Lumps anyone? Toddler and Baby meal, 5 Vegetable Kichdi

My son is now coming up to 11 months (sigh, I know its flown by!) and in the last few weeks he has been eyeing our food and is happy to try everything we are having. So from munching on cooked pasta, bread sticks, cucumber rings and pieces of roti, I have decided to experiment with different textures and lumps. He isn't keen on having fully pureed food anymore. And I feel thrilled with this as this only means less seperate baby food and more family meals together! The trick is to make something inbetween otherwise you can be left with a very hungry baby who is frustrated with trying to eat an unfamiliar texture. So today I have made 5 vegetable kichdi, which my toddler loves with cucumber yoghurt. The only difference is that I added more water so that the texture was creamier, and of course no salt or chillis.

I used the following vegetables: baby aubergine, carrot, potato, courgette, and beetroot. It's what I had at home in the fridge, feel free to use whatever you like. Even pulses like kidney beans or chickpeas works well, as well as lamb or chicken.

For 4 portions for both baby and toddler:

You need:
5 vegetables of your choice, washed and chopped up. One cupful is good.
1 cup of washed white or brown basmati rice
1/2 cup of moong dal(small yellow lentils)
1 teaspoon of ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/2 teaspoon of hing (aesofetida powder)

1. In a pressure cooker, add the ghee and once hot add the cumin seeds, tumeric powder and hing.
2. After a minute add your vegetables and stir together.
3. Now add the dal and the rice and 2 cupfuls of water and stir
4. Close the cooker and allow 3 whistles.
5. Once cool, remove toddler portion and add salt. Baby's portion is ready to serve along with yoghurt.

The texture of the kichdi is creamy but you can still see the individual pieces of vegetables so that baby gets a chance to learn to eat lumps.