Protein Pals

"MDR" asked about how to encourage her Aqila to eat proteins on How to Handle Picky Eaters.
My reply to her comment was too long, so I decided to make it a post. heh heh.

My 8 year old Ihsan has problems eating meat as well. I guess he doesn't really like the texture. he finds them stringy and it sticks in between his teeth. But he's okay with processed meat, i.e. sausages, meat/fishballs, nuggets and such. He's also okay with bolognaise sauce or currypuff fillings. He's favourite, though, is crispy fried fish, so I try to have some fish at least once a week.

If your child is refusing meat-based protein in any form, perhaps you can use this reminder : BED.
I'm not saying send them to bed without their supper, remind yourself of these other source of proteins: Beans, Eggs and Dairy.


Beans
Beans and nuts, are essentially seeds, therefore they are packed with nutrients, especially protein.
Since most kids sees anything green as 'vegetables', you might want to do some creative 'hiding' of these in your dishes. You can mash peas and use them as fillings or make cream of pea soup (and call it green vomit for the kid who loves anything gross) or make thicker soup and use as a sauce for pasta. Other 'more stringy' beans can be sliced really thinly or small and mixed into fried rice or porridges.
Lentils and chickpeas are more pleasing and can be made into bite sized snacks (like masala vade or simply kacang rebus). Other beans like red/black beans, mung beans (kacang hijau) can be made into sweet porridges or fillings for buns or desserts (oh man.. now I crave for a sanggupal)
Nuts are usually easier to serve to children, since they are crunchy. They can be served as snacks or sprinkled on desserts. My kids must have peanuts with their nasi lemak. The best kind of nut, is actually Almonds, and these are best eaten raw, a handful a day. Almonds contain essential oils that are good for the heart, according to Dr.Oz.
The most versatile bean, however, must be the soya bean. This 'magic bean' comes in a variety of forms - Tauhu (tofu), tempe, taufoo fah, soya bean milk, and can be served in variety of ways. You can even hide mashed up tofu in your cucur (fritters), and kids wont be able to detect it.

Eggs
Eggs, like beans and nuts, are really seeds, but for hens (or ducks, if you like duck eggs). You can prepare them in any way and mix them into almost any dish.
Hard Boiled - on its own, or sliced with a dash of ketchup/soy sauce, mashed and mixed with mayo+cheese and made into a sandwiched, diced and put into potato salad.
Soft boiled - on it's own or with a dash of soy sauce and pepper eaten with toast (yum!), served on mee goreng.
Fried - sunny side up (mata kerbau), lembik, keras, up to you.
Ommelette - plain or filled. Make it extra thick and load it up with vegetables and meat to make a frittata.
Scrambled - plain or french (addd milk, sugar, salt and pepper, cook under low heat stirring constantly).
As a coating - make french toast, or dip your vegies and met in them before dredging in bread crumbs.
As an ingredient - drizzle into boiling porridge or soup to make 'egg drops'(or strings).
As dessert - cakes, custards, pavlova, bread pudding, jala mas, bunga tanjung.. all use eggs!
Make sure your child is old enough (2+) and have not developed any allergies to eggs, though.

Dairy
Milk (cow's , goat's or even camel's) contain lots and lots of protein. You can serve them straight, or give it to your child in the form of cheese, yogurt, or sour
/thick/whip cream. Again, it's very versatile. Serve them in a cream sauce, or mix with juices, add cream cheese to make moist cakes, serve as a topping for your muffins (in which you would hide carrots, as in this recipe), or simply make cheese sandwiches.

So basically, once you remember the different ways in which you can add protein to your child's diet, you meed not worry that your child would be lacking of it. (Insya-Allah).

Hope that this helped!

p/s let's bring up another topic next time.. perhaps something unrelated to food, eh? coz all this talk about eating is making me hungry! :D