urad dal khichdi recipe for babies & toddlers – Vigna mungo or black gram or black lentil is called as urad or sabut urad in Indian language. It is used whole or split and skinned in Indian cuisine. It is considered to be one of the most nutritious lentils and hence is used often to make everyday foods. Apart from being high in calcium and protein, it is also a great brain food since it is high in essential fatty acids. Towards the south it is used to make idli, dosa and vada. In other parts of India it is used to make dishes like dal makhani, ma ki dal, pancharatan dal and many other dishes.
For feeding babies or toddlers, urad dal in the form of idli is the best since they are made from fermented batter. Fermentation enhances the nutrients and are retained in idli as they are steam cooked only for a short time. It also boosts a healthy weight gain in babies and kids.
I have shared this recipe with few readers briefly in comments but wanted to make it a separate post so that many of you can try it. This urad dal khichdi makes a great food for babies especially for those who are on average to low weight. I had made this for 3 to 4 months regularly for one of my babies since i was unable to make idli at that time. After a few months, i started to make idli regularly and then discontinued this. But during the months i fed him this urad dal khichdi, he was on a steady weight gain. Last week i made this for my little one again as he was bored of the regular moong dal khichdi for lunch.
Regarding the taste, i would not say it tastes delicious but certainly is a must try for the babies who are having difficulty gaining weight. To make this urad dal khichdi, you can use any non starchy veggies like carrot, pumpkin, spinach, methi, tomato, bottle gourd or ridge gourd. You can feed this for about 3 to 4 times a week for breakfast or lunch. Avoid this for dinner as it is very heavy.
If you plan to make this for the baby breakfast the next morning, you can soak the dal and brown rice in the night and refrigerate it along with water. Next morning you can add veggies and cook it.
If your baby has begun teething or is above 8 to 9 months, teach your baby to chew the foods. Do not serve pureed foods to babies over 9 months unless the baby has sore gums due to teething. Mash the food well and feed.
urad dal khichdi for babies and toddlers
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1.5 tbsp rice (refer notes)
- 1.5 tbsp urad dal (refer notes)
- 1 cup water + 2 tbsp (refer notes)
- 2 to 3 tbsp veggies (non starchy)
- 1 pinch cumin or jeera powder
- salt as needed
- Ghee as needed
How to make the recipe
- Wash rice and dal together and soak for about 4 hours. Drain and set aside.
method 1
- On a low flame pressure cook rice, dal and veggies with 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water for 2 whistles.
- When the pressure goes off, mash the rice well. Add ghee, salt and cumin powder.
method 2 (for fussy kids)
- Heat ghee in pressure cooker, add cumin and allow to splutter.
- Add drained rice and dal . Saute in ghee for 1 to 2 minutes until the dal smells good. Add veggies.
- Add 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.
- When the pressure goes off, mash and add salt.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
Only white rice can be used. I had used half brown basmathi and half white basmathi. You can also use it that way. But if using brown rice, make sure you soak it along with dal for 4 hours else the rice will not get cooked well.
Urad dal :
for babies from 10 months, you can use 1.5 tbsp.
for babies from 8 to 9 months, use 1 tbsp.
for babies from 6 to 7 months use half tbsp.
Water:
Reduce water proportionately if using less dal.
Veggies:
Do not use starchy veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes or yam in this khichdi.
Prefer light veggies like carrots, pumpkin, turai, lauki, methi, palak
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Kavita says
Hi dear…me confused for above khichdi we shld use white split Urad dal or whole black urad dal? Pls reply asap
swasthi says
Hi Kavita
Use skinned white urad dal. You can use split or whole but not black one.
Mini says
Hi, I follow ur website and made a lot of recipes, really well explained. My son is 4yr old and his weight is 12.6kg n height 37 inches. His appetite is not good, he doesn’t like eating I can say. It’s been a month now that I make sure he gets 2 6oz milk morning n evening. But I see his weight is stuck around 12.3 to 12.6.
He immunity is low gets sick often, going to school so can’t control that. He has a habit of crying everytime it’s time to eat and when he cries whatever he ate he vomits. Some day he is OK, or watching TV when eating but then the whole time to eat is 1hr slow bcoz he is not concentrating on food. Not eating in school much only curd rice,sometimes paratha he eats all other stuff comes back. I try to makeup for that when he returns by giving him to eat every 3hrs, it can be milk, mashed potato, chicken,fruits etc
Very stressed out,he is the tiny one in his class. Pls suggest some recipes which can help build up his appetite n weight gain.
swasthi says
Hi Mini,
Sorry for the delay. Firstly avoid incompatible combinations as it is the biggest contributor for no appetite and even vomiting. Try to keep him outdoors when he eats his meal.
No TV, No gadgets, No talking etc. Keep him outdoors like in the back yard or near by park or garden or at least near a window/ balcony looking out during the meal. This is the only way I have found my kids to eat well and quickly. As he grows older, you can stop that.
Try almond milk or dry fruits shake at least once a day.
Try giving him 1 boiled egg regularly. Avoid giving it with dal, milk or meat.
Give him more of fruits especially kiwis, oranges, pears to increase the appetite.
Check his appetite with and without wheat/ atta in his diet. Some kids don’t really do well with atta foods.
Also give him some probiotics for a month or so. This helps with immunity and also appetite. Check with your doctor about it.
I hope you know more about incompatible combinations.
Hope these help.
Divya says
Hai this is good mam. I need ur help my son age 2 years old his weight is 9. He is not eating at all. I am so much worried . can u pls help me in guiding my son’s diet issue.
swasthi says
Hi Divya
Please follow this post on weight gaining foods
Priyanka says
Is there any mobile app mam?
swasthi says
We are going to launch it shortly. Thanks for the interest.
Dr jyotsna says
Hi my baby is 7 month. I have followed all ur,weaning recipes. But he wants everything with apple. SO he is not eating khichadi or moong dal soup. M really very worried for him. PLEASE help
swasthi says
Hi Dr. Jyotsna
Thanks for trying the recipes. Probably your baby likes the mild tang in his foods. After he completes 8 months, you can try adding just 2 drops of lemon juice to the warm food, not in milk based foods. This also helps to boost the immunity. However you will have to keep an eye on the colic. Hope this helps.
Mamta says
Hi mam.my baby is now 19month.can I give her idli with milk for lunch.pls tell me
swasthi says
Hi Mamta
Idli with milk or curd is not good for health. Since idli is made with fermented batter it is not good to serve it with milk. Even with curd it is not good for digestion and 2 kinds of proteins do not go well together. You can give idli with any chutney, sambar, rasam or dal ka pani. When you make chutney, first grind the chutney without green chilies, then set aside 1 to 2 spoon full of it for your baby. Then add chillies to the rest of the chutney and blend again for you all. I have been doing this since my babies were 15 months. There is a good collection of healthy chutneys on the menu bar up, you can check them. Hope this helps
Ruchi Chauhan says
Hi ..
Nice effort and dishes..
How we can save ur recipes in our desktop
Sometimes we dont have internet so we can save the recipe..on YouTube ur r not regular.please let me know.thank u
swasthi says
Hi Ruchi, you are welcome
Thanks. You can enable the settings to save the content offline in your browser. Just bookmark the posts and thats it. You will be able to access the recipes even without internet connection any time. Hope this helps
Akshata Rao says
Hi, can I use the split urad dal instead of whole urad dal for khichdi for my 10 month old baby ?
swasthi says
Yes Akshata you can use
Akshata Rao says
Thanku dear. Your website is really helpful. My baby is 10 month old. I’m still giving him cerelac one time in a day. Do u think should I stop it ? He doesn’t eat any khichdi as much as he eats cerelac. And he sleeps by 10.30 n gets up by 12 so can I give him fruits in the evening?
swasthi says
Hi Akshata
Welcome. Yes cerelac should be only a stand by if you are unable to cook or out for the day. It is precooked and then dehydrated, to compensate the nutrition loss synthetic nutrients are added. It is not as good as the fresh homemade food. Do not compare the quantity of cerelac and khichdi. Yes you can try fruits in the evening. Hope this helps
beenish says
Hi swasthi
When my son is 9 months old his weight was 6.8.one day searching on net I found ur blog.I started follow ur baby food chart and its really works.at the end of 10 month his weight was 8 kg.now he is 11 months old between 10 & 11 month his weight doesn’t increase.his birth weight was 2.43 kg.I can’t find my mistake.I will follow da chart regularly.plz suggest a solution.he has four teeth mashallah very active and energetic.
Regards
swasthi says
Hi Beenish,
As the baby grows they become more active. Due to physical movements like crawling, walking they burn out the fats. So as the baby grows the quantity of food and even milk per serving must be increased. Also sometimes they loose weight or stop gaining weight if they don’t eat well even for a week. This mostly happens when the baby has a cold, congestion,teething problems, colic or low appetite. Also as the baby grows the amount of weight gain will slow down. You can watch for 1 to 2 weeks more, if it is the same then try these foods,
jowar atta halwa 3 to 4 times a week (make it same way like atta halwa). It can also be made like ragi malt (without milk). You can add aloo, carrots , moong dal etc. If you are giving him wheat stop that and try jowar.
ragi halwa 3 to 4 times
eggs or boiled potato with ghee or butter for breakfast for at least 5 to 6 days.
try urad dal khichdi for lunch instead of moong dal khichdi.
When he turns one year old start badam milk for him.
Hope these help. Do share with us if any of these worked out, that helps the other readers as well.
Have a wonderful day.
beenish says
Hi mam
I am from lahore.I can’t find ragi, tuvar or urad daal.badam milk powder maine bana k rakha how hai jo mai milk oats porridge,sabudana kheer or soji(rawa) ki kheer mai daal k apne betay ko deti hun.breastfeed pe hai feeder nai peeta mera beta mai badam milk kaise pilaon?
swasthi says
Hi Beenish,
Try this chana soup for breakfast or lunch thrice a week. Add ghee, little turmeric and ginger as well.
A good substitute to urad dal is meat, so also try to make this chicken soup thrice. Reduce the spices in the recipe. Horse gram also is a very good source of protein as well. You can make it just like the moong dal soup, but must pressure cook for at least 7 to 10 whistles. It is a bit heaty to the body, so when the winter sets in, then you can give this thrice a week but in small quantity. Try to feed this badam milk in a small steel cup. Fresh milk made using soaked almonds is better for weight gain than using badam powder. Babies can learn to hold cup and drink after 8 months. If you start early it is easy. Hope these help.
ammu says
Hi,
Thnks for giving variety of recipes, i wants to give multigrain halwa for my girl baby daily, she old 1yr 4 mnths.
Pls advice wht and all grains v can add and the ratio…
Thnks…
swasthi says
Hi Ammu,
Try with only 3 variety of flours , all in equal measures along with white rice flour
You can try jowar, ragi, foxtail millet, brown rice, bajra.
Hope this helps.
Prathima says
Hi Swasthi,,
Nice Recipe,, I will try to my son. He is Very Low Weight.. I am Suffering for his Weight..
He is not gaining Weight,, I am Trying all types of u r recipes’ s(Like Ragi Halwa ,, Milk With Oats Combination, Potato Rice),, He wont like milk and not drinking milk (He is 2 yr’s old)..I am trying All types of milk (Like Pedia Sure,, Boost , Almond milk).I don’t Know What Should I Do??? Could you pls share your suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Thanks.
swasthi says
Hi Prathima,
Let me know his height and weight. How is his appetite? does he eat well and in enough quantity? Do you follow the food chart mentioned on the blog? I can suggest you based on your reply