Rice & Vegetable Porridge

Here is a recipe for a rice porridge which is a sure winner. This is a great starter baby food as well. Adjust the thinness of the porridge to your taste by adding more water. As always Gluten-free and dairy-free.

Ingredients

• Rice coarsely ground – 1/4 cup
• Carrots grated (or any vegetable) – 1/4 piece
• Water – 3 cups
• Salt
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Seasonings (red chillies, curry leaves) if desired

Ground rice

Procedure

Heat oil in a skillet and add seasonings if desired. I normally remove the red chillies and curry leaves after they are fries in the oil. Add the grated carrots in this oil and let it cook for a few seconds before adding the water and salt. When the water starts boiling, slowly add ground rice while stirring. Cook this covered on a low flame, stirring it occassionally, until it is thick enough to your desire. This will take atleast 15 minutes.

Calories: 276

 

Rice & carrot porridge

 

Upma Kozhakattai or Steamed rice dumplings

This is a traditional tamilnadu recipe that I learned from my MIL. This is naturally gluten, dairy and egg-free. Since this is for kids, I cut down on number of seasonings used (like mustard seeds, urad dal). Most kids may take the seasonings too. Mine is okay with red chillies and curry leaves, so I add them. She is allergic to urad dal, so I cut it out.

Ingredients

• Rice uncooked – 1/4 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Red chillies, curry leaves, mustard seeds, urad dal for seasoning

Procedure

Wash rice and speard it on a paper towel for it to absorb the water. Grind this rice till it is coarsely ground. It shouldn’t be too coarse or too fine like the flour. May be like upma rava.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the seasonings. After they splutter, I generally take off red chillies and curry leaves. Add water and salt to your taste. After the water boils, add the ground rice little at a time while stirring. Let this cook on a medium flame. Keep stirring and it is done when it becomes thick enough to make balls out of it (like Upma).

When this cools down, make it into little balls, pile them in a plate (or idli plate) and steam them. Your hot kozhakattai are ready.

You can add about 3 tbsps of toor dal along with rice for grinding, for variety and to spike up the protien. If you add toor dal, don’t forget to add 4 times that amount of water more.

Also, you can add a little of your (I mean your LO’s) favorite vegetable, grated, to this along with ground rice.

Calories for plain kozhakattai: 208

 

Banana Omlette/Pancake

I had been trying to come up with a way to make soft fluffy omlette without adding milk in it. Without milk the omlette will generally end up being a little stiff and my LO doesn’t like it much. I figured that adding banana will make it super soft and increase its calorie content too. This particular omlette can be made sweet or salty or add 3 tbsp of rice flour and you can make good pancakes. As always this is Gluten and Dairy free.

Ingredients

• Large egg 1
• Banana 1/4
• Sugar 1 tbsp
• Olive oil 1 tbsp

Procedure

Beat egg, 1/2 tbsp oil and sugar together. If you are making the pancakes, mix rice flour now. Mix in mashed banana.  Spread it evenly on a oiled skillet. Cook it on a medium flame covered until the omlette is stiff enough to be turned over. Cook it for few more seconds and your fluffy omlette is ready.

This omlette is a favorite with my LO and the only way she will eat the egg! You can add a pinch of salt instead of sugar to make it less sweet or for variety. Oh yeah! They want variety!

Calories with sugar: 250

Calories with salt: 215

 

Rice & Potato Patties

Here is a recipe for making patties with your left over rice and vegetables at hand. This is a gluten-free and dairy free recipe. I make then into bite size patties, so my one year old loves these. If you have older kids, you can turn these into burger (ofcourse using gluten-free bread) patties too.

Ingredients

• Cooked rice: 1/4 cup
• Baked poato medium 1/2
• Egg beaten 3 tbsp
• vegetables grated (beans, carrots, peas, zuchini, bottle gaurd, etc) 2 tbsp
• salt to taste
• Pepper if desired
• oil – 2 tbsp

Procedure

Mash rice, potato, vegetables and salt together. Add egg and mix it together. Make these into bite size patties. Fry them in a lightly oiled pan on medium heat. Fry them till they are golden brown.

Choose vegetables that your little one is not allergic to. Mine is allergic to Bottle gaurd so I avoid it. You can substitue potato with sweet potato to make it a little sweeter.

Number of servings: 3

Calories per serving: 122

 

Banana Dosa

Alright! Here is my own recipe for a dosa for moms who want to make one for kids who are allergic to Urad dal (or any dal for tha matter)! This recipe is a hybrid of traditional neer dosa (of karnataka) and Appam (of Kerala).

Ingredients

• White Rice: 1/4 cup
• Banana: quarter of very ripe one
• Sugar: 2 tsp
• Olive oil (or butter) - 1 tbsp

Procedure

Soak rice for atleast 2 hours. Grind this rice in a blender with enough watre to make it very smooth. Add sugar and banana and blend it well. Add 1/4 cup of water to this paste and your dosa batter is ready.

Heat a dosa pan or a non-stick skillet. Prime it with oil and pour the batter with a laddle so that it spreads evenly. There will be holes in the middle. Put some more oil along the edges and in the holes. Heat this on medium heat, and by turning around. If it is for toddlers, make sure you dont make it crisp.

Serving size: 1 dosa

Number of servings: 4

Calories: 112