calling blw experts.....spices in indian cooking

[dal21]

so...when can i give DS our food (minus any salt added and initially chillis too) with the following spices?

• tumeric, coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger cooked in vegetable oil (i am thinking from 7/8 months does that sound about right?)

and the following food groups?

• brown rice?
• the harder to digest of the lentil groups? (i.e. chickpeas and kidlney beans?)

I will be starting him on simple lentils and veg without any of the above at 6 months, just wondered when he can have what we have?

i also assume chappatis made with organic wm flour served with some unsalted butter is good finger food from 6 months onwards?

dd had chickpeas and beans etc from very early, and all those spices. i used less chilli and more cloves to get the effect of heat to begin with. chappatis are a great finger food, deffo. rice can be a bit of a pain in the arse for them to eat, though, so think about mixing it with yoghurt to sticky it up a bit. it's trial and error, dal, just see what he likes. and if he doesn't like it, try again the next time you have that meal because he'll probably love it next time. dd loves mild curries, dal, chappatis etc, always has. and aubergine fritters... she's anyone's for an aubergine fritter.

I can't think of any reason to hold off on any of those any longer than 6m.

whole chickpeas and kidney beans might prove a challenge (and a choke hazard) if still crunchy but if you cook them till soft for now and wait for her pincer grip before offering harder ones you should be ok.

that's true, he probably won't be able to pick up chickpeas for himself until maybe 8 months. you could squash them and load them onto a spoon for him but that seems like a hassle to me. but say for example a light aubergine, potato and chickpea curry, with spinach... dd could manage most of that by 7 mos.

thanks aitch and mrs b! great news.

i cook the lentils and chickpeas etc in pressure cooker so always dead soft.

no need for totally separate food.

so can i give him yog from 6 months too. great to hear this from you because some books say to hold off on all of this til 7-9 months.

My ds loved cooked chick peas as finger food from very early. And kidney beand. And I used to make a dhal with cumin and coriander he dunked stuff into from 6 months. He loved it all. And in my experience all babies love garlic.

He's now 7 and a stricly meat and two veg has this got any spice in it mum becaue you know I don't like spice man. So it doesn't mean you are bringing up an eclectic eater!

lol seeker!!

All mine have had curries since they were weaned, DD 14 months loves it spicy just like her Dad!

Tink loves her curries, we're taking her to Mum's local tonight because they've been asking after her.

We tend to give her something simple like chicken korma and rice. TD and her grandad tend to eat eat it too so they give her about 1/4 of theirs. When you mix curry and rice together in roughly equal portions it sticks together and makes it a lot easier to eat.