Dhaka Cooking, Season Two :: Season Premiere

Part of the research I did on my last trip to Barisal was to learn more about what mothers in that part of Bangladesh are feeding their babies and young children. It was really interesting to hear their responses and to learn about some of the traditional practices among the rural villages. One thing I hadn't heard before was that newborn babies' mouths are sometimes cleaned out with mustard oil; I haven't quite figured out the reason behind that. Another very common practice is that newborns are traditionally given honey, ostensibly to make them sweeter. They often also get sugar water or animal (cow or goat) milk as their first feeding.

When babies get older, they start eating foods like rice, and they also get suji. As far as I can tell (from my non-extensive googling), suji is semolina flour that is cooked with milk (or, if milk is not available, maybe water) and sugar. The flour comes in a package that costs 23 Taka (about US$0.33) for 500 grams (roughly 1 pound) and looks like this:

This is apparently very popular throughout Bangladesh. Many people have it at breakfast, and it seems to make up a substantial portion of many babies' diets. We had some in the guesthouse in Barisal, and my American colleague commented that it tasted like Cream of Wheat... but, never having had Cream of Wheat before, I can't really say. In any case, I am not really sure what the nutritional value is of this stuff, but it was very sweet and not what I would think would be appropriate for a baby's diet.

Still, I was intrigued and decided to try to make it at home. I never got a proper tutorial in making suji the Bangladeshi way, but I did find this recipe online. I couldn't help but notice that the ingredients -- basically milk and sugar with a starch mixed in -- are nearly the same as this vanilla pudding recipe that I had made just the day before. And like the vanilla pudding, the result was very, very sweet. Neither one of them make me think of breakfast food... or baby food. But, I have to admit, they were both good.