Today I’m sharing another festive recipe from the wonderful nutritious.sara. This time it’s a savoury recipe for your little one to enjoy either on Christmas day or just as nice winter warmer recipe! They’re full of festive flavours and can be adapted to suit whatever stage of the weaning journey your little one is at – see the notes at the end of the recipe for notes on making into a mash for younger babies!
This is a plant-based recipe but could easily be adapted to add in turkey or any other meat if you wanted.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and would love to hear from your if you do try it! I’ve also written a recipe previously for babies’ Christmas dinner – you can find that here.
Ingredients
- ½ cup of red lentils, cooked and cooled (cook lentils with 1 bay leaf in the water)
- ¼ cup of bulgur wheat, cooked and cooled
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 2 carrots, grated (peeling is optional)
- 1 apple, grated (peeling is optional)
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs
- Small bunch of thyme, chopped finely
- Small bunch of sage (6-7 leaves), chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs + extra for coating
- Splash of water
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- Fry the onion in vegetable oil until lightly browned. Add a couple tablespoons of water and continue cooking until the water evaporates. Repeat the last process until the onion is caramelized.
- Once the onion is caramelized add the grated carrot and apple and continue cooking until everything looks wilted.
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until everything is combined (make sure to remove the bay leaf from the bulgur wheat before blending). The mixture should be wet and sticky. You can also combine all the ingredients using your hands or a spatula.
- Make balls out of the mixture and coat them in breadcrumbs, before placing on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. If your mix is too sticky you can add extra breadcrumbs in step 4. TIP: you can shape the balls into smaller or finger-shaped patties to make them easier for the baby to handle.
- Bake for 25 minutes in 180 degrees.
- Serve with roasted winter veg.
Note 1: cook the lentils and bulgur wheat as per cooking instructions on the packaging (NB: without salt). Add a bay leaf to the water when cooking the lentils, for extra flavour (HOWEVER, make sure to remove it before blending the ingredients in step 3). Leave lentils and bulgur wheat to cool before mixing with other ingredients.
Note 2: if your baby isn’t ready to have solids, you can skip the egg in step 3, add cooked veg and water and serve as a mash.