roughly dice the onion and garlic and fry on a medium heat until sautéed (for around 2 mins). Leave to one side to cool. Once cooled, put in food processor and blitz until fine. Leave to one side.

Next cut chicken into small pieces and blitz until forms an almost paste consistency. Add to the onion mix. 

Cut the apple into four pieces leaving the core. Holding the skin, grate the apple flesh into the chicken and onion mix. (This saves on peeling the apple and leaves only the skin as waste.) 

Add the sage and cheese and mix together. 

Break up bread into small pieces and put into food processor. Blitz until almost pieces are roughly small and add to the chicken mix. (You can also add ready made breadcrumbs if you like.) Mix together and either shape into patties or balls.

Add a small amount of vegetable oil to a frying pan and heat, brown the burgers for 1-2 mins on each side, turn down the heat and cook gently for another 5 mins until cooked through. 

Place onto kitchen paper to absorb excess oil and leave to cool. And you are all done! 

It went down a storm with my boy! He ended up having two burgers and left only a small amount of the veg which I couldn't believe! Especially because of his teeth at the moment!

Success!

Annabel Karmel Fish Pie

This is one of Oscar's favourite meals and so easy to make. I make mine slightly different to Annabel's but if you are interested in using the original recipe, it can be found here:

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/baby-fish-pie

For my take on this recipe you will need:

Ingredients 

4 medium sized potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1.5 tbsp milk

40g butter

1 small white onion

1 tbsp flour

1 cod fillet skinned and cubed

1 tsp fresh or dry parsley 

1 bay leaf

75ml milk 

50ml veggie stock

25g frozen petite pois

50g grated cheddar cheese

2 tsp chopped chives

Method

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add potatoes. Reduce heat and cook for 15-20 mins or until tender. Once ready drain and mash with a the 1.5 tbsp milk and half the butter. Finally add the chives.

Melt the remaining butter in a pan on a low heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened. Add the flour and cook for 30 seconds, stirring. Gradually stir in the milk and then the stock. Bring to the boil and cook for one minute. 

Add the fish with the parsley and bay leaf. Simmer for about 3 minutes and then stir in the peas and cook for one minute. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the cheese until melted. 

I then separate the fish mixture between freezeable containers and top with the mashed potato and a light sprinkling of grated cheese. These are now ready to freeze or enjoy warm!