Apple ragi halwa | Apple ragi porridge for babies, toddlers and kids

Apple ragi halwa is one of the easiest and healthy ragi recipes that one can include in the diet. It makes a good breakfast not only for babies & toddlers but to everyone. Ragi being rich in iron, the iron levels are absorbed well by our body when accompanied with a vitamin C food like apple or pear. This apple ragi halwa is one of the best health food that is easy to make and convince your loved ones to enjoy it since it tastes very good.

This ragi halwa can also be made to a thin porridge consistency. This is suitable to babies over 6 months. If you intend to introduce solids to your baby please consult your pediatrician first. You can also check this post on Introducing solids to babies.

If you haven’t introduced apple and ragi earlier, then you will have to introduce them as 2 separate foods following a 3 day test rule. If both of these go well they you can try apple ragi.

You can also find more information on how to introduce ragi to babies here. It is a detailed post on how to tackle problems related to ragi for babies. you can also check this post on how to make sprouted ragi flour.

Apple ragi halwa recipe for babies, toddlers & kids

Apple ragi halwa

Finger millet or ragi halwa or porridge with apple puree. This baby food is suitable to babies over 6 months. Before you try this for your baby, please introduce ragi and apple as 2 separate foods. Follow the 3 day wait rule for each of them to detect allergies and other reactions.

Prep Time2 minutes

Cook Time7 minutes

Total Time9 minutes

Servings1

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )

• 3 to 4 tbsp ragi flour or finger millet flour
• 1 cup water or more water if needed
• 1 apple , small to large . (large apple for toddlers)
• 0.5 tsp ghee
• organic jaggery as needed (avoid for babies under 1 year, refer notes)

How to make the recipe

• Wash and peel the skin of apple. Core and chop to pieces and add them to a blender and puree. You can blend it coarsely for toddlers. Set this aside.
• Stir in 1 cup of water with flour in a pan.  Cook on a low to medium flame stirring  continuously until the mixture thickens and turns glossy. 
• Cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the stove. Rest for another 2 mins.
• Add the apple puree, ghee and sweetener if using. Stir to mix well.
• Cool down and serve apple ragi when it is warm.

NUTRITION

Calories: 200kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 2% | Vitamin C: 10.2% | Calcium: 1.1% | Iron: 6.1%

Notes

For babies under 1 year, you can completely avoid sweetener in this recipe. Just choose the sweet variety apple. For toddlers, you can use palm sugar, palm jaggery or regular jaggery. Try to use organic if you are accessible to it. Melt the palm sugar/ jaggery in water and filter it. use this filtered water to cook ragi.

Preparation for apple ragi halwa

1. Wash apple, peel and core it. Chop and add them to a blender.

2. For babies below 1 year old make a smooth puree. Set this aside. For toddlers you can try making it slightly chunky. They may love to bite the chunks.

3. Add 3 tbsp flour to a pan or pot.

Making apple ragi halwa

4. Stir in 1 cup water. The mixture should be lump free. If using jaggery or palm jaggery, melt it in 1 cup warm water and filter to the pot. (refer the notes for details). But this halwa can be made without any sweetener, just use sweet variety apples.

5. Cook till it thickens, constantly stirring to prevent formation of lumps. Cook covered for another 2 mins on a low flame.

6. Switch off the stove. Cover and leave it for 2 minutes.

7. Add apple puree and ghee. Since my kid is already 4, i used organic brown sugar and little cinnamon powder. Read the notes for details on sweetener.

8. Mix it and stir. I added the ghee now since i forgot at the previous step.

Ragi apple halwa is ready. For toddlers who can chew nuts, few roasted and chopped cashews can be added.

How much apple ragi porridge for babies?

This is one of the question that most of you ask, What is the right amount to serve for my baby? All babies are not the same, some can eat solids really well while some don’t. The below measurements are just rough guidelines.

1 tsp ragi flour with 1/4 small apple for 6 and 7 months old babies. (may not finish full if 6 months old)

1 tbsp flour with 1/2 small apple for 8 month (if your baby can finish, next increase the quantity of apple to 3/4, next attempt to increase the quantity of flour to 1.5 tbsps)

2 tbsp. for 10 months plus

3 tbsp. for 1 year plus with one large apple

4 tbsp for 18 months to 4 years old with a large apple

suggestion : make the quantity mentioned in the recipe card. Snce it is very hard to cook small portions of food like a tsp and it may also get burnt if you are not careful. The excess food can be had by a older kid or by the mother, after making your own adjustments to it.

The measures i gave above are just for you to know if you have fed a good quantity. Once cooked the quantity of porridge will be almost 3 to 4 times the amount of dry flour Plus the quantity of apple puree. So you can scale the cooked portion easily and feed.