Cooking

A nose-pickingly scrumptious kids’ party snack

Dig in!

Mining for gold, picking a winner, exploring the caves… Here’s a deliciously disgusting party snack recipe that will delight kids as much as it grosses-out grownups: Nosepickin’ Dippers with bogey pesto. AKA cauliflower and chicken bites, with a cardboard face so they can dip their finger-food in their nostrils (feeling queasy just writing this). Sneak in veggies of your choice or leave out the chicken for a meat-free option. And as a birthday party centrepiece, well, it’s way up there.

Print tutorial

You will need:

135g baby potatoes
165g cauliflower
1/2 free-range chicken breast
40g Parmesan cheese, grated
120g breadcrumbs
3 eggs
2 spring onions
A knob of butter
Olive oil (for frying)
Salt
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp pesto
Plastic container
Card, markers, tape

Let’s get cooking…

Step 1

Grownups start by boiling the potatoes (whole) and cauliflower (cut into chunks) until soft. Cook the chicken separately in a pan with a splash of olive oil.

Step 2

Rinse the potatoes with cold water. Peel them, pop them in a bowl and mash them with some butter and a pinch of salt. (Ask your little helper to sing a mashing song.)

On other plates, thinly chop the chicken and the cauliflower. Be careful with little fingers around sharp knives!

Step 3

Put everything into a bowl then add the Parmesan, half the breadcrumbs, the chopped spring onions, 1.5 eggs (lightly beaten) and a pinch of salt. Grownups chop, kids pour and sprinkle. Mix everything together.

Step 4

Have your leftover egg and breadcrumbs ready. Take a little ball of mixture and have your little helper roll it into a finger shape. Dip it in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs. Don’t forget, you want your fingers to fit inside your nose, so don’t make them too fat!

Step 5

Little helpers, step away.. Heat about 1cm of olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, gently fry the digits in small batches until golden brown. Lay them on some kitchen roll and wait for them to cool.

Step 6

Grab a piece of card and draw a face (approximately the size of your tupperware). If you like, you can make it a portrait of your little diner. Remember, you want to cut out biggggg nostrils. Snip around your cardboard face.