Weaning at 6 Months...

My little niece is turning 6 months this week! So I've dedicated this entry to my cutie pie! Happy 6 months Little One!

When you start off weaning, you will need to get prepared with: bibs, wipes, silicone spoons and bowls. You might need a bumbo or a high chair to put baby in. Keep some water in a sippy cup so she can get used to having sips of water and ultimately transitioning towards using a cup rather than a bottle.

For cooking, I found a steamer or a double boiler pan essential. Steaming holds all the nutrients in and it is much better than boiling food. A small pressure cooker (handy to stick in the dishwasher) was a godsend for me too! Dals, chicken curry and even soups were made in it. Once the food is cooked, use a blender till finely pulped and add some water or baby's milk depending on the recipe to thin out.

You will need some small storage containers to store the food and may want to use ice trays to keep small quantities and pop out and reheat the food when you need to.

I would recommend offering the first meal in the day so you can keep an eye on allergies which tend to appear 24 hours after baby has digested the meal. So 11 am is a good time to offer, as is 2 pm and of course milk feeds continue as normal. Baby will barely take a few spoons, but this will soon increase to 10 spoons or more. By 7 months, you need to aim to offer a range of foods and flavours.

Here are 3 first recipes that babies love, using a hint of spices for flavour will get baby going on its journey of Indian spices!

1. Steamed Pear with Cloves and Cinnamon

Cut half a pear, de core and leave the skin on. Take a clove and stick it in to the pear. Do the same with a small piece of cinnamon. Place in steamer or a double boiler with the lid on. When the pear is very soft, remove from the pan. Now, remove the skin, clove and cinnamon stick. Cut up and put in the blender with a tablespoon of water. Blend through and serve baby.

2. Butternut squash with Cumin

Take half a cup of deskinned and chopped butternut squash and put in steamer or double boiler with the lid on. While the squash is cooking, take a separate pan and turn up the heat. Once hot add a pinch of cumin seeds. The seeds will start to toast and you will get a lovely fragrance! Now check that the squash is ready by poking it with a fork. It should break up easily. Add to the blender along with the cumin seeds. Add some water if you need to thin further.

3. Duo of Melon

Take 1/4 cup of chopped honeydew melon and 1/4 cup of galia melon and blend. You may want to strain the melon if you feel its very pulpy in texture, else add some water.

Happy Weaning!

Turkish Bulgur and Aubergine

We have just returned from a trip to sunny Turkey and I was blown away with the fresh fruit and vegetables available over there. Going to the local market was truly a feast for the eyes. The rich red color of the tomatoes, the juicy watermelons and the golden apricots. I brought along a few food pouches but I have never been a fan of them though they did come to use when we were at the airport. So that meant cooking on holiday which doesn't sound like much of a holiday but after seeing all the fresh produce there, I was inspired to cook some Turkish food for my little one!

So I gave a go at bulgur (cracked wheat) and aubergine in a tomato sauce. You could use dhaliya which is finer. The trick is to cook the bulgur till plump and soft so that baby can easily swallow it. I would recommend this dish to babies one year and older.

For 4 portions I used:

1/2 cup of bulgur wheat
1 small aubergine chopped into bite size squares
1/2 onion finely sliced
1 garlic pod crushed
1 tblspn concentrated tomato puree
2 cups of water
1 tblspn chopped parsley optional

1. In a pan or a kadai, add some oil and when hot add the onions, garlic and the aubergine.
2. Continue to stir fry the vegetables and add a little more oil if it starts to get dry. Now add a pinch of pepper and salt.
3. Now add the tomato puree and stir through the bulgur wheat.
4. Once fully coated, add the water and put the lid on and simmer on medium heat.
5. Allow to cook till there is some gravy and that the bulgur is soft and plumped up. You may want to add more water. Test if cooked by pinching on a grain, it should mash between your fingers.
6. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve to baby.

Baby's First Egg Curry

My son, who is now 1 year and 3 weeks, tried egg curry for the first time yesterday. Rich in protein and creamy as I used cocont milk, this was a very tasty dish. I have started introducing a pinch of chilli in his food now. If I am honest the chilli component in the family meal is next to nothing now because of the children and I am trying to set this straight so that in a few months they should manage to tolerate at least 1 chilli. I will keep you updated on that one!

So for 4 portions I used:

2 eggs
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/2 can of chopped tomatoes or even better use passata as its smooth
pinch of red chilli powder
pinch of tumeric powder
1 tspn mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
1 tspn grated ginger

1. Boil some water in a pan, and let the eggs boil for 8-10 minutes.
2. While they are cooking, add the tomatoes to a pan along with the red chilli powder and tumeric powder and stir for a few minutes.
3. Add the coconut milk and reduce the heat so that it simmers.
4. Now for the tempering process (tadka), in a small pan or a metal ladle, add 1 tablespoon of oil and once hot add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and the ginger. The seeds will start to pop and the ginger will change color, now you know it has cooked so add to the curry sauce.
5. Remove the eggs from the water once they are cooked. Peel and cut in to halves and put them into the sauce.
6. When you are ready to serve, take some fresh bread and remove the crusts. Place them at the bottom of baby's bowl and pour the egg curry over and allow the bread to soak it all in. Yummy!

Fish Karahi for the Family

I don't know if any of you have got a hold of Anjum Anand's 'I love curry' cookbook, but I cant praise it enough! She uses every day ingredients and comes up with super meals. So this morning, I was staring at my packet of fish and was wondering what to cook for the evening meal. I flicked through Anjum's book and decided to try her prawn karahi recipe. The photo just sold it to me and as I had everything in my cupboard that suited me as well! With my son having his nap a busy mommy needs efficient recipes! I have tweaked it to suit baby and toddler and still keep the hubby happy! I used white fish for this recipe, but if you want to use prawns as Anjum did then feel free!

For a family of four I used:

two fillets of white deboned fish chopped into 4 pieces
4 tspns ghee
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tbspn fresh grated ginger
5 cloves grated garlic
1/2 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tspn ground coriander (dhaniya powder)
1 tspn ground cumin (jeera powder)
1/2 tspn carom seeds (ajwain)
2 pinches of dry fenugreek leaves (methi leaves)
1 tspn garam masala
squeeze of lemon juice
pinch of tumeric

1. In a bowl, put the fish with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of haldi. Stir together and set aside
2. In a karahi or sautee pan, add the ghee and once hot brown the onions
3. Next add the grated ginger and garlic and sautee for a few minutes
4. Add the tomatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder, carom seeds and fenugreek leaves
5. Cook for 15 minutes and you will see the color intensify and the ghee starting to separate from the masala paste. Transfer into a small bowl and keep aside
6. In the pan, add a little more ghee, and add the fish and cook for a minute or so
7. Now add the garam masala and the masala paste that you set aside and 50 ml water. Cook for a further two minutes

Remove baby's portion and add salt to the rest of the family's meal. Serve with rice or rotis...Thanks Anjum!

Almost 1!

In a few days, my little custard apple (i.e. my son) will turn one! Sigh and how time has flown with baby number two. From breastmilk to formula to purees and now eating the family food, my little one is growing in front of my very eyes. I am so pleased that I can cook one meal now for everyone, albeit no salt, chillis or sugar. The best part is that he watches what his sister eats and wants to take part too! Sunday breakfast I made egg bhurji or Indian scrambled eggs for both kids and it went down a treat! I tweaked the recipe by adding single cream to the eggs to make them softer.

So here goes my recipe for egg bhurji for toddler and baby:

2 eggs
1 tspn single cream
pinch of pepper
1/4 finely chopped onion
1/2 deskinned chopped  large tomato
1/2 tspn tumeric powder
pinch of chopped coriander

1. In a bowl, crack the eggs and add pepper and single cream. Beat with a fork
2. In a saucepan, fry the onion and when soft add the tomatos and tumeric powder.
3. Once the consistency is mashed up, add the egg mixture.
4. Use a wooden spoon and turn the egg in the pan till fully cooked. The mixture should be slightly wet.
5. Add the chopped coriander and stir through.

Serve with bread.

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.

Eating out in Bombay, NOT Child Friendly!

Its been a month since my last entry and this is because we were away on holiday in sunny Bombay. This was the first time for my son, and the third time for my daughter. It had been a year since our last trip and I had forgotten how difficult the city is with a child, not to mention this time two children.

As you can imagine there were lots of family visits which meant lots of eating out. In Bombay, our local couple friends with babies/toddlers don't go out to restaurant. There are no high chairs/booster seats in sight. We went to the following restaurants: Indigo Deli, Smoke House Deli, China Garden, Amadeus, and Cafe Zoe. All the restaurants mentioned are relatively new and serve contemporary food and attract a broad clientele, both locals and out of towners. I spoke to the manager at Cafe Zoe, who happens to be a friend of my hubby and as well as a new father, and has ordered high chairs for his restaurant as well as changing table in the bathrooms. I was naturally pleased when I heard this.  The only restaurant which had high chairs was Royal China near Sterling Cinema and of course the CCI. I was shocked that Bombay today with its influx of tourists and foreigners doesn't welcome children to their eateries.I am sure there are other places that do welcome kids and now I wish I had done some research before hand, so Bombay parents please fill me in for next time!

So if children are not accommodated then naturally there is no children's menu, or changing tables in the bathroom. Perhaps its just me coming from London but eating out with my children is a very normal and enjoyable thing to do. But this is mainly due to the restaurants being accommodating and welcoming children with high chairs, children's menus, space to park buggies, crayons and coloring pads to entertain themselves. In Bombay, it seems that their either isn't a demand for high chairs as families don't take their children out to eat. Why is this? Is it because usually in tow is a nanny and to take the nanny out to an expensive restaurant is a no no?  I feel that the whole restaurant experience is off putting to parents. Children aren't accommodated and therefore aren't taken out. In London I wouldn't think twice unless it was a fine dining restaurant. So for parents visiting Bombay in the near future, I suggest call up restaurants before hand and check if they have high chairs so that your eating experience isnt manic like ours were!