Chicken and Kale Balls
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When my son Nicholas was little and very fussy, my solution to encourage him to eat chicken was to blitz it in a foods processor with other ingredients such as apple and form it into mini chicken balls. This is a twist on my signature Chicken and Apple Balls recipe in my New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, but this time using carrot and kale and adding some mild oriental flavors.
Makes:
25 Balls
Suitable for Freezing
Ingredients
- 50 g/2 oz trimmed kale
- 100g/4 oz fresh breadcrumbs
- 500 g/1 lb 1oz skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped
- 100 g/4 oz carrots, peeled and grated
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh root ginger
- 1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon plain flour
- 3 tablespoon rapeseed, sunflower or light olive oil
Method
- Cook the kale in a pan of boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain and refresh under cold running water. Squeeze out the water and finely chop the kale.
- Place the chicken thighs in the bowl of a food processor with the breadcrumbs and blitz until roughly chopped (you don’t want it too fine).
- Transfer to a bowl. add the chopped kale and the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Shape the mixture into 25 equal-sized balls.
- Place the flour on a large plate and roll each ball in the flour. Heat the oil in frying pan and fry the balls 8-10 minutes (in 2-3 batches) until golden and cooked through.
- Alternatively preheat an oven to 180C / 160C Fan and cook the chicken balls for about 15 minutes turning halfway through until cooked through
