Picky Eaters and Gluten Free Corn Potato Pancakes Recipe

My son, Aari was a picky eater from the very beginning of when he started eating solid foods. From the age of 12 months, he had development delays related to speech and fine motor skill development in addition to sensory integration issues. He didn’t sleep well through the night for 3 years. I tried giving him different kinds of food but he would reject them and revert back to a short list of foods that he commonly ate. After a while I gave up. I was tired and frustrated and wanting to make sure he did consume enough food to grow, I gave him the same food almost everyday.

I did some research on the internet and there were some good sources of information related to diet and child development. However, after meeting with and talking to parents with similar issues, I was given the guidance and courage to try different ways to deal with Aari’s developmental issues.

7 months ago, I put Aari on a Gluten Free (“GF”) / Casein Free (“CF”) / Soy Free (“SF”) diet and it changed his world. Within the first month, we noticed he was sleeping through the night. In the subsequent months, we observed tremendous progress in his speech, attention span, awareness, social interaction, and fine motor skills. I started experimenting with recipes to create new GF/CF/SF meals especially dishes that are Indian in origin. Aari is now 3 years and 9 months old and usually eats everything we put in front of him and has become quite inquisitive about all kinds of food.

MAKING THE DOUGH: In a mixing bowl, take ½ cup water and mix it well with the corn meal into a thick batter. Let it stand for a few minutes. In the meantime, cook 1 medium size potato in a microwave. Wash and clean the potato (do not peel) and wrap it in a wet paper towel. Microwave on high for 3 ½ minutes. Let it cool off. Peel the potato and then mash it. Mix the batter and the mashed potato into a dough. Mix all the other ingredients including the salt and oil into the dough. Mix well.

PREPARING THE PANCAKE: Place a sheet of plastic wrap (8” x 8”) flat on the counter top. Take a hand full of the dough and make a round ball. Use a few drops of cold water if needed to bind the dough together. Place the ball of dough in the middle of the plastic sheet and flatten the ball slowly with your fingers until it is a circular shaped pancake about 1/8 of an inch thick (can make it a bit thicker…but the thinner the better).

COOKING: Heat a pan and add a few drops of oil when the pan is hot. Pick up the plastic sheet with the pancake still on it. Flip the pancake onto your other hand by turning the sheet over. Place the pancake into the pan and cover the pan for a couple of minutes on medium high heat. Flip the pancake and cook the other side. Finally, let it cook for a minute without the pan cover to make it crispy. Place in plate, let cool for a minute, eat with or without sauce.