Use rice as one of your baby’s first foods to create tasty dishes, says cookery guru Annabel Karmel.
I’m not a great fan of giving baby rice on its own, and prefer to mix it with fresh fruit and vegetables right from the start of weaning. Stirring in runny fruit purées will thicken the mix. Although baby rice tends to be bland, it’s easy to digest and is gluten-free.
For an older baby, add plain, cooked rice to sweet and savoury purées to encourage chewing. Rice pudding is also good for babies from 9 months. Put 50g (2oz) of pudding rice into a pan with 600ml (1pt) milk and ½tsp vanilla essence. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add dried fruit while it’s cooking, or mix in a fruit purée or a little low-sugar strawberry jam. Two easy fruit purées are plum and apricot.
For
plum purée, skin two large plums (plunge into scalding water for 1 minute, then cold water) and chop the flesh. Plums can be puréed, using a hand-held blender, uncooked if they’re soft and juicy. Purée, then stir in baby rice to thicken.
For
apricot purée, skin two large apricots (as for the plums), then purée using a hand-held blender. Fresh apricots can be quite sour, so simmer some dried apricots in water for 5 minutes, and blend with the fresh ones. Then stir in some baby rice mixed with milk.
For more recipe ideas with rice, check out
Risotto with butternut squash in our
recipes section.
