Feeding healthy stuff for babies is one of the biggest goals and challenges! Due to lack of time, we might be tempted to go for store bought ready made food stuff.
But the more we refrain from doing so, the better it is for baby’s health.
I try my very best to keep my baby away from junk, or store bought food. So I make most of the food and snacks at home, from scratch.
One such snack is the Apple Ragi Halwa. It is highly nutritional, filling and delicious so your baby would love to eat it (hopefully).
Ingredients for Apple Ragi Halwa (Just 3 are needed!)
Yes we need only 3 ingredients which makes this dish an easy one.
1. Roasted Ragi flour (sprouted, if you have the time and capacity).
2. Apple – the sweet kind
3. (Optional) Ghee
Roasted Ragi flour
You can use sprouted Ragi to make the flour. But it depends on many factors like how old your baby is (so how much time you can get), is there anyone else who can help you, are you working or a stay at home mom and so on!
So if you have the time and capacity, take about 2 tablespoons of Ragi, wash and spread it on a plate in a cool, dry place. Let it dry for 1 day (no need to keep in in the sun).
The next day take a clean cotton cloth (preferably white in colour) and place the dried Ragi in it. Tie the ends of the cloth so the Ragi is completely covered. You might hang it somewhere in the kitchen.
Sprinkle a little water and leave it for 24 hours. You might want to occasionally sprinkle some water if it goes dry.
After 24-36 hours you will see the Ragi to be sprouted. Now, spread it in a plate and place it in cool dry place. You can also place it in medium sunlight.
If this process sounds tedious to you, just take 2 heaped table spoons of Ragi and dry roast.
At the time of writing this post I didn’t have a helping hand. Also, my kid is 13 months old and is very mobile.
I used to use sprouted Ragi when she was less mobile. Now I simply don’t have the capacity to sprout the Ragi so instead of skipping the dish altogether I just skip the sprouting part.
Recipe for Apple Ragi Halwa
Place a wok or frying pan on the stove. Take two tablespoons of Ragi (sprouted or otherwise) and dry roast on medium flame.
Once it starts to change colour and once you get a nice aroma, stop. You will also see some Ragi pop white.
Now put it in a mixer jar and set aside for cooling.
Take half of a medium size Apple and peel the skin. Cut it into small pieces in a bowl and pour enough water so the Apple pieces are covered.
Place the bowl on medium flame and cook the Apple.
Meanwhile, make a fine powder of the roasted Ragi.
Take another bowl and pour 1/4-1/2 cup of water in it. Add the Ragi flour to the water and stir thoroughly so that no lumps are present.
Place it on medium flame and stir.
Check on the Apple and if it looks cooked, remove from the stove. If there’s water in the Apple, pour it in the Ragi flour mix.
And, stir well.
Take the Apple in the mixer jar and blend it to a smooth puree.
Now, add the Apple puree to the Ragi and mix well.
The mixture should have thickened by now.
If you prefer a watery or runny consistency you should remove from the stove immediately after adding Apple. If you’d rather prefer a thick consistency, cook for a couple more minutes.
If the consistency is runny, it will be a porridge. If it is thick you can officially name it Halwa!
In any case, if you are adding ghee, add it now, just before removing from the heat.
Serve warm.
Watch the video below for more clarity on the recipe!
A few notes of caution
Always check with your paediatrician as to whether you can add Ragi to your baby’s diet.
For the first six months it is highly recommended that you exclusively breastfeed your baby.
After 6 months you can introduce Ragi to your baby’s diet. But when you start, the consistency should be somewhat watery.
You can also introduce homemade health mix and Ragi is one of the most important ingredients in it.
After 8-10 months you can add ghee to your baby’s solid foods. Use ghee sparingly. While ghee can add nutritional value to the food, some babies can find it hard to digest.
If your baby likes sweetness, you might add little bit of country sugar to this before serving (only for babies over 12 months).
If you want to give this to a toddler, you might want to add even more sugar. But it is always good to restrict the amount of sugar that goes into the dish. Also if you choose the sweet kind of Apple, the Halwa will be sweet by itself.
This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 10:21 AM