Is your kid a picky eater? Try incorporating veggies in their diet with these yummy dishes

"Add more colours, sizes and shapes to the meal to make it attractive," suggests an expert

It can be tough to make sure your child relishes vegetables, but our expert is here to help.

Eating healthy can be a constant struggle with temptations and distractions. For children, it’s even more difficult because it’s harder for someone that young to understand the importance of nutrition, even when it doesn’t taste good. A lot of parents complain about the same thing — how kids don’t like vegetables, and choose to pick them out or avoid eating them entirely.

Also read | Hate veggies? Nutritionist suggests some mouth-watering ways to add them to your diet

Garima Goyal, a dietician, shares a list of food items that are both appealing to children and healthy, since they are loaded with veggies.

“Add more colours, sizes and shapes to the meal to make it attractive. Serving in colourful and attractive crockery is also helpful,” says the expert.

1.) Spinach: Try making spinach khichdi, spinach besan chilla, spinach oats pancakes, spinach sauce pasta, spinach corn sandwich, savoury muffins with spinach, smoothie with spinach and fruits, spinach fritters with sauce and spinach and chickpea tikki.

2.) Mustard greens: Incorporate mustard greens in your child’s diet by making mustard greens idlis, mustard greens with chana dal, mustard green salad, quinoa and mustard green kebab.

3.) Bottle gourd (ghia/lauki): Look up recipes for bottle gourd and apple purée, bottle gourd kheer, bottle gourd halwa, bottle gourd kulfi, bottle gourd rice.

4.) Bitter gourd (karela): Make these dishes to make karela tasty for your child: stuffed karela with cheese, karela and paneer bhurji, bitter gourd kebabs, bitter gourd tikki.

Story continues below this ad

5.) Round gourd/apple gourd (tinda): One way to make someone relish tinda is to make methi tinda pulao.

6.) Ridge gourd (tori/turiya): Be sure to include these dishes in your diet if you want to make turiya more delicious: ridge gourd raita, ridge gourd and besan pakora, turiya chutney, ridge gourd cutlet.

7.) Lettuce: Look up recipes for homemade subs with a lot of lettuce, Mexican style layered salad, and lettuce wraps.

8.) Pumpkin: Try to make pumpkin puree, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin chia pudding, pumpkin lassi or pumpkin oatmeal to make sure your child devours the pumpkin flavours.

Story continues below this ad

With these dishes on the menu your child is sure to have a tummy full of nutritious veggies.

For all the latest Parenting News, download Indian Express App.