I have been making this pear rice pudding for Mini Jones since he was around 8-9 months old. During that time, Mini Jones decided he loved vegetables, but was not so keen on fruit, so I was after ways of hiding it in amongst other ingredients – especially pears, as I was often told pears help with that common problem of constipation. I was also experimenting with trying to give him more at supper time in the hope he would sleep for longer during the night. My hopes were high when he demolished this, but alas, we didn’t get that hoped for solid nights sleep… Still, at least he had a good meal – and ate some pear!
Ingredients
¼ c rice
½ c / 170 ml water
½ c /170 ml milk
1 small pear, peeled, cored and roughly diced
3 dates, stones removed and roughly chopped
Method
Place rice in small saucepan and cover with the water and milk, bring to the boil, add the pear and dates and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every so often to make sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, adding more milk or water if it gets too thick.
Cook until both the rice and pear are very soft. Mash with a fork to get suitable texture – for younger babies almost to a puree, for older ones a little more texture if they are ready for it.
Serve slightly warm, or cold (Mini Jones loves this cold for breakfast!)