Homemade Baby Food – 1

Parenting is a new challenge everyday for the rest of your life, probably even beyond.

As you grow old, as a parent, you will conclude that the previous day was much simpler. One such exciting challenge is introducing solid foods to your baby, The first six months must be exclusively breastfed or bottlefed as the child’s digestive track is yet to mature thus after six months new food textures are given.

Most of the Indian babies usually are weaned off starting with lentil soup (dal ka pani ) or khichdi in a pulpy form. Once the baby is habitual to the new food type then more variety can be initiated gradually feeding the baby the food which is cooked at home.

Today I share my Baby Food Recipe which I feed Arha, my 10 month old boy. This homemade baby food powder is a mix of rice and lentils along few spices.

Ingredients: 

• 2 Cups Rice 
• 2 Tbsp Toor Dal
• 2 Tbsp Moong Dal 
• 1 Tbsp Mix Dal
• 2 Tbsp Saboodana 
• 2 Tbsp Rava
• 2 Tbsp Alsi / Flax Seeds
• 2 Tbsp Cumin 
• 7-8  Black Pepper Corn 

Method:

1. Except for Sabudana, Rava and the spices wash other ingredients and dry them out on a muslin cloth for a day. 
2. Next roast all of the ingredients one by one in a iron kadhai till they crisp up a bit. Do not burn them.
3. Cool them off and then grind them in a food processor till the grains are crushed into fine powder. 
4. Once the powder is ready let it be on the counter for some time so that any trapped heat is let off  before you pack it in an airtight container. 
5. Keep the airtight container in refrigerator. When you want to make the meal ; bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot and add 1 tablespoon of this homemade cerelac to it. Add pinch of salt  and then cook it till it transforms into a porridge like consistency. 
6. Serve this to your kiddo with some homemade ghee. 
7. Once you baby is used to the texture and taste you can be more experimental by adding turmeric, asafoetida and veggies like tomato,carrots, peas, etc. 

Tip: 

• Always follow the three day thumbrule i.e. when you introduce a new food type to your baby wait for three days to know its effect. 
• Also, you need not introduce all the said ingredients at one go. Make rice powder first, then after few days add moong, then toor, and so on so forth. Thus you will also know what your baby likes and what suits him or her. 

Hope this was useful. Do let us know your queries or feedback by commenting below. Until next week, happy parenting.