Plese help me. I need few receipes for finger foods for 15 month old toddler.
Also I need receipe to make Idli at home. I myself love idli and usually buy packet that is available in Indian grocery stores. But for my baby I would like to make it at home. As I feel sodium content in store bought is really high.
A detail receipe will be greatly appreciated.
Please help.
THanks Hetal replied. hi,
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 15months, alot of options available.just pasting one of my earlier posts on recipes.
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 !

now for a idli recipe - this one has worked for me pretty well.

soak urad dal(1cup)in the morning. soak in another vessel idli rava(2cups).
let them soak for a minimum of 4-6hours. make sure the grain of urad dal,idli rava has soaked well,,you will see abit increase in their size.
once soaked, grind urad dal;put it in big flat bottom vessel having a larger circumference at the opening-it will ferment well and give a good rise.. seive water of idli rava, and mix it with grinded pasta of urad dal. add some salt and allow it to ferment in a nice warm place. let it ferment whole night or more if required.. if your temperature in house is below 75, then its advisable to keep it inside the oven(DONT turn oven ONN), if you are in us or put it in a place where it can stay undisturbed for 12-14hours..
once fermented nicely,make idlis of it..
the second way i was told by mil style was parboiled rice 3cups,urad dal 1cup,fenugreek seeds 1tsp, some salt.
soak dal,methi seeds,together and rice seperately for 3-4hours. grind dal smoothly, until it becomes frothy.
grind rice to fine rawa consistency.before removing from grinder mix salt and grind dal to the rice mixture well.keep in large wide mouth or large circumference vessel,for a good raise.grind the batter batter previous day itself so that batter is fermented atleast 15-20hours-however it depends on your house temperature. next day morning mix it well, and make idlis.
sometips - pour enough water while grinding itself, do not add water next day. it will make batter watery and idlis wont cook nicely or water will remain seperated resulting in sloapy idlis.if batter is very thick, steamed idlis becomes hard..

also, note that there are many ways to make idli, all dpending on differnt family traditions & culture.so go by watever works for you with desired results.
down the line, if you are getting idlis that are soft, very fluffy like flower and when eaten should melt in mouth without sticking to teeth or palatte, that recipe is just the right for you,irrespective of whether or not it didnt work for or neone or it did worked for me or anyone else.

i follow both the above recipes depending on availability of parboiled rice.
however, if you are unable to find idli rava, make your own, grind sona masoori rice in mixie until the consistency of rawa,,,since its already pounded rice, it doesnt need more soaking than it needs in whole grain rice.also, because its pounded, basically the grain is broken to too many pieces so you will be using broken rice than whole rice which will further reduce your gas prob, if any occurs..there is less possibility of gas in idlis compared to dosa..idlis cook on high temperature in steam-that steam is enough to burn your hand or cook some vegie or even a potato,,so it cooks well than dosa does,,as dosa cooks on lesser temp than idli steamer....just try keeping a cooking thermometer and measure the temperature in each of its cooked pieces,,you will see the difference.
hope this suffices.
good luck & have wonderful time with your toddler.