Healthy for all

Hi all,

My daughter is 11 months old, I always get a doubt as to what to feed her that will be healthy and tasty. All she get to eat are pasted, mashed and pureed vegetable or fruits with rice and regular dal. Lately, I think she is bored of eating the same food and demands to eat from our plate. So, I decided to find recipes for her. I came across this recipe book for toddlers in the library. Lots of fascinating dishes looked very healthy and tasty. Then, I thought how I can incorporate this for both her and us. So the first recipe is altered for both kids and adults.

Hummus

Hummus is a Middle Eastern dish that is basically a dip for breads. Hummus is made from chick peas/kabuli Channa. It is very rich source of carbohydrate, protein and fibers. One cup/100gms of channa contains 7.6 g of diatary fibres, 27.42 g of carbohydrate and 8.86 g of protein. I made two variations of hummus - one for us and other for my daughter.

Hummus:

Ingredients

4 oz dried chickpeas (or Garbanzo beans) or canned
Pinch ground cumin (jeeragam)
1 clove of roasted garlic,
2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
Olive oil

Method:

Cover the chickpeas in cold water and soak overnight, if it is dried one. Canned peas can be cooked directly. Drain, then place in a saucepan and cover with fresh water. Cook until tender (1- 1 1/2 hours) or pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles.

Drain the water. Grind the chick peas, garlic, cumin with little water in the beginning. Further smooth consistency by adding olive oil. Remove from blender and serve.

Hummus for kids can be made more tasty by adding kidney bean with chickpeas and avoid cumin as it can be allergic to kids (Please find out about your kids allergies before adding certain ingredients to their dishes like cumin, peanut or sesame seeds etc). Instead of lemon you can add Orange juice or apples for sweeter taste with garlic eliminated.

Serving tips: Hummus can be served as spread with our regular wheat bread or even chapattis. It can be used as salad dressing on our regular salads as well.

For kids over 5, you could make Lettuce Taco filled with vegetable and hummus served on top or with regular tacos instead of heavy cheese.

Note:

Make sure the hummus is smooth in consistency and no lumps from apples or beans before serving it to babies and todlers.