Idly is a good start up in 6 months. Since we are including urdhal in preparing idly batter, it is healthier for the babies as it is rich in proteins. The Idly batter preparation is slightly different as we should not refrigerate the batter for not more than 1 day. Sour batter is not good for the babies.
Ingredients:
Parboiled Rice - 1 ladle
Urid dal - 1 ladle
Fenugeek seeds - very few(may be 10)
Salt - To Taste
Method:
- Rinse and soak the parboiled rice and urid dal in water separately for atleast 2 hours.
- Add fenugeek seeds with the urid dal
- Drain the water and grind the urid dal first in a mixer by adding water in smaller quantities
- When the urid dal batter is ground,take it in aside
- Now drain the water from the rice and add it to the mixer and grind it first without adding water. Then add little water again and grind it till it becomes a soft batter
- Mix both the urid dal batter and rice batter in a vessel and add salt and stir well
- Keep it over night or atleast for 5 hours for better fermentation. If it is very sunny, please do not keep it overnight as it will make the batter more ferment
- The next day, grease the idly plates with oil and add 1 ladle of idly batter and steam cook it in a pressure cooker for 3-5 mins
- Gently remove the cooked idly from the idly plate and make small pieces and grind it in a mixer by adding little milk or curd
- Take the idly puree and add sugar and feed it to the baby. If the baby likes salt taste instead of sugar, you can grind the idly with curd and add salt to it and feed
- After 9 months, we can try taking small pieces of idly without grinding and soak it in milk or rasam and try feeding the baby. This will help them to learn chewing instead of always making it as a puree
