Anne Sidnell from the British Nutrition Foundation shares her tasty weaning recipes.
Weaning is the time to introduce your baby to the wonderful variety of tastes that we enjoy from food. I always liked putting a new food on my baby’s plate and seeing how they enjoyed it. Start giving solids with purées like the tropical fruit delight and creamy broccoli purée recipes below. Once you’ve got started on spoon feeding, give soft finger foods to your baby to hold and feed themselves – ideal foods are cooked vegetables, soft fruit and bread. The mild fish curry introduces some gentle spices and also puts fish on your baby’s menu.
Fruit kebabs
Chop a range of colourful fresh fruits into bite-sized pieces and slide them on to plastic straws. Chunks of apple and banana with orange segments and grapes are a good combo, or try pineapple, mango, kiwi and strawberries together. Serve with a bowl of natural yogurt or fromage frais to dip the fruits into.
Vegetable kebabs
Apply exactly the same principle as the fruit but use bite-sized pieces of veg, such as carrot, cucumber and cooked broccoli. Serve with a bowl of soft cheese or homemade guacamole for dipping.
Tropical fruit delight
Cut two ripe papayas in half, remove the seeds and scoop out the flesh. Peel one ripe mango and remove the stone. Put the flesh from the fruits into a food processor, or use a stick blender, and purée. Freeze any you’re not using. For older babies, just mash with a fork, or offer pieces of the fruit as finger food.
Mild fish curry
Peel and finely chop one small onion and one garlic clove. Sauté in a little oil over a low heat until the onion is soft. Add a pinch of ground cumin and ground turmeric, and cook for a few minutes more. Add in a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes until it has cooked down and thickened. Meanwhile, cut 280g white fish fillet into small cubes, checking very carefully for bones. Add the fish to the pan, stir, and simmer for 5 minutes or until it’s cooked through. Flake the fish and serve over boiled rice. For young babies, mash or pureé the mixture.
Creamy broccoli purée
Steam some broccoli florets for around 10 minutes, or until softened. Purée in a food processor or using a stick blender, adding a little milk to create a creamy consistency. You can also make this with half cauliflower and half broccoli florets.
