Looking forward to detoxifying our bodies, we decided to fast for all the Navratri days instead of the usual first and last that we always did. It was going to be a challenging task, I warned my foodie husband cause his day starts and ends with, ‘What are we eating?’ However, with his persistence, he finally won and we decided to go ahead. I succumbed and my initial resistance faded away.
Contrary to the popular pattern where most people assume it is an ‘eating fest’, I prefer to observe it in a slightly stricter way, not very but just slightly and that means having salt only once a day and no munching on vrat chips, vrat namkeen and nuts in between. So the morning would start with some fruits, the day would progress with a bowl of kheer or a glass of lassi or some shake and then finally the ‘phalahari’ meal post sunset. Ahoy! The detox went for a toss as we savored the delicious Navratri special meals. Believe me, the days went by like a breeze and in the end, we emerged radiantly victorious!
So, in case any of you are looking forward to fasting for the entire Navratri period and wondering what to cook, here’s a quick guide to keep you satiated for the entire duration.
Day 1- Fruit bowl, Makhane (Fox nut) ki kheer and Rajgira (Amaranth) aloo paratha
Lunch recipe - Makhane ki kheer- 1 litre milk, one cup makhane, roasted in a spoon of ghee and coarsely crushed. Dry fruits of your choice. I took almonds, cashews, walnuts, and raisins. Coarsely crush the dry fruits and keep them aside. Cardamom/Elaichi powder and sugar 5-6 spoons.
Bring milk to a boil and reduce the flame. Add the crushed makhane, cook on low flame while stirring from time to time to avoid burning. In about half an hour, the milk will slowly get reduced and the color will start changing from white to a little brown. Add the remaining nuts along with cardamon powder. Keep stirring. About 15 minutes later add sugar. Let it slowly cook on sim till it thickens. This should take about -1.5 hours in total. Kheer is ready.
Dinner- Rajgira (Amaranth) aloo paratha (makes about 10 parathas)
Take about 2 cups of Amaranth flour. It is a millet so binding will be easier with the boiled potatoes. Add 5 medium sized boiled and grated potatoes. Finely chop 2 green chillies and green coriander. Add this to the flour mixture. Then add rock salt (sendha namak) and roasted cumin (jeera) powder. Mix all these and knead into a dough. Water will not be required to bring the mixture together but if required, just dip your hands in warm water and knead.
Rolling out will not be an easy task since amaranth is gluten free, so it is advisable to place the ball in between two thick plastic sheets greased with ghee. Roll it out slowly and then transfer onto a skillet. This is again going to be tricky as the paratha might just break but doing it patiently will help. Use ghee to cook the paratha on both sides. It will turn out to be crispy and delicious. Serve with curd.
Day 2- Fruit bowl, Lauki ki kheer and Kuttu ki pakodi.
Lunch- Lauki ki kheer – 1 litre milk, 1 small sized bottle guard (lauki/doodhi) peeled and grated, nuts of choice, sugar and ghee.
Peel and grate lauki. It should be tender and not bitter. Bring milk to a boil and reduce the flame. Meanwhile, take a pan, add a spoon of ghee and roast the grated lauki for about 5 minutes. Then add it to the milk.
Keep stirring taking the ladle to the bottom of then pan. As milk reduces, keep scraping the edges of the pan and mixing the crusty cream into the kheer. After about 45 minutes, add the nuts. Then in another 15 minutes, add sugar and cardamom powder. Keep stirring and cooking. You can cook for 1.5-2 hours, depending how thick you like it. Once done, serve it hot or chilled.
Dinner – Kuttu (buckwheat flour) ki pakodi
Boil and grate 3 medium sized potatoes. Thinly slice and chop 3 medium sized raw potatoes. Take a bowl, put the two in it. Now add ½ a cup Kuttu to it. You may increase the quantity depending upon the consistency. Add finely chopped ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, rock salt, black pepper powder, cumin seeds and mix. Do not add water unless required. Just a spoon would do if necessary to bring the mixture together.
Take a wok, add peanut oil to it (any oil extracted from seeds is not consumed). When the oil is hot enough that a little smoke is arising, add tiny portions of the mixture using a spoon or hand, whatever works for you. Remember the flame should not be too high else the pakodis will not get cooked from the inside.
Transfer onto a paper towel to remove excess oil and serve with chutney.
Chutney can be made by using just coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chillies. Grind these together. Add lemon juice and salt. Done.
Day 3- Fruit bowl, Milkshake and Sabudana (tapioca) khichdi
Lunch – Milk shake – Take two glasses of cold milk, add two bananas and two apples chopped into pieces. Add sugar as per your taste. Blend them together in a mixer jar. Serve chilled.
Dinner- Sabudana/Tapioca khichdi
Wash and soak a cup of sabudana for about 6 hours. Pro tip: Do not use too much water else the pearls will become clumpy. Just half an inch above it. The sabudana pearls will become soft and fluffy and should get squashed if you try. Drain out any excess water completely.
Dry roast peanuts and once they cool, coarsely crush them. Also take some ghee in a pan and roast about 2 tbsp peanuts until slightly brown. Keep it aside.
Take a pan, add jeera. Once it splutters, add finely chopped ginger and green chillies. Roast till the raw smell goes away. Then add one boiled potato cut into cubes. It will turn a little brown. Then add the fluffy sabudana pearls. Add salt, a hint of sugar and a little black pepper powder. Mix gently. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. The sabudana will turn a little translucent. Uncover, squeeze half a lemon, add two spoons of the crushed dry roasted peanut and the other ghee roasted peanut. Toss it together. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve.
Day 4- Fruit bowl, Milkshake and Samak (Barnyard millet) khichdi
Lunch – Dry fruits milkshake – Soak 8 cashews, almonds, walnuts, and figs for about half an hour. Once softened, transfer to a blender jar. Add two glasses of cold milk. Sugar as per taste. Blend and serve chilled.
Dinner- Samak khichdi –
Wash and soak 1 cup barnyard millet for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile chop carrot, potato, beans, cauliflower and cottage cheese into small pieces.
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add jeera and curry leaves. Once they splutter, add the vegetables. Stir fry the veggies. Add salt. Then add green chillies and the soaked millet. Add about 4 spoons of curd and water about an inch above the millet level. Close the lid of the cooker. Give 3 whistles. And tadaa! Khichdi is ready. You may add ghee on top and make it more flavorful. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and crushed dry roasted peanuts. Serve with curd and chutney.
Day 5-Fruits bowl, Barnyard millet kheer and Singhada atta (water chestnut flour) poori with sitaphal/kaddu (pumpkin) sabzi
Lunch- Samak kheer-
Wash and soak 1/4th cup samak for about 20 mins. Pour one litre milk in a pan. Bring it to a boil and reduce the flame. Then add the soaked samak to it. Keep stirring on low flame. Barnyard millet fluffs up and so the kheer will soon start thickening. Add chopped nuts of your choice along with cardamom powder. Finally add sugar as per your taste. 5-6 spoons work for me. The kheer will be ready in one hour. In case the kheer thickens after cooling, you can add a few spoons of boiled and cooled milk to it to adjust the consistency.
Dinner- Singhada atta poori-
Take 2 cups of atta, about 4 medium sized boiled potatoes peeled and grated, rock salt and cumin powder. Mix these together and knead. It is sticky so might give you a problem. Add a spoon of hot water if there is difficulty in assembling the dough. Divide the dough into 12-14 balls.
Then heat oil in a wok. Gently roll the balls. You may use the two plastic sheets technique is normal rolling with pin turns tricky. Keep it a little thicker than your normal poori. Fry on both sides.
Kaddu ki sabzi – Thinly slice 250 grams of kaddu. Put a spoon of oil in a pan, add a spoon of jeera. Once it crackles, add the kaddu slices, finely chopped ginger, green chillies and sprinkle salt as per taste. Add 2-3 spoons of water to prevent it from burning. Cover and cook on low flame. Keep stirring in between. Once it turns soft, add a hint of sugar, amchoor (dry mango powder) or lemon juice. We do not use coriander powder and red chilli powder in our vrat recipes. In case you do, you may add these. Mix all. Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve it hot with pooris and curd.
Day 6- Fruits bowl, Milkshake, Sabudana vada
Lunch- Dates and raisins milk shake- Soak 8-10 dates and raisins in water for about 10 minutes. Take two glasses of cold milk. Add to blender jar. Blend it all together. Sugar will not be required as dates and raisins are already sweet. Serve chilled.
Dinner- Sabudana vada-
Wash and soak a cup of sabudana for 6-8 hours. Drain out any excess water once sabudana pearls turn squishy. Boil 6 potatoes. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes. Finely chop ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves. Dry roast 2 tbsp peanuts and crush them. Mix all the above ingredients together. Add rock salt, black pepper powder and roasted cumin powder for taste. Combine well. Divide the portion into balls. You may flatten them into discs if frying or leave them as balls if not. These can be cooked in three ways-
1. Deep fry- Pour oil into a wok. Once it is piping hot meaning you can see a little smoke rising, gently put the tikki into the oil. Fry till it turns crispy brown. Before putting the vada/tikki into the oil, you have to ensure the tikki has no visible cracks and the oil is really hot, failing which the vada/tikki will burst and will be of no use.
2. Shallow fry- Pour oil in a shallow pan and place the tikkis. Flip when one side is brown. Cook the other side as well.
3. Appe pan- Grease the appe pan and place it on low flame. Put the sabudana balls into the cavities and cook on both sides until they turn brown.
Serve with chutney.
Day 7- Fruit bowl, Gajar ka halwa and Pharali dosa with peanut chutney
Lunch – Gajar ka halwa- Peel and grate one kg red carrots. Turn on the flame and place a pressure cooker over it. Add 2 spoons of ghee. Once the ghee is hot, add the grated carrots. Roast for about 3-4 minutes. Then add half a cup of milk. Mix it well. Close the lid of the cooker and let it cook for 3-4 whistles. Turn off the flame. Once the steam is out, uncover the cooker. Place another pan on the flame. Add a spoon of ghee and the cooked carrot to it. Keep stirring and cooking. You may add nuts of your choice. Then add sugar as per taste. Keep cooking on low flame. I do not add khoya, but you may add it you wish. Cook for about 1 hour and you gajar halwa is ready to eat. This is one of the quickest recipes to make gajar halwa!
Dinner – Pharali dosa and peanut chutney
For dosa- ½ cup samak/Barnyard millet washed and soaked for 1 minutes, ½ cup rajgira/amaranth flour, ½ cup buttermilk, one spoon paste of ginger and green chillies and rock salt.
Drain out the water from samak and blend it in a jar adding just a few spoons of water as required to make a smooth paste. Then add rajgira, buttermilk, ginger-green chilli paste and salt to taste. Cover and let it ferment for 8 hours. Once fermented, take a nonstick tawa/ dosa tawa and grease it. Spread the batter and cook until crisp.
Peanut chutney to accompany dosa- 1 cup dry roasted and coarsely crushed peanuts, 3/4th cup curd, 1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste, rock salt and cumin powder. Blend these together in a mixer jar. Add a little bit of lemon juice if required.
Day 8 – Durgashtami Prasad – Chana, Poori and Suji halwa
Kaala chana- Soak 1 cup chana overnight. Drain and wash with fresh water. Transfer to a pressure cooker, add water 1 inch above its level. Add salt, one cinnamon stick and one black whole cardamom. Close the lid and cook for 4-5 whistles until done. The chana should be soft enough to get quashed when placed between two fingers. Now take another pan. Add a spoon of ghee. Take a In a bowl take a spoon of water, mix 1tsp of haldi, 2 tsp of Kashmiri red chilli powder, 2 tsp of coriander powder, 1 tsp of cumin powder and 1 tsp of amchur powder and form a smooth paste. Put this paste in the heated ghee. Stir for a few seconds. Then add the cooked chana. Salt was added while boiling so there is no need for more salt. Cover and cook. Add a spoon of crushed kassori methi leaves and cook. Evaporate the water and then garnish with fresh coriander leaves and slit green chillies.
Sooji ka halwa- 1 cup rawa/sooji, 1 cup ghee and 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar.
In a pan add ghee, then add rawa to it. Keep the flame on low and stir the sooji continuously. It should slowly turn brown. If you cook on high flame, there will be no taste. In another pan, pour water, sugar and 1tsp of cardamom powder. Put it on low flame. Meanwhile, add a spoon of besan to the sooji and keep cooking. Once the sooji besan mixture is sufficiently brown and fragrant, add nuts of your choice. These nuts can be roasted in ghee to give a crisp texture. Turn off the flame and slowly add the water sugar mixture while continuously stirring. Turning off the flame prevents accidents from spluttering rawa. Turn on the flame again on low and keep stirring until you get your desired consistency. Garnish with more chopped nuts and desiccated coconut.
Poori- Take two cups of wheat flour. Add water and knead into a soft dough. Divide the dough into lemon sized balls. Roll then into pooris and fry.
So, this was our Navratri food fest journey which went quite smoothly. It was fun. For all those who worry about how they will manage, I am sure this recipe guide will be of significant help. Since cooking is not science like baking is, I mostly do not use measurements. However I have tried to give measurements where I could.
In case you have any queries, do post them in the comment section. Till then, Happy Navrati and Happy Fasting!
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