Congee baby food recipe

Rice Porridge for Babies - MJ and Hungryman

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Super easy to make, this beef and vegetable rice porridge for babies is easy-to-digest, nutritious, and suitable for 6 months and up. It’s also a great meal to serve when your child is feeling sick or teething.

While I’m calling it baby porridge, this dish is for all ages! Rice porridge is commonly enjoyed in Asian cultures as a hearty savory breakfast. It’s also our “chicken soup.” Warm and comforting, it’s the perfect meal during an illness.

If your child is running a fever, teething, having diarrhea, etc., make this porridge ASAP!

Porridge is such a great way to invite variety into your baby’s diet! It can be made with any types meat, seafood, vegetables, and other flavorful toppings.

Here I’m sharing a veggie-loaded version with beef!

Is rice safe for babies?

Being Korean, we eat a lot of rice. That’s why when the report about rice containing about 10 times as much inorganic arsenic as other cereal crop came out, my anxiety initially skyrocketed. Perhaps you can relate.

Why so much in rice? It's due to the way they're grown and rice tend to absorb more heavy metals from the soil in which they are grown.

Arsenic is especially concerning for babies and young children as their bodies are so small and therefore getting much higher exposure than the adults. Arsenic is also a neurotoxic compound and thus can lead to impaired brain development. I know. Scary.

BUT! don't let fear get the best of you. I share this information because knowledge is important. It helps us to learn and make informed decisions.

What this knowledge further motivated me to do, and I hope it does for you, is to focus on offering a wide variety of grains instead of relying heavily on rice.

Overall, oatmeal (we make variations of this ALL the time for a quick breakfast), barley, buckwheat, quinoa, and wheat contain much lower amounts of inorganic arsenic.

How to cook rice for baby 6 months and up

Resource

Here's a simple way you can significantly reduce arsenic from rice while preserving its nutrients.

According to the research, parboiling rice removes about 54 percent of arsenic in brown rice and about 73 percent in white rice, while retaining the most amount of the nutrients potassium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous, and manganese.

For this recipe, not only will this extra step remove the arsenic content considerably, it also shortens the cooking time.

Ingredients

Rice - Sushi or jasmine rice will work best. I don’t recommend basmati as it doesn’t break down into a creamy, “gluey” consistency.

Vegetables

Feel free to use whatever vegetables you wish - bell pepper, broccoli, asparagus, spinach...endless possibilities!

You can finely chop using a knife or a food processor. I like to prep a lot while the baby is napping so this manual food chopper is my go-to (affiliate link). It’s super quiet, lightweight, and powerful.

Step-by-Step Instructions

cook beef in sesame oil
add onion and garlic

3. add parboiled rice

4. add the rest of the vegetables

5. Add water and cook for 15-20 minutes

6. Add a drizzle of sesame oil before serving

Expert tips

It's important that you stir frequently. The more you do so, the more the rice will break down and become silky.

While water is used in this recipe, you can use stock for more depth of flavor. Just be sure to use low-sodium or no-salt-added variety.

Storage Suggestions

Leftover porridge can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop. Stir in a little water, breastmilk, or formula to loosen it up, if necessary.

How to freeze baby porridge

If intending to freeze, be sure to cool first. Do NOT leave the porridge in the large pot at room temperature to cool. Instead, transfer to shallow containers (I like to divide into single-serving portions) in the fridge before transferring to the freezer. Here's an in-depth post on how to store leftovers safely and effectively.

This baby porridge can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.

Do you want to minimize picky eating and set a solid foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating habits?

Check out this 3 month mastering self-feeding program! It’s the closest thing to me being in your kitchen

rice porridge for babies

Super easy to make, this beef and vegetable rice porridge for babies is easy-to-digest, nutritious, and suitable for 6 months and up.

4.96 from 23 votes

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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Min | MJ and Hungryman

▢ 1 cup (220g) sushi or jasmine rice
▢ 1 tablespoon sesame oil
▢ ½ pound lean ground beef
▢ ½ cup (70g) finely chopped yellow onion
▢ 2 teaspoons minced garlic
▢ ½ cup (70g) finely chopped zucchini
▢ ½ cup (70g) finely chopped carrots
▢ ½ cup (15g) finely chopped kale
▢ 4 cups water or low-sodium broth of choice

First, parboil rice

Rinse rice in a strainer. Add 4 cups of water to a large pot and bring to a boil. Add rice and boil for 5 minutes. Strain the rice. Discard the water.

For the porridge

In a large pot add 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Add beef and cook over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes, breaking up large clumps, until no longer pink.
Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add strained rice and cook for 3-4 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add the rest of the vegetables and stir for about a minute or so.
Pour 4 cups of water into pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes. Be sure to keep scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent rice from sticking.
At this point, you can add more water if thinner consistency is desired. Before serving, add a drizzle of sesame oil. For older child and adults, can season to taste with salt and pepper, or add a splash of soy sauce.

It's important that you stir frequently. The more you do so, the more the rice will break down and become silky.

While water is used in this recipe, you can use stock for more depth of flavor. Just be sure to use low-sodium or no-salt-added variety.

Can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.

Course breakfast, lunch, dinner

Cuisine Asian

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Tag me @KidFriendly. Meals today!

Deluxe Baby Porridge - Rasa Malaysia

Deluxe Baby Porridge - Congee (rice porridge), Asian comfort food great for babies. You can make it plain or get creative like this version.

I haven’t posted new baby recipes for a while but a good friend finally motivated me to do so.

She has been cooking the sweet potato porridge for her daughter and can’t wait for my new baby recipes.

So, here is my deluxe baby porridge recipe that I have been making for Baby G since he was 7 months old.

It’s called deluxe baby porridge because I have added many nutritious and delicious ingredients to the porridge: protein (you can use chicken, ground pork, fish, or beef), dried scallop (the secret ingredient in Chinese cooking that makes food extra yummy), silver fish or baby anchovy (which is loaded with calcium), potato (sweet potato or regular Russet potato or Yukon Gold), squash (I love pumpkin, kabocha, or butternut squash), vitamin C (tomato, broccoli florets, green beans, carrots), and onion.

Onion has many medicinal benefits and stimulates good appetite.

I also add an egg yolk towards the end of the cooking because Baby G doesn’t like formula.

Believe it or not, Baby G has been eating this same porridge for over 6 months (he is now 13 months) and he never gets bored; in fact, he eats more and more each day because he is now an active walker!

This recipe is very versatile because you can change the combinations I proposed above: use a different protein every day, change your potato, squash, and vitamin C and you have many variations.

For me, the silver fish, dried scallop, and onion always stay because of the great flavors they lend to the porridge.

Please take note that the dried scallops are quite expensive but if you do get it, buy the small dried scallops (slightly bigger than a dime), preferably from Japan.

It’s hard to swallow so I always remove it from the porridge before I blend it.

If you have never fed your baby all the ingredients in this recipe, always start by introducing one ingredient at a time until you’re sure that your baby doesn’t have any allergy reactions to the ingredients.

As Baby G grows, I slowly introduce new ingredients to his porridge.

His new favorite is corn kernel, which adds a subtle sweetness to the taste.

So experiment with the recipe and find your baby’s favorite combinations.

In any case, I can assure you that this porridge tastes very good, so much so you won’t mind eating it, too.

Happy feeding!

This recipe is only 149 calories per serving.

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup rice
3 cups water
3 oz. (85 g) protein, chicken, fish, pork, or beef
1 oz. (28 g) sweet potato, orange-color, cut into small pieces
1 oz. (28 g) pumpkin or kabocha, cut into small pieces
1-2 dried scallops, removed after cooked
1 tablespoon dried silver fish, rinsed
1 spring onion, cut into small pieces
3-4 broccoli florets or 3 wedges tomato
1 egg yolk

Instructions

Put the rice into a small pot and rinse with cold water a few times. Discard the cloudy water and add 3 cups of filtered water into the rice. Add all the ingredients into the pot and bring it to bowl on medium heat. Lower the heat to simmer, cover the pot, and let cook for 45 minutes or until the rice breaks down completely. If using egg yolk, lightly beat the egg yolk and add to the porridge. Stir a few times, and let cook for about 1-2 minutes. Before serving, remove the dried scallops (you can eat them) before using a blender to puree the porridge. Serve it cool to avoid burning your baby.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

2 person
Amount Per Serving Calories 149Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 103mgSodium 72mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 6g

Cereal decoctions. Baby food. Rules, advice, recipes

Cereal decoctions. Baby food. Rules, tips, recipes

WikiReading

Baby food. Rules, tips, recipes
Lagutina Tatyana Vladimirovna

Contents

Cereal decoctions

If at home it is necessary to prepare a substitute for women's milk, similar to artificial milk mixtures of industrial production, cereal decoctions can be used for this. They dilute whole milk or kefir at the rate of 1 part of the broth for 2 parts of milk or kefir.

Rice, buckwheat and oatmeal thoroughly sorted, washed, changing the water several times.

Then put on a napkin and let dry, then grind into flour with a coffee grinder.

Pour 4.5 cups of water into an enamel saucepan and bring to a boil, then in a thin stream, stirring constantly so that there are no lumps, add the groats flour, mixed with 0.5 cups of warm water, and cook for 3 minutes.

Then add a little sugar syrup, bring to a boil again and remove from heat. Cool the resulting broth and put in the refrigerator, where it can be stored for 1 day.

To prepare a decoction, instead of homemade cereal flour, you can use ready-made baby food flour.

This text is an introductory fragment.

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Baby puree at home: recipes

Baby puree from vegetables and fruits at home: cooking secrets

Vegetable and fruit puree often becomes the first meal of the baby after breast milk or formula, so many mothers prefer to cook it on their own. Although modern manufacturers convince us that baby food is devoid of preservatives and harmful additives, fresh vegetables and fruits are much healthier, especially when it comes to infant nutrition. Yes, and cooking baby puree at home is not so difficult.

Vegetables or fruits?

Let's try to make baby puree for our beloved baby. Despite the fact that pediatricians of the last century recommended starting complementary foods with fruits, it is better to first introduce the child to vegetables - modern doctors and nutritionists have come to this conclusion. Boiled vegetables do not irritate the gastrointestinal tract, are better absorbed, satisfy hunger, do not cause allergies and increased gas formation. In addition, vegetables do not contain fructose, which irritates the pancreas. And one more weighty argument in favor of the fact that it is better to start with vegetables - fruits are tastier, and if the baby tries them first, he will refuse vegetables, because they will seem to him more insipid.

How to prepare baby vegetable puree

What can baby puree be made from? The ideal puree for the first feeding is from cauliflower or zucchini. A little later, you can introduce pumpkin, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and green peas. Before cooking, vegetables are washed well, peeled, cut into pieces and cooked - steamed, in the oven or in the usual way, in water. The first two methods are preferable because oven roasting and steaming preserve the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and natural color in the vegetables. And most importantly - such vegetables are much tastier. Some nutritionists recommend boiling vegetables with their skins on before peeling them, so choose your own cooking method.

If you do have to cook vegetables in a saucepan, use an enamel pot, add less water and dip the vegetables into boiling water. Boil until soft, but do not overcook vegetables and fruits, otherwise they will become tasteless and lose a lot of vitamins. Ready vegetables are chopped with a blender until smooth and slightly diluted with water, vegetable broth, breast milk or mixture to a gruel state, since the child does not yet know how to digest thick food. Small pieces of vegetables in puree sometimes cause the baby to refuse to eat, so the knives in the blender should be well sharpened, and if there is no technique, you can grind the vegetables through a sieve. Salt and spices are usually not added to baby vegetable puree, and if the baby is more than 6 months old, you can put a little butter in the puree.

A few rules for making baby puree at home

Use only fresh vegetables and fruits.
Water for cooking vegetables must be filtered or bottled.
If you are using frozen foods, choose only whole fruits and vegetables as they retain the most nutrients.
All utensils for preparing baby food must be perfectly clean, so if the knife falls on the floor, it should be washed well. Also, the presence of pets in the kitchen during the cooking process is not allowed.
Avoid vegetables and fruits high in nitrates, such as spinach, lettuce, beets, melons, and watermelons, in infants' diets.
Store-bought vegetables are recommended to be soaked in water to remove nitrates: 1-2 hours for this, up to 24 hours for potatoes.
Mix sour-tasting fruits and berries with sweet fruits - for example, blackcurrant goes well with banana or pear. Sour puree is unlikely to please the baby.
Give your child only fresh food, but yesterday's puree from the refrigerator is better to eat yourself.

Handmade fruit puree for children

Children are more likely to eat fruit puree because fruits are tastier and sweeter. Fruits contain a large amount of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fiber and antioxidants, so they are very useful for a growing body. However, fruits are strong allergens, especially berries, bananas, pomegranates and apricots, so they should be given with caution, watching the child's reaction. The most low-allergenic fruits are apples and pears, so it is better to start complementary foods with them, and then introduce all other fruits. First, the baby is fed with a one-component puree made from only one product, and then you can mix different vegetables and fruits, and not only among themselves. Very tasty combinations of fruits and vegetables, such as apples and zucchini, pumpkins and pears.

Fruit must be of good quality, without damage, ripe and juicy, and the rules for preparing fruits do not differ from the rules for cooking vegetables. Naturally, fruit puree is not sweetened with honey and sugar - the later the child learns the taste of sugar, the stronger his health will be.

Aromatic pumpkin puree

Babies enjoy eating pumpkin because of its pleasant sweetish taste, besides pumpkin is very healthy. It contains a whole storehouse of various vitamins, including vitamin T, which normalizes the metabolism in the body. For pumpkin puree, small pumpkins are suitable, since large fruits are not as tasty and difficult to peel.

Cut the pumpkin in half, and then into small pieces, one or two of which (depending on the appetite of the crumbs) cut into cubes. Boil the pumpkin in a double boiler or in water for 20 minutes, while warm, beat with a blender to a smooth puree and dilute if necessary with water or a mixture. Add oil and salt depending on the age of the child.

Gentle Broccoli Puree

One of my favorite homemade baby puree recipes is broccoli. This cabbage is extremely useful because it contains potassium, iron, calcium and other valuable substances. It has much more vitamin C than lemon, and the reason for its nutritional value is its high protein content.

Separate the broccoli into florets, wash thoroughly and steam for 20 minutes. Cabbage cooks faster in water - fresh broccoli will take 7 minutes, and frozen - about 15 minutes. Broccoli puree does not need much water, it should lightly coat the vegetables. After the cabbage becomes soft, chop it in a blender or pass through a sieve. If you're mashing for kids older than a year old, be sure to add butter - the little ones will gobble up broccoli on both cheeks!

How to make baby pear puree at home

Pear is a very delicate, tasty and healthy fruit that rarely causes intolerance. In addition to the high vitamin value, the pear has other beneficial properties - it facilitates digestion and removes toxins from the body.

For baby food, choose green pears to reduce the risk of allergies, which are rare among babies. Peel the fruits from the peel and core with seeds, and then stew the pear in a bowl with a thick bottom in a small amount of water for 15 minutes. Let the pear cool slightly and puree it in a blender with a little of the remaining pear broth. For large kids, fruits can not be boiled, but add half a teaspoon of natural honey to the puree.

Zucchini and apple puree

Little gourmets will love this delicious puree, besides, zucchini is considered the most hypoallergenic vegetables, which, due to their high potassium content, have a beneficial effect on the heart. Apples contain iodine, iron and phosphorus, and due to the high concentration of vitamin C, apples help in the prevention of colds and viral infections.

Wash the zucchini and apples well, de-seed them, cut into pieces and cook in a pot for about 20 minutes, considering that the zucchini will cook 5 minutes faster. By the way, apples are steamed for 15 minutes, zucchini - 10 minutes. Next, vegetables and fruits are chopped in a blender, mixed and brought to a boil. For allergic children, this is the best side dish!

Exotic mango

Sometimes you can pamper your baby with exotic fruits - for example, make mango puree. This is a very delicate fruit with an original taste, containing 12 amino acids and improving sleep.

Choose only ripe fruits that are soft and red-yellow in color. Peel the mango from a thick skin and a large bone, put the pulp in a blender, add 2 tbsp. l. water and mash it, and then heat it in a saucepan for several minutes. For a baby up to a year old, it is better to give mashed potatoes with heat treatment to facilitate digestion, and older children can be fed raw mangoes.

Carrot and Potato Puree

Make normal potato puree without oil. Peel the carrots, grate them and stew them with butter and vegetable broth - about 1 tsp is required for 200 g of carrots. butter and 150 g of broth. When the carrot becomes very soft, wipe it through a sieve, and then put it on a plate, put mashed potatoes on the second half. Let the child choose whether to mix two types of puree for him or eat separately!

Pumpkin and apple puree

This sweet, sugar-free pumpkin-apple puree, cooked in a double boiler, is suitable for children who are already accustomed to “adult” food and are able to perceive a new unusual dish. It is better to take a pumpkin with a gray or green skin and with bright pulp - such fruits contain more vitamins and other useful substances. Apples are green because they have fewer allergens.

Cut pumpkin and apple flesh without peel and seeds into pieces, place in a double boiler and cook for 20 minutes. Grind pumpkin, apples and raisins in a blender or by hand with a pusher if the child has already learned to chew. They say that this puree is very good for skin and hair, and you can check the truth of this statement yourself if you start feeding this dish to your baby.