Crunchy chopped salad
By Cassie Best
Encourage kids to learn essential kitchen skills with this crunchy salad made with pomegranate seeds. The recipe is easy for children aged seven to 11 to follow
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Prep:20 mins
No cook - Easy
Nutrition per serving
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kcal 133
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fat 10g
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saturates 1g
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carbs 6g
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sugars 0g
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fibre 3g
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protein 3g
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salt 0.1g
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- 10 cherry tomatoes (use a mixture of different colours, if you like)
- 1⁄2 cucumber
- 2 Little Gem lettuces
- 1 punnet of cress
- 100g pomegranate seeds
- 25g mixed seeds (we used sunflower and pumpkin seeds; see tip below)
- chopping board
- tea towel or kitchen paper (optional)
- sharp knife
- citrus juicer
- tablespoon
- teaspoon
- jam jar or small bowl
- large salad bowl
- kitchen scissors
- measuring scales
Tip
Crunch powerFor extra crunch and flavour, you can toast the mixed seeds before adding them to the salad. Tip the seeds into a dry frying pan and cook over a low-medium heat for a few minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until the seeds pop. Remove from the heat and cool, then add to the salad.Don’t waste itChopped salads like this are a great way to use up leftover veg. You can mix and match the ingredients depending on what you have – chopped green beans, avocado, sweetcorn or grated carrots would all work. Experiment and see what tasty combinations you can come up with.
Method
Before you get started take a look at our chopping and knife skills guide. If your chopping board doesn’t have anti-slip grips, lay a dampened tea towel or sheet of kitchen paper on the work surface, then place the board on top to stop it from slipping.
Holding the lemon with your hand in the bridge position, cut the lemon in half. Push one half onto a citrus juicer, twist and squeeze to release the juice. Repeat with the second lemon half. Pour the juice into a jam jar or small bowl along with the oil.
Add the mustard, honey and a good pinch each of salt and black pepper. Seal the jar and shake to combine, or whisk the ingredients together. Will keep covered in the fridge for up to a week.
Cut the tomatoes in half by pinching each one between your thumb and a finger and carefully slicing through the middle with a small serrated knife. Cut each piece in half again to make quarters, then tip the tomatoes into a large bowl.
Wipe down the chopping board, then cut the cucumber in half lengthways. Put the two halves cut-side down on the board so they don’t roll around, then cut in half again along the length, so you have four chunky sticks of cucumber. Cut across the cucumber now to make little triangles, keeping your free hand in the claw position with your fingers tucked away from the blade of the knife. Tip the cucumber into the bowl with the tomatoes.
Cut the hard stalk off the lettuces, then cut each lettuce in half and in half again to get four wedges. Working with one lettuce wedge at a time, hold the wedge with your hand in the claw position and chop it into small ribbons – the smaller, the better for this salad. Repeat with the remaining wedges and tip the lettuce into the bowl.
Snip the cress straight into the bowl using kitchen scissors. Weigh out the pomegranate seeds using the scales and add these to the bowl. Repeat with the mixed seeds. Drizzle over roughly half of the dressing over the salad (you will have some leftover) and toss everything together to coat.
