Commercially produced complementary foods are inaccessible to rural households in Ethiopia. This study aimed to optimize the nutritional and functional properties of local complementary foods using flours of the following locally available crops: maize, red kidney bean, kocho, and pumpkin fruit. Ten formulations were generated using a customized mixture design. A five‐point hedonic scale was used for the determination of organoleptic properties, and standard methods were used for the analyses of nutritional composition and functional properties. The flours were mixed in the range of 20%–30% for kocho, 10%–25% for pumpkin fruit, 10%–40% for red kidney bean, and 15%–30% for maize. Optimal nutritional and functional properties were obtained using 33.5% kocho, 22.5% maize, 17.5% pumpkin, and 26.5% red kidney bean. Optimal values for functional properties were 0.86 g/ml, 5.94 ml/g, 4.14 ml/g, 2.96 g/g, 5.0 ml/g, and 1225.3 cP for bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, swelling capacity, swelling index, and viscosity, respectively. All formulations were within acceptable limits with scores ranging from 3.00 to 4.32 on a scale of 5. The inclusion of 25% pumpkin fruit flour and other ingredients between 20% and 30% increased the pro‐vitamin A carotenoid and vitamin E contents of the composite flours. Aside from optimization, a higher concentration of limiting amino acids was achieved with 40% kidney beans and 15%–25% of the other ingredients. The mineral contents improved with increasing pumpkin, kidney bean, and kocho. To sum up, the nutrient quality, energy density, and functional quality of complementary foods can be optimized at a low cost using local ingredients.

Background. Noodle products are popular throughout the world, and they can be prepared from cereal like wheat, maize, and rice. Nowadays, healthy and nutritious product requirement has been increasing. Thus, research on the nutrition-rich but neglected crop is becoming visible nowadays to ensure global food security and to satisfy the nutritional need. Research indicated that moringa tree leaf powder has good nutritional value, but it is not yet customized and properly consumed. Method. The study is aimed at developing noodles from wheat flour and moringa leaf powder and evaluating proximate composition, antinutritional content (phytate and tannin), microbial load (total plate count and yeast and mold count), and sensory acceptability. The experiment contains four treatments and one control. The data from proximate composition, antinutritional content, microbial load, and sensory acceptability were subjected to SAS version 9 software. A complete randomized design was used to analyze the proximate composition, antinutritional content, and microbial load data, and a randomized complete block design was used to analyze the acceptability test. Result. The study revealed that in the noodles formulated from 80% durum wheat flour and 20% of moringa leaf powder, the ash, protein, fat, fiber, gross energy, phytate, and tannin content were increased by 39.39%, 10.86%, 153%, 42.2%, 3.43%, 39.83%, and 329.78%, respectively, as compared with noodles made from 100% durum wheat flour. However, moisture, total bacteria count, and yeast and mold count were decreased by 28.71%, 45.52%, and 55.93%, respectively. Similarly, the study also revealed that the acceptability test of noodles was decreased as moringa leaf powder concentration is increased. Conclusion. In conclusion, besides the good nutritional profile and antimicrobial capacity, moringa has antinutritional content and influences the sensory acceptability of products. Therefore, limiting the moringa leaf powder concentration is needed during the development of products using moringa leaf powder.