Introducing “F” for “Food” to your baby

I’ve heard many moms complain how fussy their babies are when it comes to food. Often meal times become a nightmare for parents when babies or toddlers refuse to open their mouth at all. It need not be that way always.

Here are some tips and tricks I learnt while introducing food to my older princess Diya:

1. Plan for introductory foods – specially made for babies, often sweet or bland – for about a month or a little over a month. Not too long.
2. Once you feel that your baby is able to digest most stuff and is not allergic to most items, simply take a few things like rice, daal, veggies that you prepare for everyone else at home, process it in food processor to soften it and feed it to your baby. This way your little one and you do not need to have two cycles – first for getting used to bland food and then to get used to usual food that your family eats.
3. If at times you feel some dish is too spicy for your little one, you can simply add water / dahi (curd) / butter-milk (chhanch) to tone it down.
4. Allow your little one to play with the food. Babies are explorers. They like to experiment with things by taking it in their own hands, feel the texture, look at the colors etc. Make sure you take care not to let your baby put fingers dipped in spicy curry to their eyes etc. Otherwise if your baby is safe, it’s ok to become messy. Babies will love food times and it’ll be less fussy for you too.
5. Give enough time between two meals. Let your baby feel the need to eat. Don’t force feed.
6. It’s never too early to start learning good habits. Wash your baby’s hands and mouth or wipe clean before and after eating.
7. Avoid getting into the habit of watching TV while eating food. You can spend time talking to your child, making stories, telling names of the dishes etc instead. You can even play games. Diya’s favorite one is where she is the dinosaur and is going to gulp down the naughty kid (that is the food). She even plays this to this day (she is 4!) when does not particularly like the meal we have prepared.
8. If you child does not like some fruit / vegetable, don’t give up on it. Try a different dish with the same thing. Change the way you cook it and introduce again after a few days. Babies and kids will often surprise you.
9. Start reducing intake of milk (specially the feeding bottles) when you start giving food to your baby.
10. Avoid junk food. Specially with toddlers, you’ll have to be strict, but it will be worth it.

Above all, make sure the older kids at home or even elders, do practice what you are trying to teach your baby or toddler.

Do you have some interesting tips for our readers? Do share your experiences with us.

My special pasta recipe

When I was expecting my second baby, I had this unusual craving for pastas. I used to come home each day from work. Stop at the local veggie seller and ask him to give me any combination of items worth 10/- rupees. He usually put together one tomato, one capsicum, occasionally one brinjal (egg plant), one zucchini (tori/turai), some peas etc. I would then come home, make steaming soupy pasta with all these items and sit and relish. (You have to experience PGcy to understand how it feels to eat what you want ;) Sorry guys...) The pasta I used was the colorful fusilli - small colorful spirals that you get in "Big Bazaar" stores. I also picked some random herbs from the same store.

Here's one of the recipes that I happened to create just-like-that but it grew to be my favorite.

Looks yummy, does it not? It's really simple to cook, too.

Simply chop all the veggies (yeah, just toss those tori, laukis also, you won't regret it...). Heat some olive oil directly in a pressure cooker. Its slightly sour and adds the perfect tangy taste. Add all the veggies (starting with onion and garlic, if you are adding them). Add pasta (no need to pre-cook) and sauté for a minute. Once olive oil has coated each piece nicely, add water so that the mixture drowns in it. Add basil, oregano, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt. Close the cooker lid and cook till 2 whistles.

Enjoy along with the evening rain.... :)

Edible art: littlefoodjunction

Thanks to my friend Shikha who introduced me to the “Little food junction”.


Smita Srivastava is a real creative person. Her blog is full of creative ideas for presenting food as works of art. May it be plain fruits to salads, sandwiches to pizza, she can turn food from “good to eat” to “great to look”…


I had to share these with you all….


(All images are works of Smita Srivastava from Little Food Junction…)




 
Mouth watering….. Simply Awesome!!! What do you think?

Mini Pizza

Here’s how you can make quick and delicious mini pizza:
Mix a cup of sooji (semolina) with about half cup of dahi (curd).
Add finely chopped pieces of onion, tomato and capsicum, salt and red chilly powder per taste.
Adjust water to the consistency of idli batter.
Spread this mix on a sliced white bread.
Roast both sides on a hot tawa with some oil.
Enjoy with tomato sauce or chutney.
Tip: You can premix the batter the night before and store it in the refrigerator to make these a quick tiffin item on Monday mornings.

Upma / Sanja / Upeeth

Upma also called as Upeeth or Sanja in Maharashtra is an easy-to-cook, healthy-to-eat dish. This is a typical breakfast or tiffin item. Are mornings busiest times for you? Grab this recipe. You can complete most of the procedure the night before and store the ingredients as a ready to eat item. :)


Ingredients:

1. Sooji (Rawa / Semolina) -  1 cup
2. Water – 2 cups
3. Assorted veggies – 1/2 cup. Beans, carrot, cabbage, onion, tomato, capsicum – finely chopped, peas peeled
4. Peanuts - 1 tablespoon (not roasted)
5. Salt – per taste
6. Sugar – 1/2 tsp (optional)

For spluttering:

1. Chana daal (Bengal gram daal) - 1/2 tsp.
2. Dhuli urad daal (Split black gram daal) - 1/2 tsp.
3. Mustard seeds (Sarson or Rai) – 1/2 tsp.
4. Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1/2 tsp.
5. Asafetida (Hing) – per taste
6. Turmeric (Haldi) powder - per taste
7. Green chilies /  red chilies – finely chopped. Per taste
8. Oil (refined vegetable oil / Canola oil) – 1 tbsp.

For garnishing:

1. Grated coconut – 1 tbsp.
2. Coriander leaves (cilantro / hara dhania / kothimbir) – 1 tbsp. Finely chopped.

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan and add sooji. Saute till it turns golden brown and remove from fire.
2. Add a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot add chana daal and dhuli urad daal and saute till they turn golden.
3. Add a pinch of asafetida, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and let it splutter.
4. Add chilies, turmeric and peanuts. Roast lightly.
5. Add veggies. Cover and let cook for a couple minutes till the veggies turn soft.
6. Now add roasted sooji, salt and sugar. Mix well.
7. If you wish to use this mixture at a later time, simply take it off the heat, cool and refrigerate. Stays good for at least one day.
8. To proceed with making upma, boil 2 cups of water separately. Make sure the sooji mixture is slightly hot, take off from the heat and add boiling water to it. Stir well so that there are no lumps. Cover for about two minutes.
9. Garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves.

Serve and be ready to accept compliments :)

Red Chilly Pickle

During my vacation last year, one of the things I learned to make was the hot, delectable red chilly pickle. It's that time of the year again. Go make some for your family....

Let me share the recipe with you. This time I am not going to point out the proportions of ingredients. Rather, I’ll simply depict the relative proportions in a picture and let you experiment a little. Ready to have some fun?

Procedure:
1. Clean the red chilies with water and dry in sun.
2. Split them so that each one opens only on one side and is able to hold the stuffing inside.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and keep it aside to cool.
3. Mix ingredients given in the picture below.


4. Add Lemon Juice or dry mango powder (Amchoor) or finely cut mango pieces to the mixture.
Start with the minimum quantity you think will do, after the mixture is ready you can adjust as per your taste.
5. Stuff the chilly pieces as shown below:


6. Store closely in a glass bottle with a tight cap.
7. Add the cooled oil till it covers most of the pickle.
8. Keep the bottle tightly closed in the sun for a couple of days.

Enjoy!

Lemon rind + Curd curry (Nimbu ke chhilke wali kadhi)

Ingredients:
1. Curd (Dahi) - sour, about 250 gms.
2. Rice flour - 2 tbsp.
3. Lemon rind (Nimbu ka chhilka) - Take half a lemon and squeeze out the juice and the seeds. You'll need only the skin for this preparation.
4. Grated Coconut - ripe but not dry. 1 tbsp.
5. Green Chilli (hari mirch) - 2
5. Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 2 tsp.
6. Black pepper (Kali Mirch) - 4~5 seeds.
7. Salt to taste
8. Water - 1/2 to 2 cups.

For spluttering (tadka):
1. Mustard (sarson/rai) seeds - 1 tsp.
2. Asaefoetida (hing) - 1/2 tsp.
3. Curry leaves - 4 / 5

Procedure:
1. Add water and churn the curd so that no lumps appear.
2. Cook lemon rind in water till it becomes soft.
3. Grind cooked lemon rind, coconut, cumin seeds (jeera), black pepper (kali mirch), green chilli (hari mirch) with a little water.
4. Mix well - churned curd, ground mixture of coconut, rice flour and salt. Add little more water if needed.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients of spluttering one-by-one.
6. Once the contents splutter, add the mixed curd and bring to a single boil.
7. Take off the heat and server hot with plain rice or roti.


Tips:
1. If fresh lemon leaves are available, 2~3 leaves can be substituted for the lemon rind.
2. In case you do not like the tangy flovour it yields to curd, a tsp of sugar can be added to the preparation.
3. A single red chilli addded to the spluttering will give the dish a spicy taste.
4. Optionally dry urad dal (split Black Gram, polished, without cover) + dry chana dal (split Bengal Gram, polished, without cover) can also be added to the spluttering.