New Mum’s Food Adventures

An easy meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner is adding egg to rice porridge or turning quinoa into porridge. Either with fresh rice or packaged baby rice cereal you can easily make this meal and fresh it to serve again. You can cook the egg in many ways to add it and it’s good for babies.

There’s conflicting information about eggs but it also depends on your country as well and a lot of it is to do with the eggs quality and risks. In Australia where I live it’s acceptable to introduce eggs at 6months plus. I introduced a small amount but he found the texture unpleasant. This doesn’t mean I should give up but it does mean he needs to get used to more textures and to try introducing it in other ways. I’ve chosen porridge. He will be 7 months old soon which means he will try what is basically egg congee.

As he gets used to more flavours I will repeat this with quinoa which I will purée. He has two bottom teeth and is slowly eating very small very super soft chunks but he is an over eager eater and chokes a little so he still needs fairly smooth purée and though he has teeth he doesn’t chew food he only chews and teeths on rusks. Again this is because he is too eager to eat and he is very young.

Quinoa can be cooked to a very soft state and he has had it in packaged foods but it’s always to tart and he hates tart foods. It’s about the only thing he won’t eat, otherwise he is up for anything. My baby actually prefers savoury foods and tends to enjoy meats and tuna a lot. Which is a good thing. He will get a lot of necessary proteins and vitamins from the variety of foods available. But as far as quinoa goes, it’s homemade from here. A simple egg porridge is an easy first introduction to quinoa. If you’re making it from scratch remember to thoroughly rinse before cooking.

Preparation

Preparation is simple enough. Start with a small amount such as 3 tablespoons with double the water ratio. Whether it’s quinoa or rice wash before cooking. Wash until clear and all floating brans are removed.

Add to a small pot and add filtered water and again more than you normally would. Bring to a boil and simmer until soft. Keep adding as you cook to a porridge like consistency. Working in such a small batch the water will cook off faster but this is a baby batch of food. You may end up with enough to freeze a few serves for another time. If your baby is older than 7 months, increase the portions appropriately. Keeping adding liquid slowly like cooking risotto makes it easier to get the right consistency.

You can can cook either ingredient like congee with a lot of water and then add eggs. You can add the eggs in many ways. You can add it raw and whisked in the still cooking porridge pouring it slowly and stir continuously making it thin and well dispersed throughout or you can scramble it and add it later or add crushed boiled egg. You can add it poached and stirred through if you like. However you see fit is fine. As long as the goal of an easily digestible porridge is achieved, how the egg is added doesn’t matter as long as it’s cooked properly. Adding it like egg drop soup is the easiest way and it minimise how much you might need to purée if at all depending on your babies age. If young like mine an immersion blender or any blender is necessary just to prevent choking. If old enough just make sure the rice or quinoa is cooked to the right soft consistency with an appropriate consistency and you’re good to go.

And that’s it. Just keep it simple. If you’re pressed for time you can use parboiled rice or the quick microwave rice or quinoa. It will cut cooking time and preparation down considerably. It’s up to you.

This dish is also a good warm meal for colder seasons. Here in Australia we have just started winter. But depending on my baby’s teething he either likes warm food or cold from the refrigerator food. So seasonal foods like most young babies doesn’t really matter. But if your baby is older and you are looking for a simple warm porridge this is a good option.