Red Lentil & Egg Chilla Strips
Allergen lists cover the priority allergens in the recipe as written. Always check your own ingredient labels, and introduce each new allergen on its own first.
Ingredients
- 100 g dried red lentils, soaked in cold water for 4 hours (or overnight) and drained
- 2 medium eggs
- 60 ml water, plus a little more to thin the batter
- 40 g carrot, very finely grated
- 20 g baby spinach, finely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground cumin and a pinch of turmeric (no salt)
- 10 ml (2 tsp) olive oil for the pan
Method
- 1. Drain and rinse the soaked lentils well. Soaking softens them so they cook through in a thin pancake — unsoaked lentils stay gritty.
- 2. Blend the lentils with the eggs, water and spices until completely smooth, then stir in the grated carrot and chopped spinach. The batter should pour like double cream; add water a teaspoon at a time if it is too thick.
- 3. Rest the batter for 10 minutes.
- 4. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat and pour in a ladleful, swirling to a thin round about 15 cm across. Keep it thin — a thick chilla can look done outside while the pulses inside are still undercooked.
- 5. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the surface is dull and set, flip, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Break one open to confirm the centre is fully cooked, with no wet egg and no raw lentil taste or grittiness.
- 6. Cool on a rack, then cut to shape. A finished strip should bend and tear easily between your fingers; if it is rubbery or leathery it was spread too thick or cooked too long, so make the next one thinner. These are dairy-free and wheat-free, so they suit babies avoiding cow's milk protein while keeping regular egg in the diet.
How to serve by age
6–8 months
Leave the chilla flat and cut it into finger-length strips about 8-9 cm long and 2 cm wide — keep it flat rather than rolling it into a log, which can compress into a dense wad in the mouth. A flat strip this size is held in the whole-hand palmar grasp with a portion standing above the fist that your baby can bring to the mouth.
9–12 months
Cut the flat chilla into 1 cm pea-sized squares, or tear it into small soft pieces, so your baby can lift them one at a time using the thumb-and-forefinger pincer grasp.
Paediatric note
Serving lentils alongside a genuinely vitamin C-rich food — soft-cooked red pepper or broccoli florets, or a little fruit afterwards — improves absorption of their non-haem iron, which matters from six months as a baby's birth iron stores fall. The carrot and spinach here contribute vitamin A and folate rather than much vitamin C. Building finger foods on pulses rather than rice also keeps overall exposure to inorganic arsenic down, since infants eat far more per kilogram of body weight than adults do.
Source guidance: https://www.who.int/health-topics/complementary-feeding
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