Weaning recipes – 3 ways to use poha or beaten rice to make nutritious dishes for your child

These recipes are going to make your life much easier when you start weaning.

In Indian households, it is rare that you won t find poha or beaten rice in large quantities that can last you for at least a fortnight, even if you are only dining on it. Poha is easy to cook, nutritious and can be made into a delicious snack, commonly known as Kanda-poha in minutes. There is hardly anyone who would not like to relish on a hot bowl of kanda-poha for breakfast, garnished with freshly grated coconut and mixed with crisp, roasted peanuts. But that dish is for us adults to savour, for babies the ones who are just a little over six months of age and started weaning, there are other ways to feed this nutritionally rich cereal. Read to know if you should give your baby raw fruits during weaning.

Here are few easy recipes you can try:

Dahi poha

This is in one of the easiest ways to give your baby poha. Take some handful of the cereal and wash it thoroughly with clean, drinking water (not tap water). Allow it to soak in water for a while. In a separate bowl take three to four spoonfuls of curd and beat it well. Once you get a smooth consistency, add the poha soaked in water and beat it well. Refrain from adding sugar, honey or any other sweetened syrup to this mix. All this will just add calories which your child can do without.

If your baby can chew and swallow food well, then you don t have to worry about the consistency. Else you can add little water to the mix and dilute it according to your baby s requirements. Here are other interesting weaning recipes made with fruits for you to try.

Poha kheer

This is also a relatively easy recipe and can be cooked within five minutes. First, wash a handful of poha thoroughly, drain out all the water and keep it aside. In a separate bowl soak some kismis or raisins. In a pan, heat some water in low flame and add the poha, let it cook for a minute or half-a-minute to make it softer. Add two scoops of baby formula and turn off the flame. Mix it well with the poha and add the raisin. If you want you can cut the raisins into halves and add a scoop of a homemade badam-kesar mix as well. Offer your child this kheer once it cools down. Here are a list of weaning foods you can try for your baby.

Poha-nachni cereal mix

Take equal quantities of poha and nachni and dry roast them separately (clean the poha well and use a sieve to filter out any impurities in the nachni). Next, allow them to cool and add both the ingredients in a mixer and make a powder. Keep this powder in an airtight container and use it whenever needed. Here are ways in which you can this powder for your baby:

1. Mix one or two spoons of the same in milk and make a healthy porridge to give your baby.
2. Add this scoop to dal-khichdi to add more nutritional value.

Image source: Shutterstock