Homemade Porridge or Manni Powder

Today I am sharing my recipe of homemade porridge or manni powder a healthy and nutritious food which I have been feeding my twin kids till date. I used to prepare 3-4 Kgs and store them in airtight containers which use to last for 1 month as I had to feed twins. This can be prepared for babies above 6 months to toddlers and can also be given to all age group people. It contains all essential nutrients in the form of cereals, pulses and nuts for the growth of babies. I learn’t this recipe from my sister, mother-in-law and many in my family have followed this recipe.

This preparation is time consuming process but worth the effort. If you are preparing for first time then prepare in small quantities so that the baby gets adjusted to the taste. Make sure the baby is not allergic to any of the ingredients mentioned in this recipe. The digestive capacity of individual babies is different so care to be taken to know how they react to new food is very important. Each ingredient has its own benefits like high in protein, carbohydrates, micro, macro-nutrients. This porridge powder stays fresh for 2 months stored at room temperature and for 4 months when stored in refrigerator. Vegetable and fruit purees can be added during porridge preparation which makes it attractive and healthy for the babies.

This recipe is for babies (above age of 6 months) or toddlers.

Let’s look into the recipe

Course: Baby food

Cuisine: Karnataka

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 5 days

Ingredients:

Green gram or moong bean -1 cup

Whole wheat -1 cup

Finger millet or ragi-1 cup

Sorghum or White jowar-1 cup

Black gram lentils or urad dal- ½ cup

Pigeon pea lentils or toor dal- ½ cup

Moong bean lentils or moong dal – ½ cup

Unpolished rice – ½ cup

Sabudana- ½ cup (optional)

Barley- ½ cup (optional)

Cashew – ½ cup

Badam- ½ cup

Unsalted pista – ½ cup

Sundried Dry dates chopped – ½ cup

Cumin or jeera -1 tbsp

Black pepper -1 tbsp

Ajwain -1 tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1 piece (optional)

For porridge or manni preparation:

Homemade porridge or manni powder- 2 tbsp

Milk (Boiled and cooled) – 1 cup

Jaggery powder depending on the taste

Method:

1. Clean and soak green gram, whole wheat, ragi, jowar with sufficient water for overnight.
2. Next morning remove water and tie them in muslin cloth, close and keep for 24 hours to get small sprouts.
3. Now shade dry all these separately until all the moisture is completely removed. It takes 3-4 days.
4. Now take a dry pan and start frying each one of the ingredients listed above including shade dried ones separately.
5. Do not burn the ingredients, when you touch them with bare hands you should feel they are really very hot.
6. Cool these, mix them and get it powdered in a mill. If its powdered at home using mixer then it needs to be sieved to remove the coarse particles. Then second time powdering is required.
7. After powdering, spread on a newspaper and cool them. (Powdering creates heat and if stored as it is, leads to moisture collection). Store in airtight containers.
8. Now take required quantity of this powder, add milk, jaggery powder. Whisk well.
9. Cook on medium flame with continues stirring. After it thickens, remove from flame, cool and serve.
10. Salt and honey can be added for flavors as the child grows older.

Porridge or manni preparation for babies from 5 to 6 months:

Take only sprouted whole wheat and ragi. Shade dry them. Dry roast them for few seconds. Powder it fine and store in airtight containers. Add sufficient milk and jaggery, whisk it properly. Cook well on medium flame, as it thickens, switch off the flame, cool and serve.

My Notes:

Adding salt is optional; it depends on the babies taste. Since I add jaggery powder, don’t add salt as jaggery contains small amount of salt in it.

Doctors do not recommend using sugar before one year age but jaggery can be added as it is rich in iron content.

As the baby grows, the thickness of the porridge can be increased. I use to give this as breakfast, lunch and dinner. This used to keep my twin kids stomach filled.

Puree from palak, carrot, beetroot can be added while preparing porridge. For preparing this puree, first the veggies need to be cleaned very well. Blanched or cooked and then pureed. This puree can be added to porridge and then boiled.

Always check the porridge powder is free from pest before using it when stored in room temperature. Dry red chilies can be dropped in the powder while storing in air tight containers. This avoids pest attack. Even a small quantity of moisture in the ingredients will lead to pest in porridge powder.

Always chop the dry dates into fine pieces, and then sundry them. This helps in removing the moisture completely. Moisture in dates might lead to pest in porridge powder.

During winter or rainy season, shadedry the sprouts for longer days and see to it that they are completely dry.