Urad Dal Recipes to Help Kids Gain Weight

Black gram or urad dal is a common staple in Indian cooking. The Northern and Southern cuisines make good use of this grain which is a powerhouse of protein. However, did you know including urad dal in your kid’s diet is an excellent weight to improve their weight. Here are five recipe ideas to make delicious dishes with urad dal for kids.

1. Urad Dal for Babies
   From 8 months onwards you can introduce urad dal into your baby’s diet for improved protein intake. Some recipes to try with urad dal include porridges, kichadi, idli etc. Urad dal will enhance brain development and digestion. It helps in weight gain since urad dal is rich in proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
2. Medu Vada recipe
   For older kids, medu vada recipe is an excellant filling and easy to make snack. You taste heaven with with a sideby dip like chutney or sambhar. Try this easy medu vada recipe for a quick snack for your kids. Ingredients 
   • Raw rice – 1 teaspoon
   • Urad dal – 1 cup (120 gms)
   • Jeera – 1 teaspoon
   • Green chili chopped – 3
   • Peppercorns – 1 teaspoon
   • Coriander leaves and curry leaves
   • Ginger – ½ teaspoon (fine chopped )
   • Salt as required
   • Oil for deep frying
   Soak raw rice and urad dal for at least 2 hours. Once soaked, drain all the water. Use mixer to grind the urad dal and rice. Do not add water altogether. Just add little by little. Once you get a thick consistent batter, use a whisker to gently beat it. You will have fluffy batter ready. Add rest of the ingredients and mix well with a spoon. Meanwhile, heat a kadai and pour in oil that is generous enough for deep frying. Now, let’s get into the trickiest part. Wet both hands and take small sized batter. Roll it up into a ball shape and press it down with both hands. After that make a hole in the middle. Always keep hands wet. Now gently slide the medu vada to oil and deep fry.
3. Urad dal jamun
   If your kids have some really good sweet tooth, then you should definitely try this easy recipe. This dessert is perfectly suitable for kids aged one year and above. Ingredients 
   • Raw rice – 1 tablespoon
   • Oil for deep frying
   • Urad dal – 1 cup
   • Salt – a pinch
    For the sugar syrup
   • Sugar – 500 gms
   • Water – 1. 5 cups
   • Elachi – 2 ( crushed)

Soak urad dal and rice for 2 hours. After 2 hours drain off the water and grind both in a mixer, adding water little by little. The consistency should be thick. Once the batter is ready, whisk using a beater for 3 minutes. Add salt as needed. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying. Roll up the batter into tiny balls and deep fry in the oil. You can fry the balls in batches and set aside.

Heat water in a pan and add sugar. Dilute the sugar and continue the heating until you get one string consistency. Add elachi and set aside the sugar syrup. Once the balls are deep fried, add them to this sugar syrup and soak them for at least 2 hours.

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