Vegetable & chicken Gratin

Rice is a staple food for we Indians & especially south Indians. We make Rice for Lunch & dinner almost every day. Well these days people are more health conscious & try to have Rotis instead of rice. In my place its mostly Rotis for dinner with vegetables & one non veg dish.

Indian moms mostly try & feed Rice based food to their little ones. Zion hates to eat from spoon these days & is interested in bite size food that can be fed with hands. Most of the days we make ghee Paratas or stuffed vegetable Paratas with chicken for him. Paratas are easir to feed as we don't necessarily need him to sit on his high chair. But feeding him rice is a big task:( . I try a make different style of dish in which I add rice & at the same time can be fed with hands like bite size food. I made Gratin for him with mixed vegetables , chicken & little rice. This is the first time I am feeding gratin & it was really yummy. It was a full balanced meal for him & definitely rich. For kids this is an amazing dish but for adults....hehehehehe watch out the calories:) This is how I made it.

Ingredients:

• 1 Potatoes cut into roundels
• 5 broccoli florets
• 1 carrot cut into long flat slices
• 1/4 tspn garlic
• Pinch of Nutemeg powder
• 1/4 cup cooked chicken cubes
• 5 Tbsp cooked rice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp butter
• handful of orange cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 Tbspn corn flour  mixed with little water
• half pot boiling water
• salt as per taste

Method:

1. Put the sliced Potatoes in boiling water & boil it for 5  mins. Now throw in carrots, broccoli & cook them for another 2 mins. Now drain water & set the vegetables aside
2. In a pan add in 1 tbsp of butter fry garlic until fragrant. Keep the gas on low flame & add in heavy cream. Keep stirring this.
3. Combine milk, corn flour paste, nutmeg powder & wait until it thickens like a sauce. Keep stirring whole you make this. Now the sauce is ready
4. You need to assemble all the prepared ingredients in a baking safe dish.
5. First line some boiled vegetables in the bottom, layer some chicken on top & then rice.
6. Pour in the ceamy sauce evenly on top of the rice.
7. Finally garnish this dish with cheese. Cover this dish with silver foil & bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degree for about 10 - 15 mins.
8. Once its a little cooled you can serve your kids this Delicious creamy, nutritious dish.

Here is the step by step pictures: