Fireless Cooking: Holi Treats Your Kids Can Make Themselves

Holi is all about playing with beautiful colours and spreading love and joy, and how can we miss out on some lip-smacking food?

If you’re the kind to get super pumped about planning ahead, then you’ll be making sweets and other snacks at least a week in advance. And now that you’ve got a little one to follow you around, especially where there are sweets involved, why not involve them this year, and perhaps make it your little tradition in the years to come?

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Now, we do get your apprehension with letting them use knives, or handle hot food on the stove top themselves. But this fear should not rob them of the joy of preparing nibbles and helping you out while celebrating the festival.

Cooking is an essential life skill that children can be exposed to from an early age. You can start teaching your little chef by introducing them to fireless cooking, which will help them build confidence in the kitchen and perhaps unveil a newfound love for the culinary arts!

With Holi around the corner, we’ve brought you 10 simple and tasty recipes that will keep your kids busy and get you some delicious snacks too!

Snacks

Corn Flakes Bhel

A great snack that your little one will love making and devouring too. This corn flakes bhel is easy to make, spicy, tangy and a real treat for the taste buds.

Ingredients:

• Corn flakes
• Onion
• Tomato
• Green chillies
• Lemon juice
• Chaat masala
• Red chilli powder
• Green chutney
• Tamarind chutney
• Salt
• Sev
• Fresh coriander leaves

What to do:

1. Take a bowl and add chopped onions, tomatoes, and green chutney.
2. Mix well with tamarind chutney, lemon juice, chaat masala, and salt.
3. Add crunchy cornflakes to it and mix well.
4. Sprinkle some sev and fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Note: You will have to make the chutneys in advance. Be prepared for some sneaky finger dipping and licking along the way!

Dahi Poha

A delicious snack which is perfect for serving for festivals or any special occasion.

Ingredients:

• Poha rice flakes
• Plain curd
• Finely chopped cucumber
• Grated coconut
• Sugar
• Salt
• Finely chopped green chillies
• Finely chopped ginger

How to make:

1. Wash and drain poha and place it in a mixing bowl.
2. Add curd, cucumber, salt and sugar and mix well.
3. Sprinkle some green chillies and ginger on the top, and it’s ready.

Schezwan Dahi Puri

A snack filled with various mouth-watering lavours, and the crispiness of puri. Here is a twist to the regular dahi puri your kids will love preparing.

Ingredients:

• Crispy puri
• Sweet chutney
• Sev
• Boondi
• Schezwan sauce
• Plain curd
• Milk
• Sugar
• Coriander leaves

How to make:

1. Soak the boondi in hot water for 15 minutes.
2. Mix curd, milk, and sugar and whisk it until smooth.
3. Arrange the puri’s over a plate and add half a teaspoon of schezwan sauce to each puri.
4. Add soaked boondi and curd on the top.
5. Top it with a little sweet chutney over each puri.
6. Again, add more curd on top.
7. Sprinkle some sev on the puri and garnish with some coriander leaves.

Note: Be careful not to let your child get any schezwan sauce near their eyes!

Sweet Corn Salad

Sweet corn is always a hit with kids. Buttered, salted, spiced, make it any way and your child will most likely want to have some more! Here’s a recipe that your child will not only want to eat but can also make by themselves!

Ingredients:

• Boiled corn
• Spring onion
• Cashews
• Almonds
• Grated coconut
• Chopped green chillies
• Coriander
• Salt

How to make:

1. Add spring onion, cashews, almonds, salt, and green chillies to a bowl and mix.
2. Add boiled corn to this mix and sprinkle grated coconut on it.
3. Garnish with coriander leaves and dig in!

Bread Dahi Vada

Dahi vadas are quite common in most Indian households. But Holi is incomplete without making this yummy snack at home. Bread dahi vadas are easy and quick to make, and a fun recipe to try with your kids.

Ingredients:

• Bread slices
• Dahi
• Sugar
• Green chutney
• Sweet chutney
• Cashew
• Raisins
• Ginger
• Fresh coriander
• Red chilli powder
• Roasted cumin powder
• Black salt

How to make:

1. Soak cashews and raisins in water and keep them aside
2. Add dahi to a bowl and whisk well.
3. Add water, salt, and sugar to the dahi and mix.
4. Chop the cashews and ginger into small pieces.
5. Cut bread into roundels (circles).
6. Take a bread roundel and dip it in the dahi.
7. Now sprinkle some chopped cashews, raisins, ginger, and coriander over it.
8. Now cover it with another bread slice and seal the edges.
9. Add dahi over it to cover from all sides.
10. Drizzle some sweet chutney, green chutney, chilli powder, black salt and cumin powder over it and serve!

Desserts

Petha-Coconut Colourful Laddos

Most kids are fond of regular laddoos, but these ones are sure to be a favourite! Your kids will love shaping these multi-coloured laddoos.

Ingredients:

• Dry petha
• Desiccated coconut
• Rose syrup
• Khus syrup
• Edible colours

How to make:

1. Grate the petha and add desiccated coconut to it. Mix the two ingredients.
2. Divide this mix into 5-6 portions.
3. Add different syrups and food colours to each portion and mix properly.
4. Bind the mix to form a round-shaped laddoo.
5. Roll the laddoos in desiccated coconut, and your Holi special colourful laddoos are ready!

Shrikhand

We bet you won’t find a person who’ll say ‘no’ to this delicious Shrikhand. This flame-less dessert recipe is sweet and perfect for Holi!

Ingredients:

1. Hung curd
2. Cardamom
3. Sugar

How to make:

1. Take some hung curd in a bowl and add sugar and cardamom powder to it.
2. Mix it till you get a fine paste without any lumps.
3. Keep it in the fridge and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Your delicious homemade shrikhand is ready to be served.

Note: Make some fluffy puris for your little one to dip into and enjoy with the fresh shrikhand!

Milk Poha

It’s sweet and flavourful. Milk poha is a sheer delight that is best served a little cold. It’s easy to make and is a delicious dessert for your child.

Ingredients:

• Poha
• Water
• Milk
• Sugar
• Gated coconut.

How to make:

1. Wash poha with water and then soak it for half an hour or till it becomes soggy.
2. Pour a little milk and sugar into the poha.
3. Add some grated coconut to it, and your milk poha is ready.

Puffed Rice Peanut Butter Balls

Enjoy the sweet-nutty flavour of peanut butter blended with puffed rice to create a perfectly sweet Indian mithai.

Ingredients:

• Puffed rice
• Peanut butter
• Honey
• Powdered sugar
• Raisins

How to make:

1. Add honey, powdered sugar and peanut butter to a bowl and mix well.
2. Add puffed rice and raisins to this mix and combine them well.
3. Now your mixture is ready to shape.
4. Press a portion of this mixture between your palms to make small balls.
5. Place it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to set.
6. Sweet puffed rice peanut butter balls are ready to serve.

Lime Pie Balls

A unique lime-based dessert which turns out to be stupendously toothsome.

Ingredients:

• Cream cheese
• Crushed vanilla wafers
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Sugar
• Lime juice
• Grated lime zest
• Salt
• Ground cinnamon

How to make:

1. Add cream cheese, crushed wafers, cracker crumbs, sugar, lime juice and zest, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Beat these until blended well.
2. Shape the mixture into balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
3. Refrigerate the balls until firm.
4. Roll the balls to cover with sugar and serve.

Fireless cooking has numerous benefits for kids:  it gives you a chance to bond with your little one while you prepare delectable food together. We hope you will prepare these dishes with your child and spread the spiciness of snacks and the sweetness of desserts while celebrating Holi!