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  • 150g Potatoes
    unpeeled and scrubbed 
  • 70g Salmon
  • A squeeze of lemon juice
  • A knob of butter
  • 2 Spring onions
    chopped
  • 1tsp Sweet chilli sauce
    (optional)
  • 2tbsp Tomato ketchup
  • ½tbsp Mayonnaise
  • 1tbsp Plain flour
  • 1 Egg
    lightly beaten
  • 50g Breadcrumbs
  • Sunflower oil
    for shallow or deep frying

    Method

    • step 1

      Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender (around 25 minutes). Drain and when cool enough to handle, peel and mash.

    • step 2

      Cook the salmon in the microwave for a few minutes with the lemon juice and butter, then flake and transfer to a plate.

    • step 3

      Mix the potato with the spring onions, chilli sauce (if using), ketchup and mayonnaise. Fold in the flaked salmon, being careful not to break it up too much.

    • step 4

      Take tablespoonfuls of the mixture and form into 10 mini balls if you’re deep frying, or 10 mini patties if shallow frying. Coat with the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs.

    • step 5

      If making mini balls, deep fry them in a good inch-depth of hot oil for a few minutes until crisp and golden. If making mini patties, shallow fry them in 2tbsp of hot oil for a few minutes on each side until golden.

    A great finger food to encourage your baby to feed herself, and full of essential fatty acids. Around 8 or 9 months, as your baby’s hand-eye co-ordination matures, finger food becomes an increasingly important part of her diet. The more you let her experiment, the quicker she’ll learn to feed herself. Start with soft fruit such as banana or pear, and steamed vegetables such as carrots sticks and florets of cauliflower. Raw vegetables are hard and your baby may bite off a piece and choke, so introduce these later.

    Oily fish such as salmon provides the best source of essential fatty acids (EFAs), which are particularly important for brain development, especially as a baby’s brain develops so fast in the first year. A diet rich in EFAs has been shown to help children who have dyslexia, ADHD and dyspraxia. Recent research also suggests that EFAs may have a significant effect on reading skills.

    A lot of food is now enriched with omega-3s. However, many of these are plant-derived as opposed to fish-oil derived, and are in quantities that provide little benefit. So it’s more effective to rely on eating oily fish as a source of omega-3s.

    Find more nutrition advice and Annabel Karmel's recipes at www.annabelkarmel.com

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