Baby Food Recipes: Doctors' Favourites

Khichdi :
Introducing solids to all infants should start with rice based meals, paediatricians suggest, owing to their richness in carbohydrates, minerals and iron.

• Take a couple of teaspoons of rice and moong dal in 1:2 proportions.
• Pressure cook with small bits of vegetables like carrots, spinach, coriander, potatoes, beans and cauliflower and little turmeric.
• Add no salt at all.
• You may puree this or just finely mash into a thin paste.
• Add a few drops of ghee. Ready to serve.

Daliya:
This is finely crushed wheat available at almost any food mart. Daliya is rich in fibres and protein. Either cook daliya the khichdi style replacing the rice and moog mixture with it or make a sugar based milk porridge.

• Pressure cook daliya in clean water first so it become soft and gets easily mashed.
• Now boil the cooked daliya in milk for five minutes.
• Add sugar to taste.
• You can also add cardamom powder to enhance the flavour.

Mashed Potatoes:
Potatoes are rich in carbohydrate which makes them extremely nutritious for infants and toddlers.

• Boil 1 potato well with it peel till tender.
• Now unpeel it and mash it into a fine paste.
• Add some clarified butter. Mix well and serve.

Semolina/Suji Porridge:
Research shows that semolina or suji is rich in fibre, protein and other minerals. Since semolina is inherently easily digestible and a fulfilling meal, I would suggest make this their meal before their afternoon nap or the nightly retirement.

• Dry roast the semolina in a few drops of ghee/clarified butter.
• Now add milk to the mixture and cook till the semolina looks tender and soaked.
• Add sugar and cardamom to taste.

Mixed vegetables Soup:

• Wash and cut mixed vegetables for the soup. These will comprise of 1 potato, ½ onion, 3-4 florets of cauliflower, 1 broccoli floret, 1 carrot, green peas, beans and a few spinach leaves.
• Boil them in 2 cups of water or diluted chicken broth.
• Reduce to half. Your baby soup is ready.

Mashed Bananas:
Rich in carbohydrates, Vitamin B, almost fat free and very rare cases of allergy makes this a perfect baby fruit. Its richness in potassium encourages bone growth making it a doctors’ favourite for babies.

• Make sure the bananas are ripe.
• Mash them well with a fork to avoid any lumps.
• Serve a quarter or half banana to start with.

Mashed Avocadoes:
Medical health expert Dr. Aliza refers to avocado as “fruit of life”. This sodium and cholesterol free fruit is a rich source of potassium, vitamin B6 and folate.

• Mash the avocadoes.
• Serve almost around 2 tablespoon or less in smaller portions.

Stewed Apples:
A great source of vitamins and minerals, stewed apples help relieve gastric problems in babies.

• Peel and cut 1 apple into small pieces.
• Boil until tender in ½ cup of water for 5 mins.
• Sieve through a strainer or mash with a fork.
• Serve a tablespoon or two in smaller portions.

Mashed Pear:
Pears are a bundle of benefits for babies. Rich in Vitamin C, pear boosts immunity. Also, hypo-allergic in nature makes pears a safe option to introduce to our kids. Also, the folic acid from them helps avoid any neurological defects in infants. Rich source of fibres protects the colon.

• Mash 1 ripe pear or extract the juice.
• Serve in small proportions.

Always Keep in Mind:
• Intially its always advisable to keep the infants off salt and sugar, the vegetables and dal provide enough salts for the recipe.
• Prefer not pureeing your baby food. Either grind them slightly or mash them with a fork.
• Make fresh. Never feed them stale food.
• Never serve you infant solids before they are at least 6 months old.
• The serving for infants may be a couple of tablespoon fed in smaller proportions.
• Soft plastic spoons may be used as they prevent the baby gums from getting hurt.