Tomato-flavored Sooji Kheer / Upma

This one came out of an experiment with adding taste to simple rava (sooji) upma while not adding salt. I usually add some vegetable or fruit to make his food tasteful without the need of salt or sugar, but here I get stuck. I know babies have no taste of salt and it does not matter to them but somehow the idea of bland sooji kheer (porridge) seems boring right?

So I started out flavoring the water that I use to make the Upma and was amazed by the result. The smell in the kitchen after making this Upma is divine! It is sooooo tempting that you wanna eat it yourself. Well the best part is when I did, I absolutely didnt feel the need for salt in it even for me!

Method to make Tomato-flavored Sooji Upma / Kheer

1. Wash and deseed a couple of juicy tomatoes
2. Boil them in water for few minutes.
3. Mash and squeeze the juices out of the tomatoes and strain.
4. Boil the tomato-flavored water in a fresh pan
(make sure the water is in 1:4 ratio with the sooji to be used)
5. Add Jeera (cumin) powder, hing (asafoetida) and ghee.

6. When the bubbles form, slowly spread the rava  into the boiling water.
7. Keep in lowest flame and let it cook.

Serve it warm to baby, they love it. It hardens when cold. You can increase the water ratio if you want to feed like a porridge. You can even add little pepper and turmeric powder if you are giving your baby. But i think its the cumin, hing and ghee combo that makes it smell and taste so yumm.

Some people start rava / sooji right after 7 months, but in case of tomato, do the 3 day test for sure, cos it is a known allergen in many people (especially if one or both of the parents / siblings are prone to allergies). And about the spices, its your call again, cumin is very good for digestion and I started it a little before 8 months or so. You can wait until 8 or 9 months or until you feel your baby is ready.

Green Beans, Pumpkin and Cheese Soup

Hi all! So the blog has kick started well, with a much better response than I expected! So am all enthused to spend the lil my lil brat allows for me in the day (rather night) to spend on baby food blogging now.

Athyn is not much in soups or any liquid food for that matter, he's big time biter and wants to eat like us. But loved this one soup, i think its the cheese flavor. Green beans has been one thing that I am not able to get into his diet at all. It does not mash along with other vegetables during lunch time (dal kichdi with mixed vegetables) and when blended with water (or even BM) tastes kinda bitter. Even the Gerber beans is yucky (with and without rice). So in an effort to somehow get green beans in his meal, randomly came up with this soup and it was a success!

Method to make Green Beans, Pumpkin and Cheese Soup 

1. Wash and remove the strings out of both sides of  the beans (French Beans).
2. Cut into 3 or 4 pieces each.
3. Wash, peel and make 4 or 5 cubes out of the pumpkin.
4. Add any hard cheese of your choice (I used the cheese slices you get in Britannia / Amul)
5, Use previously boiled and cooled water to blend the same.
6. You can use a scoop of oatmeal to make it a thick soup, it adds to the flavor amazingly.

Be very careful about the Cheese choice. Cheddar is always the best option. Other than which hard cheeses like Gouda is okay for babies, but sometimes they are too elastic-ey for them to chew on and swallow. Avoid soft cheeses like blue cheese until baby is one year at least.

If baby is less than 8 months, you can make the soup without any cheese and add unsalted butter instead, its tasty in its own way.