Home Made Baby Cereal

I have been giving store bought cereals for our baby from his fourth month onwards. In between I used to give him a little bit of our home cooked rice also. Later on making cereals at home became very easy and found that our baby likes it much better than the packaged cereals. Moreover we used whole grain which is very healthy for him. Here is the recipe from my grandmother for a flavorful, healthy home made cereal. Back in India people used to give cooked rice mixed with cooked green gram and clarified butter to the infants. As per ayurveda clarified butter should be given to infants daily.

Ingredients

Red matta rice or any brown rice - half cup

Green gram /Mung beans/ Mung dal - half cup

Fry the above together in an iron(preferably) pan in medium temperature. Do it slowly so that the ingredients will evenly get roasted. This will take at least 10 minutes. Remove from the pan once it is roasted lightly. Mung dal and rice should be light brown, but maintaining its original color.

Now let it cool down for five minutes. Later grind it together, make a fine powder out of it.

Cook the cereal:

When you need to feed the baby, take a table spoon cereal; mix it with ½ cup of water. There should not be any lumps. Now cook at medium heat for at least 10-15 minutes to your desired consistency. Stir continuously till you are done; add clarified butter (Optional:1/4 tsp). You can add sugar or any fruit puree or palm jaggery to sweeten the cereal. Serve warm or cool. This is one if the best baby cereal you can give for your little one.(optional: Add milk, breast milk)