Navratri Special

Seven Unique Vrat Recipes For the Next Seven Days

It's that time of the year again - the festive time of Navratras!
Charged with spiritual fervor, it's time to invoke the energy of Mother Goddess. It's time for us to relax, turn inwards and recharge ourselves with new energy. It’s time to fast and thereby purify our mind and body. Both Chaitra and Sharad Navratri are celebrated at the change of seasons, a time for the body to change gears and get ready for the next seasonal cycle.
According to Ayurveda, fasting rekindles the digestive fire. An increase in the digestive fire burns the toxins in the body. When the toxins are flushed out of the body, it loses dullness and lethargy. All the cells of the body are rejuvenated. Fasting, therefore, is an effective therapy to cleanse the body. When the body is cleansed, the mind becomes calmer and more peaceful because of the deep connection between the body and mind.
Unfortunately, as we celebrate Navratri, we tend to indulge. We gorge on high-fat, sugary, and calorie-dense food and forget the real purpose of fasting — to fortify us from within during the changing season.
Navratra fasting gives us a break from gluten, which eases our digestion and lets the body function more efficiently. Kuttu, samai, singhara, and rajgira are great sources of fiber, protein, and antioxidant polyphenols. The complex carbohydrate and soluble fiber in them add to satiety by slowing down our digestion. Dry fruits and nuts boost the nutritional value of the day's food, while fresh fruits and vegetables provide the essential vitamins and minerals to keep us energized.
Nature has spread the goodness of nutrition across all kinds of food. These Navratras, try a new ingredient every day. If it is kuttu today, try samai tomorrow and sabudana the next day. While some may perceive this as a time to feast on their favorite kuttu puris and pakodas, Navratri fasting if done the healthy way can actually help you detox. It is important to eat light and healthy meals and stay away from the fried foods. Make sure to eat enough fiber via fruits and veggies and hydrate effectively.
With covid again on the rise in the country coupled with a period of low immunity due to the change of season, you may question whether you should be fasting at this time or not. Put all your worries aside, as you browse through the wide variety of choices, clicking on this link, or the science & significance behind fasting, and let these Navratras be not only about eating healthy but also improving your immunity.
Give yourself a break from the monotony of the same old boring vrat food and try these unique vrat recipes, each with an interesting twist.
#Day 1
Sago Thalipeeth: An easy, interesting and healthy pancake recipe from Maharashtra, made with sago pearls, potatoes, crushed peanuts, and fresh herbs.
Ingredients:
1 cup sabudana
1/4 cup peanut
2 potatoes (boiled & mashed)
2 chilies (finely chopped)
1-inch ginger (grated)
2 tbsp fresh coriander (finely chopped)
1/2 tsp pepper (crushed)
1 tsp lemon juice
- salt to taste (sendha namak)
- desi ghee for roasting
Method:
Take a cupful of sabudana and rinse well under running water. Drain off the excess water and transfer to a large bowl. Add a cup of water and dip the sabudana completely in water. Soak for 4 hours or until the sabudana turns soft and non-sticky. Keep aside. In a pan dry roast the peanuts on low to medium flame. Let them cool down and remove their skin. Now crush them coarsely. Keep aside. In a large bowl take soaked sabudana, boiled, peeled, and mashed potatoes, finely chopped chilies, finely chopped coriander, and grated ginger. Add crushed peppercorns and salt to taste. Squeeze in 1 tsp lemon juice. Mix well making sure. Prepare a soft dough. Sabudana thalipeeth dough is ready.

How to cook:
Grease the butter paper with oil to prevent the thalipeeth from sticking. Take a large ball-sized dough and start flattening it with your palm. Press and flatten making sure it is round and even and slightly thick. if it’s too thin, there are chances for thalipeeth to break while cooking. Now flip on to hot tawa and press gently. After a minute, peel off the butter paper. Flip over once the base is cooked. Now apply ghee on both sides and roast until they turn golden brown. You can enjoy sago thalipeeth with fresh yogurt, jeera aloo, or even mint & dates chutney.

#Day 2
Potato Rosti with Minty Pineapple Dip and Spinach & Basil Pesto: Rosti is a potato based dish of Swiss origin, where it used to be a common breakfast especially for the farmers. Here is a slightly modified version of original rosti where I've mixed the grated potatoes with a sprinkling of green chillies and crushed pepper and cooked it with a layer of cottage cheese.

Ingredients:
2 par-boiled potatoes (big size)
1 cup crumbled cottage cheese (optional)
1 green chilli (finely chopped)
1 tsp peppercorns (freshly crushed)
salt to taste (sendha namak)
2 tbsp desi ghee

Method:
Peel the par-boiled potatoes and grate them on a kitchen towel, using the large holes of the hand grater. (Large holes mean faster work, better texture. A very finely grated potato can turn mushy during cooking.) Let the potatoes rest for at least 5 minutes, and then, working with a fistful at a time, squeeze as much liquid as possible out of them and transfer to a bowl. Add finely chopped green chilies, crushed peppercorns, and salt to taste and toss well to coat thoroughly.
Heat the pan and add generous amount of desi ghee. Start filling the pan with the potato mixture gradually adding just a small amount at a time. (this makes it easier to get an even layer) Working quickly, repeat until you’ve got enough potatoes in the pan to cover the bottom. With a fork, gently spread out the shreds of potato to make a layer about 1/2 inch thick, trying to distribute them evenly, avoiding dense or thin patches. If there are straggly potatoes around the edges, tuck them in with the fork also so they don’t burn.
You can spread a thin layer of crumbled cottage cheese in-between by making two layers of potato mixture with each layer being 1/4 inch thick. (optional)
Adjust the heat so that you hear a lively sizzle and let the bottom brown. Cook until the underside is a deep golden brown. Flip the rosti and cook the other side to a crisp golden brown, the same way.
I served the rosti with pineapple dip and basil and spinach pesto.

#Day 3
Sago Salad: I love Sago Khichdi so whenever the craving strikes, I end up making it even on non-vrat days.
But today, let's give a miss to our regular sago khichdi and use the soaked sago to toss this delicious sago salad which is quick to put together, quite satiating, and keeps you on the move without being heavy on your stomach.
Ingredients:
1 cup sago
1/2 sweet potato boiled & peeled (optional)
1 cup chopped fruits of your choice
1/2 cup dry-fruits of your choice
For the Dressing:
1 tbsp honey or jagger powder
1 tsp sendha namak or salt to taste
1 tsp freshly crushed black peppercorns
1/2 tsp freshly roasted cumin seeds
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 inch grated ginger squeezed into juice
3-4 sprigs of mint leaves (freshly minced)
Method:
Soak sago overnight or for 6-8 hours. Drain the water. Add 1 cup chopped fruits to it. I have added boiled sweet potato cubes, pineapple, pomegranate, cucumber, apple, coconut shavings, banana, and dates. Add 1/4 cup roasted, chopped dry fruits. I have added almonds, cashews, and peanuts. You can also add raisins. Make a dressing using honey, (you can even use jaggery powder) lemon juice, crushed black peppercorns, roasted cumin seeds, juice of freshly grated ginger, minced mint leaves, and sendha namak. Add to the salad. Toss everything well. The salad is ready to be devoured!

#Day 4
Vrat ki Kadhi: I made 'vrat ki kadhi' for the first time during the last Navratras and it turned out so good that I was left wondering why I never thought of making it before! Paired it with steaming hot sama rice seasoned generously with plain desi ghee.
Friends, you got to try this kadhi to believe how heavenly it tastes! Added bonus is the kuttu parantha stuffed with paneer and the mint and coriander chutney to give that extra zing. I'd been wanting to stuff the kuttu paratha for the longest time but it would always crack apart. As a result, I usually had to settle for paneer ki tikki. But last Navratras I finally nailed the art of rolling out a 'perfectly-stuffed-kuttu-parantha' and dish out amazing 'vrat ki kadhi'!
Here’s the recipe for lip-smacking, easy to digest, singhare ke atte ki kadhi.
Ingredients:
For Kadhi
1 cup sour yogurt at room temperature
3 tbsp water-chestnut flour (singhara atta)
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 to 1.5 tsp ginger-green chili paste or ½ inch ginger and 1 to 2 green chilies crushed in a mortar-pestle
2 tbsp ghee
1 to 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (for garnishing)
rock salt to taste (sendha namak)
water to guesstimate
For Pakodas
1 boiled potato
1 tbsp water-chestnut flour (singhara atta)
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp ginger-chili paste
rock salt to taste (sendha namak)
2 cup peanut oil (for frying)
Method:
Take 1 cup of sour yogurt in a mixing bowl. Whisk till smooth. Add 3 tbsp of water-chestnut flour (singhare ka atta). If you don't have water-chestnut flour, you can also add buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta), or amaranth flour (rajgira ka atta). Mix thoroughly. Add 1/2 cup water or water to your guesstimate. Whisk the whole mixture very well till it's absolutely smooth and there are no lumps.
For the pakodas, mash the boiled potato and add water-chestnut flour to it. Add the spices and shape them into small balls. Heat peanut oil in a wok and deep fry the pakodas to a warm golden-white colour. Drain the excess oil and place the pakodas on a kitchen towel.
In a wok heat 2 tbsp ghee. Add cumin seeds and wait till they start to crackle. Now add the ginger-green-chili paste. Stir and saute till the raw aroma of the ginger goes away. Lower the flame and add the kadhi mixture. Stir well and allow the kadhi to simmer on low flame. Add rock salt (sendha namak) to taste. If you consume turmeric powder during Navratras fast, you can add that as well. Keep stirring the kadhi occasionally and let it thicken. When cooked, drop hot pakodas in it and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain sama rice, sama pulao, sama khichdi, rajgira paratha, stuffed or plain kuttu paratha or kuttu pooris.

#Day 5
Neer Dosa with Coconut & Peanut chutney and Spicy Aaloo: Inspired by a successful attempt at kadhi, I decided to give a try to my favorite South-Indian cuisine. I used unpolished barnyard millet (will share a picture to show you the difference) to make the same. If you use the regular samak ke chawal available in the market, your dosa will come out comparatively white and closer to the colour of the actual neer dosa!
Ingredients:
1.5 cup of barnyard millet soaked overnight
3/4 cup grated coconut
1 tspn pink salt (sendha namak)
Method:
Neer Dosa
Wash the millets a couple of times to remove impurities. Soak it in water overnight. Wash it again in the morning. Drain the water. Grind it with the grated coconut and salt. Add water while grinding to get a smooth paste. The batter should be of pouring consistency. Heat a tawa on medium heat. Pour a tspn of ghee and rub it on tawa. Pour a ladleful of batter and spread it evenly in a circular motion. Add a tsp of ghee on the top. Flip it once the lower side is cooked. A few minutes and both sides will be done. Fold and remove.
From this batter, you will be able to make 16-18 dosas.
Coconut-Peanut chutney
Roast 1/4 cup peanuts. Add 1/4 cup grated coconut, 1 green chili, and a few fresh coriander leaves. Add salt to taste. Grind to a smooth paste.
Spicy Aloo
Boil two potatoes. Cut them into small cubes. In a wok, heat 2 tsp ghee. Add chopped green chili, curry leaves, and cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds start to splutter add pink salt and red chili powder. Add the potatoes. Mix them nicely. Add dry mango powder, dry mint powder, and dry fenugreek leaf powder. Roast for 2-3 mins.
Arrange the folded dosas, chutney, and chatpate aloo on a platter and watch them disappear in the blink of an eye!

#Day 6
Mango Phirni: No post can be complete without the mention of something sweet. Toh fir chaliye, ab kuchh meetha ho jaaye!
This year Navratras have arrived a little late. We are in the middle of April and the season of mangoes is almost upon us. Not letting our fasts go mango-free (and for those of you who prefer to go salt-free), here's delicious summer pudding made with sama rice and alphonso mangoes - aam-phirni! For making phirni, choose good quality ripe mangoes, discarding the ones that are even slightly unripe as teeny-weeny bit of sourness can ruin the taste of phirni and can also curdle it. So choose sweet and bright coloured mangoes, preferably Ratnagiri Alphonsos!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sama rice
3 cups full-fat milk or 750 ml full-fat milk
4 tbsp sugar
1 ripe mango
4 green cardamoms crushed to powder or ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
10 almonds (blanched & sliced)
10 pistachios (blanched, peeled & sliced)
few edible rose petals (fresh or dried)
Preparation:
Rinse the sama rice couple of times under running water and then spread on a kitchen towel to dry. Once the grains have dried, pulverize them in a grinder jar till you get a semi-fine granular consistency, like that of rava or sooji. Keep aside.
Peel 1 large ripe mango, chop into cubes (keep few for garnishing) and blend the rest into a smooth puree and keep in the refrigerator.
Peel and slice the pistachios and almonds.
Method:
Take the full-fat milk in a heavy-bottomed pan and heat it on a low flame. Do stir at times so that the milk does not scorch from the base. When the milk begins to boil, add the ground rice granules. Keep stirring. Cook the mixture on low flame, stirring all the while. Make sure there are no lumps, breaking them with the back of your spoon if you find any. The milk will thicken as the rice gets cooked. Scrape the sides often and add it to the simmering milk. By the time the rice granules get cooked, the phirni would thicken considerably. At this stage, you have to stir continuously, so that the phirni does not brown or burn from the base. Switch off the flame, when you reach a thick consistency and add sugar. This may thin the phirni a little as sugar leaves its water. Add sliced pistachios and almonds (leaving a few for garnishing), 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder and 1 teaspoon dried rose petals. You can also add a pinch of saffron as it gives an aromatic flavor. Let the phirni cool at room temperature. Once the phirni has cooled down, it will thicken more. Now add the mango puree and mix very well to a uniform consistency. After adding the mango puree, the phirni may come to a fluid consistency so you have to adjust the thickened consistency right at the beginning. Now spoon the mango phirni into individual bowls and refrigerate for 4-5 hours. Garnish with sliced pistachios, almonds, rose petals, and chilled mango cubes and enjoy this delectably-delicious-dessert any time of the day!

#Day 7
Home-made Mexican Platter: So I have saved the best for the last. Can you imagine curating a complete Mexican platter using only 'vrat' ke ingredients right at your home? Well! let me begin from the beginning. At the onset of Sharad Navratras 2020, I happened to visit the Food Hall at Chanakya Puri. A chubby little purple sweet potatoes winked at me from its heaped sack and I just fell for it. The journey of this platter began from that very moment. An idea took birth, changed form a thousand times with umpteen doubts creeping in - will I be able to deliver all that I’m conceiving, will it even be palatable with such limited choice of ingredients allowed for vrat but finally, my conviction triumphed over my apprehensions and doubts and I could curate each and every item, I had thought of putting on this platter!
Seventh-day and seven items on our card today :)
1. Tacos made with samak flour ground at home from samak rice
2. Yam & Colcocia Patty
3. Purple Sweet Potato Patty
4. Air Fried Banana Chips
5. Air Fried Sweet Potato chips
6. Pineapple, Water Chestnut, and Cucumber Salad
7. Fresh Almond Salsa to spice up the tacos. (I usually add red wine vinegar to the almond salsa and a roasted-red-bell pepper but we will skip the bell pepper and add a dash of pomegranate vinegar in accordance with the permissible food for fasting.)

Ingredients For Taco Shells:
250 gms samak atta or samak rice ground to flour
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
pink salt to taste (sendha namak)
lukewarm water to knead the dough
2 tsp ghee
How To Prepare Taco Shells:
To make samak taco shells, preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Place the top rack of the oven at the middle level and line the bottom rack with a drip tray or silver foil. Sieve the samak atta, and salt together in a deep bowl. Add the spices and warm ghee. Add a little warm water at a time and knead into a stiff dough. Divide the taco dough into equal portions of marble-sized balls. Roll out each ball into a 4-inch diameter circle, dusting it with dry flour while rolling. Once rolled, prick the taco dough with a fork. This prevents the tacos from puffing. Next, drape the samak taco on the baking grill rack. Once you have arranged all the tacos on the rack as shown in the picture, place them in the oven. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until you see the tacos turning crisp and lightly browned. Keep a watch on the tacos as each oven works differently and they tend to get overcooked if left un-monitored. Once done, remove the hard taco shells from the oven and allow them to cool completely. They'll continue to harden as they cool down. Store them and move on to the next step.

Ingredients For:
Yam & Colcocia Patty
250 gms yam (suran)
250 gms colcocia (arbi)
1 tbsp water-chestnut (singhara) flour (or any vrat flour)
1 inch ginger finely chopped
1-2 green chilies finely chopped
fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tsp black peppercorns freshly crushed
pink salt to taste (sendha namak)
peanut oil for shallow frying
Purple Sweet Potato Patty
2 big purple sweet potato
1 tbsp any vrat flour
2 tbsp roasted & crushed peanuts
pink salt to taste (sendha namak)
peanut oil for shallow frying
Method:
Peel and dice the yam in cubes. Boil it in a pressure cooker. Boil the Colcocia in a pressure cooker till it becomes soft. Take out and peel them. Put the boiled cubes of yam and Colcocia in a bowl and mash the two with a fork. Add the herbs and the spices and water-chestnut flour to this mixture. Mix & mash everything uniformly. The mixture will be sticky. Rub some oil on your palm, take a handful of the mixture, and shape it into a patty. 
Follow the same procedure for the Sweet-potato patty. Make patties from both the mixtures and keep them in a tray. At the time of serving, rub them with little peanut oil and air-fry them or pan-fry them with some oil till golden brown on both sides. 

Potato chips or banana chips are my all-time favourite Navratri snacks to munch on but store-bought versions pack a significant amount of fat & sodium. Enter air fryer chips. These healthy homemade chips have a third of the fat—and they’re perfectly crunchy and addictive. And yes, if you are a chips fan like me, and don’t already own a mandoline, this recipe is your excuse to buy one. This versatile kitchen tool makes for precise slicing, which results in evenly cooked chips.
Ingredients For Banana Chips & Sweet Potato Chips
1 unripe banana
1 big-sized sweet potato
pinch of turmeric (optional)
black pepper powder to taste
pink salt to taste
or shell’s special spice mix (pepper powder, mint powder, dry mango powder, red chili powder, pink salt)
little coconut oil or butter for brushing
Method:
For banana chips, slice the ends and then peel the unripe banana commonly called a plantain with a peeler or knife. Make 2-3 slits down the length as that helps them to peel apart easily. Transfer the peeled plantain into a mixing bowl filled with water & turmeric. Allow it to soak for at least 30 minutes. This step removes any additional starch from the plantain. Slice the Plantain thinly with a mandolin slicer or a sharp knife. Drain and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Toss the plantain slices and coat them lightly with coconut oil. Sprinkle pink salt and black pepper powder or if you want that zing then my special spice powder. Arrange the sliced plantain into the air fryer basket either overlapping each other or in a single row. Select the time and temperature to 300F/150 C and 10 minutes. Press start. Flip and turn the plantain chips around every 5 minutes, so that they dry out evenly. If you feel the chips are still wet from the underside or in the middle, fry for another 2-3 minutes checking in between. It may take 10-12 minutes of initial air frying. Now Increase the temperature to 350F/180C and cook for 2-3 minutes, checking every 1 minute in-between. If you see some of the chips are ready, remove them and continue to cook. Allow the chips to cook a bit as they will crisp further. Sprinkle a little more salt if you prefer and hide them away if you want them to make it to your platter. ;)
Same as plantain, soaking the sweet potato slices in water helps to remove their starch, making for crispier chips. In a large bowl of cold water, soak sweet potato slices for 20 minutes. Drain sweet potatoes; pat dry with paper towels. Wipe bowl dry and add melted butter, salt, and black pepper. Add sweet potato slices and toss gently to coat. Lightly coat the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Follow the same procedure as we did for the banana chips, cooking the chips in batches if there are too many of them.
Air frying these sweet potato chips can be a little tricky but you can nail the art by keeping a close eye on them while they cook. Check the chips about halfway through, using your tongs to separate any that have stuck to each other. Check them again towards the end of their cook cycle, making sure to remove any chips that are lightly browned and crisped.
Don’t worry if several chips feel a touch soft, they tend to dry out and crisp up as they cool.  

Pineapple, Water Chestnut, and Cucumber Salad: A refreshing side that screams nothing but a cheery Navratra feast or a healthy lunch or a quick side especially with its explosive flavourful dressing!
Ingredients:
1 peeled & diced pineapple
8-10 water chestnuts
1 English cucumber
200 gms cottage cheese
Salad Dressing:
1 tbsp lime juice
1.5 tsp jaggery powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp freshly crushed black peppercorns
few sprigs of fresh aromatic mint (minced)
pink salt to taste (sendha namak)
Take ripe pineapple and peel it with a sharp knife if it's not been peeled from the market. Remove the black eyes. Slice it and cut the slices into cubes. Peel the water-chestnuts, wash them, and cut them into quarters. Wash the cucumber thoroughly with baking soda & water, pat dry and cut into cubes with the skin on. Dice the cottage cheese into cubes. Prepare the salad dressing, mixing all the dressing ingredients thoroughly. Transfer the salad into a big bowl, pour dressing over it, and give it a nice toss. Refrigerate it for half an hour to allow the flavors to seep in. Get ready to enjoy your family's reaction to this simple yet hydrating salad coz you’re about to rake in some really amazing feedback!

Fresh Almond Salsa: When you add nuts to a salsa (and blend them up really well), the salsa takes on a wonderful, creamy texture that is incredibly intoxicating. This is my first ever nut salsa and I’m soooo infatuated with it. I love it with chips, the other day I even put it on my sabudana thalipeeth, it’s marvelous as a breakfast spread and of course is perfect with just about any Mexican cuisine.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp Californian almonds
1 tbsp pine nuts or walnuts
30 gm fresh red chilies (stems removed)
1 green apple
1 firm tomato
7-8 cape gooseberries
1/4 tsp roasted cumin powder
2 tbsp pomegranate vinegar (available at fabindia)
1/2 cup water
pink salt to taste (sendha namak)
1 tbsp olive oil
Method:
Char the green apple over a burner or under a broiler until it is well-blackened on all sides. Wrap in a plastic bag and set aside until cool enough to handle, then peel and seed the apple. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the chilies and toast until fragrant for about about 2-3 minutes (you can adjust the heat in the salsa according to your liking.) Towards the end of toasting, add the pine nuts/walnuts and sliced almonds and toast until fragrant. Add the cape gooseberries cut in halves, tomato cut in quarters, water, and three-fourth teaspoon salt, and cook over high heat until the tomato and cape gooseberries are tender. (for about 8-10 minutes)Transfer mixture to a blender along with the charred green apple and purée until smooth. Add the pomegranate vinegar and adjust seasoning. The salsa should be thick enough to generously coat the back of a spoon. Store in an airtight jar in the fridge until serving time. Refrigerate the leftover salsa in a capped bottle and it will stay good for a week.
Now that everything that needs to go on your Mexican Platter is ready, just bring it on!!!

Enjoy your Navratras while detoxing the right way. Wish you happy and healthy fasting!

ps. Do let me know how you find these recipes in the comments below. :)