hi everyone

I am looking for some simple recipes for lunch and dinner for my 16 months old.For lunch i am giving him kichdi(moong dal,rice and veg).Dinner i am still giving gerber oatmeal which i want to stop.What is the other alternative?Please give me some ideas.thanks a lot in advance.your advice is appreciated. supu replied. Aarti, thanks. i am not that good in cooking & i am working for 9 hours, so i need easy recipes. but i will try to make wheat dosa on weekends.
I am in US so i think i can give it a try to keep my batter for a week.
i have some doubts.you use that batter for a week ? it'll get stale ? is it safe that many days.and for babies is it safe to give that old batter ?
btw, what is your baby name ?

Hetal, thanks alot for clarifications. i am not good in cooking & i was looking for a good convincing reply. i have been struggling to make a good idli dosa batter and everytime my mil wins the race.its frustrating to hear from her a long lecture after working like a dog for 8-9hours.
i am buying your vote & expecting it to succeed.i will try the fermentation steps like you mentioned with my present recipe.i'll let you know.

But it would be very kind of you, if you can plz give me recipe of how you make. i think that will be easier for me to use fenugreek seeds in it rather than editing my own recipe.
the fermentation i get is not much.i will check on things you mentioned.
Thanks alot for the details. are you south indian by any chance ? your name is not a south indian name :)
i am really impressed by the level of your knowledge & prefect clearcut answers for every smallest thing or product and its usage.there is alot i have learnt eversince i started reading your post. you have made this site meaningful for me.hats off.
lots of love to nirja,

Regards,
Supriya Srinivas Hetal replied. to prevent gas from ne food esp dosa or idli, with any ratio, add in 1 tsp of methi seeds while soaking..this will eliminate gas,,as its beeen soaked with rice and dal..generally in south india, thats the normal proportion every one uses, 1:2 for dal and rice,,add in methi seeds/fenugreek seeds to it,,and c how it does miracle.

also,i have known some families whose babies were given dosa/idlis just while introducing solids,some as early as 5months,,but the prop they used were 1:4 or in some cases it was much more 1:8 !!! they said it makes idli and dosa very light to digest,well technically speaking very true,,. so try whatever suits you..however, methi thing really works if you dont want to try a new recipe if your are not sure of results :)..
i couldnt make a successful one with 1:8 :)) so telling you :),,c if does for you.

offer it with sambhar(without tamarind or chilli), or even chutey (no chillies)..no probs at all.chutney has hingg,tadka, curry leaves,and corainder,,all great to improve digestion !! no worries. and so is sambhar,all goodness of dal, mild spices,hing and tadka,and mix vegies too, and being a soupy consistency,,great soup,,no worries.

i would not recommend you giving yogurt with dosa, as basically you are giving 2 sour things down the line,,one is fermented product and the other is also nothing but a cultured one .

yes its true that yogurt makes digestion easy,but even though its not sour or is fresh its basically a cultured milk nd has sourness to some levell,and thats y it tastes diff than milk,,,which increases acid levels in your body when taken with other fermented or sour things..

dont do that to your baby esp in one feed. your baby belly is very delicate, dont give 2 things of foods thats has same nature..nullify the bad effects of each food by balancing it with opposite nature food so as to keep the diet balanced !!! this is the chemistry part of it.
offer dosa, first and then after a while, lets say 10 mins or so,you can give yogurt or buttermilk,,no prob,,just dont give it together ! by the time your baby will eat yogurt, in this case, your dosa are on way to digestion,,which means you arent mixing sour and fermented stuffs together in your lil ones belly !!! but one by one,,which is still acceptable.

now controlling sourness of fermentation. your mixture is getting fermented and getting sour because of your climatic conditions that prevail in the room where your mixture is kept..its hot than its needed for a perfect fermentation. so to control that, if you are in US, keep it in a room where ac effect is better/cooler than where it is right now. other thing you can do is, keep a water filled thali or ne vessel wherein keep your mixture vessel. water will control heat level and this will take the fermentation abit late but it will not get sour at all. i rem myself when i was in bangalore, it was pretty cold theere,,though it took 2whole days to get perfect fermentation, it wasnt sour at all! in US, where i live, i get a perfect fermentation in 5 hours,,exact.
now, if your batter is not rising and is getting sour then your mixture isnt grind properly.so check on that,,and if your batter is rising perfectly(doubles the size of the actual mixture or more), then the prob is with temperature...so check on wat i mentioned above.
hope you got my point... and always keep an eye at the mixture, if you arent sure about the time it ferments at your place,,make a mark to the vessel if you wish,to c if it has fermented prop in certain hours.
if doubt, taste it,smell it, once a a while,,you might be prob just waiting too long to let it sit fermented !! and may be its getting sour,coz of that..,,
once done, tranfer it to fridge on your lowermost shelf,,and you are good to go for another 3 days,,if more, freeze it upto 2months, while defrosting, put the vessels or bag in warm water vessel or run the bag or air tight freezer container thru hot water tap and you have a batter ready whenever you want !
good luck. Aarti replied. I am south Indian too :-) Actually, the wheat dosa is quite different in consistency from the regular ones. The addition of just a little bit rice flour is needed to make it rise from the tava. Some of these things I just blindly listen to the MIL! Just plain wheat flour will be too flimsy. But you don't need a whole lot, just a bit to give it body.

Where are you based? i live in the US and am able to keep batter in an airtight container for upto a week in the fridge. I am not sure about India.

People get gassy if the ratio of urad dhal is too much. Could you try 1:3 and see if it reduces the gassiness? Do you add soda to your batter? Sometimes that might cause gassiness. My mother and aunts first give idli with yogurt. Their belief is that it aids the digestion of idli. I wonder if that will help. a lot of these things are unfortunately trial and error depending on your little one's digestion.

Hope this helps somewhat. We'll end up writing a thesis on idli-dosa!

Aarti Hetal replied. hi, it doesnt matter whether or not baby has teeth or not.baby can be graduated to textures eventually and its diff for all babies.

ne recipe you can work on, you can always mash it to the desired texture of your baby,,make sure you are giving him every nutrient that he needs in one meal ! because kids fuss alot while eating,,,you are not sure whether or not your second meal will be complted by them, as per your expectations..

to avoid dosa sticking to your pan, after every dosa,clean your pan with a cloth dipped in water..keep a bowl of water in which cloth is dipped,,squeeze it and clean the pan,,and make a new dosa...
it will not stick !

good luck. Aarti replied. Hi Jaya,

I had a similar issue with my son. Although he had his teeth, he was slow with textures. That's why the wheat dosa worked well. But don't worry. Now at 3 he is able to eat all textures. My doctor was very helpful in assuring me that things were fine. This was the recipe given by my mother-in-law. It is for a small quantity :

- Two tablespoons wheat flour, 3/4 rice flour, salt, pinch of hing
- Mix them into a paste with yogurt or buttermilk
- Dilute with water till you get the consistency of rava dosa (thinner then regular dosa)
- Pour on tava like rava dosa. You can use ghee or oil on the sides.

This recipe is now enjoyed by the elders in the family too! I just add a seasoning of jeera to it. If you find that the dosa sticks too much to the tava you might have to increase the quantity of rice flour, but I try to minimise rice in favor of wheat.

If you say he has a problem with textures, it will be good to keep regular south indian dosa/idli batter handy in your fridge. You can grind vege purees and add them to the batter to make vege idli or vege dosa. It is way to cheat him into eating veges!

- Aarti Hetal replied. check my post to geetha,on 1st aug,,some ideas are therein ! and whereever there are ques on solids in any months, check for the recipes therein..wrote alot of them.
since your baby is 16months, alot of options available.
then, try mixed flour pancakes/dosa(mix chana flour,wheat flour,barley flour,millet flour,abit of sooji,rice flour, oatflour,add in some spices if you have introduced, like a 16month old can be given oregano/ajwa,italian seasonings, turmeric,cumin coriander pwder, corainder leaves,add in some mashes vegies,salt, add in water to desired consistency, and after 15-20mins,,make uttapam/dosa/pancakes acc to your baby liking...highly nutrious,and great filler esp for dinner,,easy to make.has everything fromvegies to flour to rice flourr(rice)...
apart from that, give mix dal dosa(with urad dal, add in other dals too,and add in double prop of rice to whole dal mixture,,soak and grind,,add in some methi seeds for easy digestion),,also mix dal idlis,,just as dosa, just the output will be different..
if you are eating eggs and nonveg, try differnt m&eat with rice,,boiled eggs with rice & dal , scrumbled eggs with vegies,omellete with meat, or cheese omellete,,watch for allergies if ne !

other than that,mix vegie soup with pastas in it...oil/ghee in cooker,do tadka of jeera,hing,curry leaves,add in all vegies, add in pastas,add in some cheese strings(some),and desired water,,and tomatoes to the likings of your baby,,add in salt,cumin corainder pwder, some jaggery(to nullify tomato sourness),some turmeric,and good to go, whistle for 4-5,,and you got a complete meal ! add in shredded hard cheese,if your baby likes it, or throw in some bread crumbs for something interesting inside soup !
stuffed parathas,try mix vegies,a whole meal. try mix dal with rice with ghee,whole meal again,,ne pastas with lots of vegies,,good nutritious...
add in cracked wheat and moong dal, mix vegies to it, do tadka, desired water,like you put in moongdal and rice,,and great meal of wheat,,add in a dash of ghee before serving !
good luck Aarti replied. Hi Jaya,

How good is your son with textures? Can you try-

- Parathas. If they are too hard for him to swallow you can soften it with dhal or yogurt. Even stuffed vege parathas can be an option.
- Wheat dosa
- At 16 months I was still giving him ragi sometimes at night. But it is a personal preference
- Dosa/idli
- If you consume eggs, you can make soft scrambled.
- My cousin is a big fan of yogurt rice but I have never given that for dinner.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. Just a start. For any new foods, please do consult your doctor. Only s/he and you know your son's allergic history.

If you need the recipe for wheat dosa let me know. If it very simple.

- Aarti