Turmeric-spiced vegetable & chicken meatballs for babies

Turmeric-spiced vegetable & chicken meatballs for babies

Turmeric-spiced Vegetable and Chicken Meatballs for Babies

You can slowly introduce your baby to Indian spices like ground cumin or ground turmeric, one at a time

I’ve been making this recipe for my baby every other week now, and it’s a real hit, so I wanted to be sure to share it with all of you. As I mentioned in my post Introducing Indian Food to Babies, I learned that I could start introducing my son to Indian flavors and spices gradually, after he had successfully conquered introductory solid foods. I find recipes like this are a nice segue from baby food to mild versions of Mommy/Daddy food. My cousin Divya suggested introducing one spice at a time, so I began making these baby meatballs, packed full of mixed vegetables, ground chicken, infant rice cereal, and egg yolk, and first added a pinch of cumin to the mixture. When Liam gobbled through a couple of batches with no problem, I began adding a pinch of turmeric. As you may know, turmeric has excellent heath benefits for babies and adults alike, so why not start him off on the right foot early?

What I love about this recipe is how much nutrition I can pack into a tiny meatball and how moist they are, thanks to mixed vegetables and a bit of applesauce. Sometimes I add a bit of grated cheese as well. Whether I feed them to Liam right away or defrost a batch after a couple of weeks, these baby meatballs really keep their shape, are always moist, flavorful, and — most important of all — Liam cleans his plate. I usually serve them with very soft vegetables or steamed basmati rice mashed with a bit of hot water or formula. Naturally, I do a taste test every time I make them, and, well, these are tasty meatballs! As our pediatrician Dr. Rosenberg says, “Of course Liam likes it — it actually tastes good, babies are smart!” Moreover, the turmeric adds depth of flavor and a golden color that’s visually appealing — like us, I think babies eat with their eyes. Lastly, for all the tired Mommies and Daddies out there thinking “Man, I don’t have time to make food from scratch” you can put this mixture together in a matter of minutes, it doesn’t take long at all.

 Do you have a favorite baby recipe? Post it below and I will make it!

Turmeric-spiced vegetable & chicken meatballs for babies

Yields 16 meatballs (around 4 meatballs per serving)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound ground chicken
  • 1/2 cup infant rice cereal (I use whatever Gerber rice, oat, or multigrain cereal I have on hand)
  • 1/2 cup finely minced or shredded mixed vegetables (I use frozen mixed vegetables, cook them for a couple of minutes in boiling water or the microwave, then finely dice them)
  • 2-4 tablespoons applesauce or other baby fruit purée
  • 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
  • Pinch (say 1/8 teaspoon) ground turmeric powder

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Combine all the ingredients in a small glass bowl and form into 1-inch balls.
  3. Place meatballs on a lightly greased cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  4. Remove from foil with tongs and cool on large platter (note: the bottom of the meatball might stick to the foil, which is fine — just remove it as gently as you can, you don’t want baby to eat those overly browned bits anyway). Refrigerate or freeze as needed (I usually freeze half the batch).
Combine ingredients for turmeric-spiced vegetable & chicken meatballs for babies

I often use organic frozen mixed vegetables because they’ve been flash frozen at their peak, and once cooked are easy to chop finely into small, soft bits for baby

Egg yolk for turmeric-spiced veggie & chicken meatballs for babies

Most pediatricians will recommend starting babies on egg yolks rather than full eggs or egg whites because of a greater tendency for an allergy to egg whites

Baby cereal for turmeric-spiced veggie & chicken meatballs for babies

You can use any kind of fortified baby cereal like oat, rice, or multigrain varieties as a binding agent with the ground chicken and egg yolk

Fruit and vegetable blend puree for babies

A couple of tablespoons of your baby’s favorite fruit or fruit & vegetable blend puree helps keep these baby meatballs moist and flavorful

High quality, humanely sourced ground chicken

Everyone is better off eating high quality, humanely sourced meat — especially babies!

Turmeric-spiced veggie & chicken meatballs for babies

These take no time at all to prepare, and then you simply pop them in the oven for 20 min