Indian weaning food ideas Archives

What to pack in the lunch box for kids? This is a question every mother faces on a daily basis. We want to provide healthy nutritious meals along with variety to keep our kids interested. Masala dosas are a healthy option for the lunch box and making something like a masala dosa wrap makes this simple Indian dish look interesting to the little ones.

This post is sponsored by Slurrp farm. However, all opinions and views expressed are my own.

Our grandmothers made a variety of dosas using nutritious combinations of grains that gave each bite that much needed boost. However, with our modern lives, we have moved away from many of these traditional recipes.

Enter Slurrp farm run by two young mothers that is now a leading Indian health food brand for children and families. It is their mission to provide a 100% natural alternative to junk food. All their recipes are high in nutrition from whole grain flours, millets, good fats like butter, real fruit and vegetables. They work hard to be low on refined sugar, flours and have no trans-fats at all. Their intention is to revive traditional superfoods like the vast variety of millets available in India.

Their current product range contains Baby Cereals made with organic ingredients; and Cookies with all-natural ingredients, whole grains, and no transfat. Recently they launched a range of Millet Pancakes and Millet Dosas which are made with lots of traditional super grains.

What is so special about millets?

Millets are grains that are rich in calcium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium, and antioxidants. Along with this, they contain protein and fiber. In fact, traditional Indian recipes used a lot of millets as a source of vegetarian protein. Millets are a forgotten food in this day and age since we have all moved on to using food products that are processed and easy to cook for lack of time. But if you look at the benefits of including millets in your and baby’s diet it becomes important to revive these traditional recipes. Millets are versatile grains to cook with. You can use them in pilafs, soups, porridge, and salads.

Brands like Slurrp farm are bringing millet back to the table in their baby cereals, dosa, and pancake mix so that the modern mom can still whip up these traditional recipes in half the time required to prepare them.

I was sent some of their dosa and pancake mixes to try. These are so delicious and easy to make. You can feel the love that has gone into designing each recipe.

I have made many pancake mixes with different types of millet flours as a quick healthy snack option for home but rarely do I get the flavor profile just right. That is why I appreciate the perfect blend of spices used in these Slurrp farm mixes.

We tried the Slurrp farm millet dosa mix with spinach. It contains:

Foxtail millet (Navane/Thinnai/Kangni),
Moong Daal (Green Dal),
Toor Dal (Red Gram),
Chana Dal (Bengal Gram),
Urad Dal (Black Gram),
Spinach,
Dehydrated Onion, and a blend of spices.

To add a fun twist, rather than using this mix for a regular masala dosa, I tried a masala dosa wrap with a broccoli and potato filling. Such a masala dosa wrap can be a breakfast, snack or lunch box option. It’s yummy and filling.

Masala dosa wrap with broccoli and potato filling

Masala Dosa Wrap

Ophira

Yummy millet and spinach dosa with a broccoli and potato filling.

4.50 from 4 votes

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Servings 4

Ingredients

For Filling

2 potatoes boiled
1 head broccoli florets steamed
1 onion chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 curry leaves
2 garlic pods
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp groundnut oil

For Dosa

1 packet Slurrp farm millet dosa mix
1 cup water
1 egg

Instructions

1. Add a cup of water to the dosa mix and stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. In the meantime heat oil in a pan and add tadka elements (curry leaves, mustard seeds, and jeera) let the seeds splutter.
3. Then add garlic, and onion and cook until the onion is golden brown.
4. Add the boiled and chopped potato and broccoli pieces. Mix well.
5. Add salt and turmeric and cook for about 10 minutes. The vegetable filling for the dosa is ready.
6. Now moving on to preparing the dosa for the wrap. On a hot pan pour out your batter in a nice round shape. Let this cook for about 5 minutes until you start seeing tiny aeration holes on the dosa.
7. Break an egg on the dosa and evenly spread it around the dosa. Let this cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Once you feel the egg and dosa are cooked thoroughly add in your potato broccoli filling.
9. Wrap it up and serve in 2 halves. Yummy Slurrpfarm Spinach Dosa Wrap ready!

Pictures of recipe in progress

Masala Dosa- sautee the onions — Masala Dosa Wrap- sautee the onions

Masala Dosa Wrap – broccoli potato filling

Masala Dosa Wrap – cook the Slurrp farm millet dosa

Masala Dosa Wrap – spread an egg evenly on the dosa

My son devoured his masala dosa wrap in 5 minutes. He loves broccoli and potatoes so the vegetable surprise inside the dosa was exciting for him.

If you want to pack this masala dosa wrap in your child’s lunchbox cut the wrap in half and cover each individual piece in aluminum foil. There is no need for any dipping sauce or chutney in my opinion since the dosa mix itself is flavored with spices. But if you like something extra you can add a coconut chutney and peanut powder as sides with the dosa.

Best uses for the Slurrp farm dosa and pancake mixes

These mixes are a great option for fussy eaters in order to meet their nutritional gaps.
To have on hand at home on days you are busy and don’t have time to whip up a snack from scratch for your little ones. In fact, Slurrp farm dosas are a great snack option to cut out the unwanted sugary snacks.
We practiced baby-led weaning, and if you read my post on traveling with a baby led weaning child you know how much preparation I go through before we leave for our trip just to ensure nutritious foods are available for my son to eat as we travel long distances in the car. This dosa mix is a great option to have on hand when you are going on a journey and want to carry homemade and hygienic food for your little ones. And it’s a bonus that these include healthy super grains.
Millets are gluten free, so these can be enjoyed by people suffering from celiac disease, or gluten allergies too. Clean eating was never so easy.

You can find Slurrp farm products on:

Amazon

Baby Chakra

First Cry

Did you like this masala dosa wrap idea? Leave me your thoughts in the comments below.

This post is sponsored by Slurrp farm. However, all opinions and views expressed are my own.

I have received a lot of queries on Instagram about what my toddler eats. Starting this month I’m launching a series called “What my toddler eats in a week”. This way other mothers can get an idea of what to offer toddlers. There are very few blog posts and videos online about Indian weaning foods past the initial stage. Hope this series acts as an inspiration for your toddler meals.

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, and this is not a portrayal of an ideal diet. Any dietary issues you may face with your child need to be consulted with a doctor and trained nutritionist.

We practice baby led weaning in our home. And I try my best to bring variety to my child’s meals taking all the information I have about food and nutrition into consideration.

We are still breastfeeding at 20 months and breastfeeding consists of 2-3 feeds in the day and 2-3 feeds in the night. I don’t give him any other milk daily, but I do make almond milk at home once or twice a month, and also switch between offering cows milk or goat’s milk from time to time. Its not a daily; “have one glass of milk” type of thing. He gets his nutrition primarily from breast milk and solid foods.

At present he eats 3 full meals and 2 snacks, but there are days he can have as many as 6-7 mini meals a day. I just go with the flow. Being baby led weaned, he eats family meals. But since he eats frequently I prepare many mini meals throughout the day to keep him fed. So the main meals are what we all eat together as a family and the rest are sometimes made especially for him.

I haven’t added pictures of every meal either because many times dinner is the same as lunch or because a hungry toddler didn’t give me enough time to set up the plate and click a picture. To keep it uniform I stuck to 4 pictures a day with detailed description of everything he ate in the day.

Let’s begin,

Monday

Breakfast: Started the week with oats pancake and two hard-boiled quail eggs
Snack 1: Bowl of muskmelon
Lunch: Dal, rice, capsicum sabzi, and a side of mushrooms sautéed in butter.
Snack 2: Sprouted jowar porridge. I simply soak the sprouted jowar in water for 15 minutes. Then cook in 1:2 proportion water and let it cook until the water is absorbed. Towards the end of cook time I add a teaspoon on ghee and cardamom powder.
Dinner: Was the same as lunch.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Pohe. My husband makes some yummy maharashtrian breakfast dishes. Pohe is one of his specialties. (Flattened rice savory breakfast dish)
Snack 1: Chikoo, My son loves fruits and chikoos are one of his favorites. He had 2 chikoos as a snack this day.
Lunch: Dal, rice, okra sabzi, boiled and grated beetroot salad.
Snack 2: Leftover pohe from breakfast, some oat balls, and raisins.
Dinner: Pasta dish. We usually add whatever vegetables are left over in the house. Today in the tomato sauce I added broccoli, onions, leftover green and yellow capsicums. Pasta is a hit with my son; we make pasta atleast once or sometimes even twice a week. Also, its super easy for me to quickly whip up a one-pot pasta meal for dinner. We use whole-wheat pasta.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Upma, Little A’s grandma was home and she made delicious upma.
Snack 1: Watermelon and Brazil nuts. Now the thing is, my son is obsessed with watermelon. As a mother I feel like he is only getting in tiny amounts of calories through this watery fruit. So I made a Brazil nut powder and served that too on the side. This way he is taking in some healthy fats along with the watermelon.
Lunch: Dal, rice, cabbage and okra sabzi.
Snack 2: 2 hard-boiled quail eggs and oranges.
Snack 3: Oats pancake with teaspoon of honey.
Dinner: Dal, rice, cabbage sabzi and grated beetroot salad.

Thursday

Breakfast: Pohe once again. Yes, we eat the same foods on repeat!
Snack 1: Chapatti, banana, chikoo. We use a wheat flour and ragi flour mix to make our chapatti. Ragi is a good source of iron. I spread almond butter on the chapatti.
Lunch: Chickpea curry and rice.
Snack 2: Watermelon and scrambled duck egg.
Dinner: Chickpea curry, rice and thalipeeth. In my post on baby led weaning breakfast ideas I mentioned my cheats version to having thalipeeth flour ready at home always. This helps me out on days when I am running out of ideas and I can quickly whip up a snack or a side like this for my son.

Friday

Breakfast: Idli and coconut chutney
Snack 1: Overnight oats; I add whatever is available at home to the oats in the night. This day I added, oats, almond milk, almond butter, chia seeds, banana, desiccated coconut and hemp seeds. This one is again one of my son’s absolute favorites.
Lunch: Dal, rice, cauliflower sabzi, grated beetroot salad.
Snack 2: Paneer (cottage cheese), potato patty.
Dinner: Dal, rice, sautéed mushrooms and steamed broccoli with a drizzle of olive oil. We ran out of the lunch vegetables. Hubby and I wanted to eat some take out, so I quickly made Little A some sautéed mushrooms and steamed broccoli to go along with his dal rice.

Saturday

Breakfast: Idli. He didn’t want any chutney with his idli. Toddler food choices are random; one day they enjoy eating one thing and the next day they don’t want to touch the same. We don’t fret over it, we just move on to planning the next meal and he usually forgets about his own specifications in the coming days. The key takeaway here is don’t stop preparing things because your toddler won’t eat, repeated exposure makes them get over their initial apprehensions.
Snack 1: Strawberries and some more plain idli’s!
Lunch: Dal, rice, dum aloo (baby potatoes) and spinach sabzi. He was ravenously hungry by this time and loved the dum aloo dish. Win for mommy!
Snack 2: Milkshake (goat’s milk, banana, cardamom powder, and saffron)
Dinner: Same as lunch.

Sunday

Breakfast: Dosa and chutney. So today with dosa he enjoyed dipping his chutney and eating it. This proves their choices vary every day.
Snack 1: Oats balls and raisins.
Lunch: Dal, rice, pumpkin sabzi
Snack 2: Uttapa and chutney, I used the dosa batter to make a thicker pancake called uttapa.
Snack 3: Coconut water and tender coconut meat.
Snack 4: Duck egg, chapatti with almond butter and chikoo
Dinner: Mushroom fried rice. There are days like this where he keeps asking for meals, so I make him many mini meals throughout the day.
If you want to take a look at some more snack ideas I use for my son you can check this post on how I get my child to eat healthy everyday for some recipes I shared.

Since I get a lot of questions about some of our baby led weaning equipment and pantry products, I have included a mini favorites list below:

Equipment:

Favorite Pantry Products:

We buy most of our organic staples like rice and dals from Amazon Pantry. The rest like eggs,milk, fresh fruits and vegetables we either buy organic from Nature’s Basket stores or local vendors.

I hope you found this post useful. If you have any specific queries or want to know more about products I use leave me a comment below.

For more food ideas for your child follow me on Instagram. I regularly upload pictures of what my son eats in a day.

For more recipes for toddlers 12-18 months

and what my toddler eats in a week, read here.

Masala Dosa Wrap Using Slurrp Farm Millet Dosa Mix