Moong dal rice or moong dal khicadi is a very common first food for babies. The split moong dal is the most preferred among lentils for the first food category.I prefer making rice and dhal separately and mixing because I always open cook rice as it’s a better and healthy option.Check out detailed points on weaning and home made healthy baby foods check here.
Come let’s check more information on moong dal before getting on to real recipe.
The split moong dal is a very safe food for babies and the chances of allergic reaction w.r.t moong dal is almost NIL. It is an excellent sources of vitamins like Vitamin C, A, K, E, B-6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate and power house of proteins. The amount of proteins is 23 g in 100 g of moong dal (as per US agriculture database) and this is highly superior as compared to any fish,eggs and chicken. All these tend create allergies whereas yellow moong is allergy free. It is a good source of dietary fibre and helps in protection and healing of liver,building up immune system and above all very easy to digest. As compared to other lentils this is almost no gassy in nature.It is so good for skin and hair.
I sat to down write this as a post to highlight the importance of using moong dhal and also to give a clear picture of how to prepare rice for babies. It is highly hazardous to mash/blend cooked rice in a mixer. My pediatrician and elders always warn that blending cooked rice leads poisoning at certain conditions. As a mother would you not avoid adding harm to your baby’s food? And one more point is that rice with dal would be introduced around 8 plus months by when baby MUST BE ready for mashed foods and no more purees. When the baby is naturally ready to transit why should we hinder it?
Ingredients:
- Yellow moong dhal-1/4 cup
- Cooked Rice-1/4 cup
- Ghee-2 tsp
- Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp
- Hing-A generous pinch
- Turmeric powder-A pinch
Procedure:
How to cook moong bean?
1.Wash moong bean for 3 times or until all impurities are removed.
2.Soak it for 20 minutes.
3.Drain the water completely and add hing,cumin seeds and turmeric powder.
4.Add twice the amount of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
5.You can mash the cooked dal well and set it aside.
6.If you find excess water,drain and give it like soup or add it to gravies/soups/rasam.
How to prepare mashed dal rice?
1.Take steaming hot rice in a bowl and add ghee to it.
2.Mash it with a ladle until you don’t see any grains as such.
3.Now add the mashed dal to this ghee rice.
4.Mix it well and feed after cooling.
Notes:
Mashing rice when it is hot makes it easy.
You can alternatively cook moong dal in an open pan too.
The quantity of water for cooking moong dhal depends on the variety and quality of dal.
I used home made ghee and it is always preferred to add melted ghee.
You can also mash with your fingers.
Always use sterlized utensils for babies.
Have a word with your pediatrician before providing any new ingredient.
For 1 plus years babies add a pinch of salt.
The first time you give rice,give plain ghee rice.
After 3 days you can go to dal rice and later to rasam with dhal.
As days pass by slowly reduce the level of mashing ,so that baby can accept real solids too.
The colour depends on the dal and turmeric powder.
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