Frankie Rolls For Kids Evening Snacks

When I read Divya's post on monthly event Cooking For Kids with Healthy Evening Snacks as the theme, started by by Sharmi of Neivedyam, I began thinking what to make which could be healthy as well as kids would love. Snacking is important for growing kids to help meet their energy and nutrient needs, required for proper growth and development.


Most of the children are picky when it comes to food and making them eat is a big task in itself. At times singing, playing, cajoling etc nothing works. Better idea is to make the food tempting yet, in sync with their taste and healthy. Kids will gradually gain interest. One very important thing is variety, so keep experimenting. Try to be creative by using proper garnish, different shapes of molds and food colors. But the golden rule is not to force them to eat.

The best approach is to make food from the five food groups of the Food Guide Pyramid - Milk, Meat, Vegetable, Fruit, and Grain. So what could include all of this? A Frankie. A frankie is an Indian version of wraps or tortillas with a filling of meat, vegetables, cheese, eggs etc. According to the taste buds of your kids, you can make the filling.

Ingredients

4 wheat/flour tortillas
2-3 tbsp cilantro leaves (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
1 tomato (chopped)
2-3 green chilies finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt & pepper, to taste
2 tbsp grated cheese
2-3 tbsp olive oil

For different fillings-

Vegetables- 1 cup of assorted vegetables like carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, capsicum, cabbage, green beans etc

Eggs - 1 or 2 eggs as desired with assortment of grated or minutely chopped vegetables

Paneer (cottage cheese)- 2 cup of paneer diced

Chicken- 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts shredded

Method

Preparing Filling

* In a wok heat oil on medium flame.
* Add chopped onion. Fry till they turn golden brow.
* Then, add ginger garlic paste followed by chopped tomatoes. Mix them and cook for few minutes.
* The spices are then added- pepper, salt, turmeric powder, cumin powder and lemon juice.
* Let the spices cook for further few minutes.
* Lastly, you can add vegetables, eggs, chicken or paneer according to the type of frankie you want to have.
* When the filling is cooked, add cilantro leaves and let it cool at room temperature.

** Only chicken frankie will take longer time to cook.
** For eggs, you will have to beat them and make into diced omelet.

Preparing Frankie

* Take a non stick with 1 tbsp oil. Heat it and add a tortilla.
* If you want you can brush a side of tortilla with egg also.
* Flip and cook from both sides, adding the filling on one side.
* Add grated cheese and roll the tortilla.
* Serve hot with tomato sauce or green chutney.