Baby Food / Porridge powder for babies / Rice, Wheat, Ragi Manni for babies

During the initial six months of a baby's life, it is recommended to exclusively breastfeed. After this period, around the age of six months, it is advised to begin introducing complementary foods such as purees and porridge.

In situations where mothers face unavoidable challenges that require them to be away from their baby for extended periods, some may choose to introduce complementary foods like manni (porridge) as early as four months, while continuing to breastfeed. This approach can help address the baby's nutritional needs during the times the mother is not available for breastfeeding.

While many baby food options are available in the market, its better to feed the babies with homemade, preservative free food.

I am sharing here with the very nutritious baby food recipe which balances the heat with the combination of wheat, ragi and rice, provides strength. While poppy seeds help to improves cognitive functioning, pepper helps avoid catching cold.

Recipe courtesy - Shantharam Siddheshwar, my father-in-law.

Ingredients

For the powder
Wheat - 1 cup
Ragi - 1 cup
Rice - 1 cup
Poppy seeds - 2 spoons
Pepper - 2 corns

While cooking 

Jaggery powder - 1/4 spoon

Ghee - 1/4 spoon

Method

Finely wash and soak wheat, ragi in water for about 8 hours. Drain the water and allow it to sprout for next 8 hours. 

Wash the rice and drain out the water. Spread rice, sprouted ragi and wheat separately on a cotton cloth (dry it under the shade, inside the house) for about 6 to 8 hours.

Now roast dried rice, ragi and wheat separately for about 5 to 6 minutes each. Dry the poppy seeds too. 

Grind wheat and ragi separately into fine powder. Grind rice, poppy seeds and pepper corns into fine powder. Mix all of them together and store it in an air-tight container. Its recommended to prepare for a month so that it stays fresh. 

How to prepare Manni before feeding?

Add 2 spoons of above powder, 1/4 spoon jaggery powder, 1/4 spoon ghee to 50ml of water in a small steel vessel and mix well.  Cook in low flame for about 2 to 3 minutes. Allow this to cool down.

Serve this manni in a "olale" / "baby feeder".

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