Introduction: Baby Food for Babies Under 1 (Broccoli Porridge)

Porridge can help babies who are less than one year old make a smooth transition from milk to solid food. As they start to grow baby teeth, they can learn how to chew eating the grinded vegetables/rice in the porridge. Porridge for babies is easy to make, and nutritional for your babies as you prepare it with fresh ingredients. Once you get the hang of it, you can add different vegetables, meat, and even fish for different flavors! In this lesson, we will focus on broccoli porridge for the 10-month old baby. For babies who are younger or older, you can add more (younger babies) or less (older babies) water to make the porridge more watery or thick. Babies eat very little, and you don't want to throw away all the ingredients after one meal! So we will freeze them in baby food trays (like ice cube trays) which will last you from one to two weeks. Let's get started!

Step 1: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients

  1. White rice 70g (or half cup) soaked in rice for one day- Can make about one and a half rice cube tray
  2. Water 350ml
  3. One bunch of broccoli- Can make about two broccoli cube trays
  4. Vinegar (To clean broccoli)


Tools

  1. Baby food cube trays (trays which measure 15g for each cube)
  2. Blender or food processor
  3. Spatula (big spoon can also work as substitute)
  4. Bowl
  5. Pot
  6. Steamer basker
  7. Storage containers
  8. Baby food utensils (bowl, spoon)
  9. Kitchen scales (optional)

Step 2: Add 350ml of Water to Rice and Blend It in Blender

Wash rice thoroughly several times with cold water, then soak in water for one day (in the refrigerator). After you have prepared the rice soaked in water, put it in blender with 350ml of water. Depending on the size of your blender, the water may overflow. In this case, you can add about 100ml of water to blend the rice, then put the blended rice in a bowl and add the remaining 250ml of water, when you pour the rice into the cube tray. Pour the rice into the cube tray and freeze!

*The amount of water can be changed based on how watery or thick you want the porridge to be. Normally, for babies who are almost one year old (9 months and up), they can eat porridge which is made with x5 (times 5) amount of water. For example, since we started with 70g of rice, the amount of water that we add to the rice will be 70g*5=350ml. Babies who first start eating porridge, should eat porridge made with x10 (times 10) amount of water. With 70g of rice, you will need to add 700ml of water (70g *10=700ml).

Step 3: Clean Broccoli in Vinegar Water Then Steam in Pot for 6 Minutes

  1. Clean broccoli in 1 to 3 vinegar and water solution for 15-20 minutes.
  2. Wash thoroughly with cold water.
  3. Cut crowns away from the large stems of the broccoli. Then cut florets into bite-sized pieces.
  4. Bring steamer water to a boil. Place 3/4 to 1 inch of water in a saucepan with a steamer and bring to a boil. If you do not have a steamer, you can put the broccoli in one inch of boiling water.
  5. Add broccoli, steam 5 to 6 min. Add broccoli to the steamer and cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5-6 minutes.

*Information for steaming broccoli was taken from the following website: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/steamed_broccoli/

Step 4: Blend Broccoli in Blender and Freeze in Cube Tray

Let the broccoli cool down for a few minutes. Put broccoli in blender, add just a bit of water (can be water used to steam/boil the broccoli) and blend! You may not want to blend the broccoli completely, but enough that baby will have small pieces to chew.

Then scoop out the blended broccoli and put in the cube tray. One broccoli should make about two cube trays which can last you up to two weeks. After all the broccoli has been scooped into the trays, freeze!

Step 5: Cook the Frozen Cubes in Pot for Baby to Eat

Finally it's time to eat! Cook the frozen rice and broccoli cube, put in pot and cook for 3-4 minutes until rice is completely cooked. If porridge seems too sticky, you may want to add just a bit more water. The recommended serving size is one rice cube (15g), and one broccoli cube (15g). However, my baby tends to eat a lot, so I normally cook three rice cubes, and one broccoli cube!

*If you add meat to the broccoli porridge, your baby will love it! You can cook beef meat in the same way as the broccoli: cut in small pieces, boil in water, let it cool down, then blend in blender with bit of water, freeze in cubes, and enjoy! About 150g of meat will cook one cube tray.