how to make baby rice cereal at home step by step photos
1. Wash brown, white rice and dal separately until the water runs clear. Soak them in lot of water for about 6 hours. Do not cover the pot, leave them in a well ventilated place, like near a window. This process of soaking rice or dal breaks down the hard to digest components in the foods for easy digestion.
2. Drain off completely in a colander. Spread them on a clean white cloth, preferable white or undyed cloth. Leave it to air dry or fan dry for 30 to 50 minutes.
3. Dry roast them on a medium flame for 5 minutes and then on a low flame. After a while, rice begins to pop and splutter. The grains turn out very light so the cereal is gentle on the tummy. Switch off and cool.
4. similarly follow the same process for white rice and dal.
5. When cooled powder them finely and store in a air tight jar. If your blender cannot process well, sieve the flour. Powder the coarse grains again.
6. To prepare baby food, always use a heavy bottom steel pot. Do not use aluminium or non stick pans. To prepare the cereal, mix 1 tbsp flour with 1/2 cup water and cook on a low flame constantly stirring to prevent burning. Foods cooked on a low flame yield the best texture and taste. 1:6 ratio of flour:water works well to bring it to the right consistency. You may need to add more water since that depends on the kind of rice. When the cereal cools down, add formula milk or breast milk to enhance the nutrition. For babies above 6 months, moong dal can be used. I suggest not to add milk to dal, instead ghee can be added.
Based on the baby’s tummy conditions, you can combine them and use. Prefer only white rice cereal with milk when the baby has more colic. During stomach upset or teething, this powder can be used to make a rice porridge or kanji. This powder can be used for light dinner as well after 7 months.
Any fruit puree or mashed veggies like potato or sweet potato can also be added to the rice cereal instead of milk. Since fruits and milk do not go well together, i suggest not to serve both in one meal.
There are so many ways this dry baby cereal can be put to use. I will update more ideas on this post shortly.
Here are the notes that may be useful:
1. I used aged brown basmathi rice and ponni rice, since i made this for the blog post and not for a baby in real. If making for baby i highly recommend using organic rice and dal.
2. I have used 1:6 proportion of brown rice:water to cook the cereal. It may vary depending on the stove flame, quality of rice, brand of rice and whether it is brown or white rice. You will have to adjust the quantity of water as needed especially if making very less quantity.
3. This dry cereal keeps good if refrigerated for more than an year and if frozen for longer.
2. Drain off completely in a colander. Spread them on a clean white cloth, preferable white or undyed cloth. Leave it to air dry or fan dry for 30 to 50 minutes.
3. Dry roast them on a medium flame for 5 minutes and then on a low flame. After a while, rice begins to pop and splutter. The grains turn out very light so the cereal is gentle on the tummy. Switch off and cool.
4. similarly follow the same process for white rice and dal.
5. When cooled powder them finely and store in a air tight jar. If your blender cannot process well, sieve the flour. Powder the coarse grains again.
6. To prepare baby food, always use a heavy bottom steel pot. Do not use aluminium or non stick pans. To prepare the cereal, mix 1 tbsp flour with 1/2 cup water and cook on a low flame constantly stirring to prevent burning. Foods cooked on a low flame yield the best texture and taste. 1:6 ratio of flour:water works well to bring it to the right consistency. You may need to add more water since that depends on the kind of rice. When the cereal cools down, add formula milk or breast milk to enhance the nutrition. For babies above 6 months, moong dal can be used. I suggest not to add milk to dal, instead ghee can be added.
Based on the baby’s tummy conditions, you can combine them and use. Prefer only white rice cereal with milk when the baby has more colic. During stomach upset or teething, this powder can be used to make a rice porridge or kanji. This powder can be used for light dinner as well after 7 months.
Any fruit puree or mashed veggies like potato or sweet potato can also be added to the rice cereal instead of milk. Since fruits and milk do not go well together, i suggest not to serve both in one meal.
There are so many ways this dry baby cereal can be put to use. I will update more ideas on this post shortly.
Here are the notes that may be useful:
1. I used aged brown basmathi rice and ponni rice, since i made this for the blog post and not for a baby in real. If making for baby i highly recommend using organic rice and dal.
2. I have used 1:6 proportion of brown rice:water to cook the cereal. It may vary depending on the stove flame, quality of rice, brand of rice and whether it is brown or white rice. You will have to adjust the quantity of water as needed especially if making very less quantity.
3. This dry cereal keeps good if refrigerated for more than an year and if frozen for longer.
