5 delectable recipes if you are fasting this navratri

If you are observing upvaas this festive season, you can try these recipes

Planning a new menu every year can be baffling for a fast day as you have limited ingredients to choose from. But did you know, by adding just a couple of ingredients more, you could add a delectable twist to your Navratri fast menu. Here are five delicious recipes for Navratri fast for you to try this festive season.

Fruit Salad with a Saffron Yogurt Dressing

Make your regular fruit salad more lip-smacking with saffron yogurt

Ingredients

• 1 cup of thick curds, beaten
• A few strands of saffron
• 1 tablespoon of sugar or ½ cup of jaggery, crushed
• 1 cup each of chopped fruits of your choice. Go colourful with apples, bananas, oranges, chikoos and pomegranate kernels.

Method

1. Beat the sugar, saffron and the thick curds till incorporated. Refrigerate.
2. Toss the chopped fruits into a large bowl.
3. Drizzle the chilled yogurt dressing over the chopped fruits and enjoy.

Sabudana Cutlets with Raisins and Cottage cheese

Dig into these delicious golden discs of goodness; one of those favourite recipes for navratri fast, but with a spin

Ingredients

• 500 gms potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 100 gms sago (sabudana), soaked for 3-4 hours in water
• 50 gms peanuts, roasted and crushed
• 2 tablespoon coriander powder
• ½ tablespoon chilli powder
• ½ tablespoon garam masala
• Rock salt to taste
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup paneer, crumbled
• Oil to fry

Method

1. Mix the soaked sago pearls with the mashed potato.
2. Now add the crushed groundnut, rock salt and coriander powder to the mixture as well and keep aside
3. In another bowl, mix together the raisins and crumbled paneer.
4. Pat the cutlet mixture out into small discs. Make a depression at the center and add ½ a teaspoon of the paneer-raisin mixture.
5. Roll it into a ball and pat it into a disc again.
6. Fry until golden brown.

Tip: Serve these cutlets with a mint chutney.

Banana and Buckwheat Peethe

Kuttu atta is considered ok to be added in recipes for navratri fast. Other grain flours you could have during this period are rajgira atta, shingare atta, shabudana and sama ke chawal ka atta.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 1 teaspoon soonth powder (dry ginger powder)
• 2 cups kuttu atta (buckwheat flour)
• ¼ cup jaggery, crushed
• 3 ripe bananas
• Oil, for deep frying
• 2 teaspoon white sesame seeds

Method

1. Soak the jaggery in ½ cup of water. Once it softens, mix well.
2. Peel and mash the bananas in a large bowl.
3. Pour the ghee into the flour.
4. Mix all the ingredients except the oil together and make a stiff yet smooth dough. Add more water or flour as required.
5. Divide into equal balls and roll out into quarter inch thick circles.
6. Fry in hot oil and serve.

Tip: To make it savoury, add mashed potatoes, sendhe ka namak(rock salt) and pepper powder to the flour and deep fry.

Recipe source: PankajB

Spicy Peanut Potatoes

Finger-licking good. You will be using this spice mix for all your recipes for navratri fast.

Ingredients

• 8 potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed
• 4 tablespoons roasted peanuts, crushed
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 3 dried red chillies, crushed
• ½ teaspoon asafoetida
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a  pan.
2. Dry roast all the whole spices and some sesame seeds in another pan.
3. Now add red chillies to the pan and roast.
4. Cut potatoes into cubes.
5. Cool the roasted ingredients and grind coarsely.
6. Add in asafoetida, chopped potatoes, curry leaves, and salt.
7. Toss and cook till the potatoes turn a shade of light brown.
8. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the ground powder, crushed peanuts and the rest of thr sesame seeds.
9. Mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Tip: Store the rest of the spice mix and use it for other vegetable preparations throughout your fast.

Recipe source: SanjeevKapoor

Makhana kheer with Custard apple Cream

A melt-in-mouth recipe made even better with the addition of custard apple.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of custard apple pulp, deseeded
• ½ cup fresh cream
• 1 litre full cream milk
• 50 gms makhana (foxnuts)
• 2-3 green cardamoms, deskinned and powdered
• ½ cup dried fruits, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• a few strands of saffron soaked in some milk

Method

1. Heat milk over a long time till it thickens.
2. Dry roast the makhanas in pan. Once cooled, pulse them in a blender.
3. When the milk comes to a boil, add the pulsed makhana, cardamom powder, saffron soaked in milk, sugar and simmer on a low flame. Turn off flame once thickened.
4. In a clean blender jar, blend in the custard apple pulp with the thick cream until smooth.
5. Now add the custard apple purée to the cooled kheer and garnish with dried fruits.

Tip: You could add condensed milk to 1/2 litre of milk and skip the sugar.

Do you have interesting recipes for navratri fast? Share in the Comment box below.

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