What are Navratri Fasts?

Navratri is a nine days long festival celebrated across India in different ways. Two Navratri is celebrated. The Sharad Navratri is celebrated the most followed by the Vasant Navratri. As already mentioned Navratri is celebrated differently in different states. In North Indian people observe fasts, whereas in South India the festivities are celebrated without fasting.

Navratri fasts, if I can say so, are the most popular fasts observed by the people of North India. Navratri fasts are observed diversely. Some people fasts for eight or nine days whereas others fast for a particular number of days or on particular days of Navratri.

Navratri Fasting Food

Indian festivities are so incomplete without the mention of food. Be it the celebration during festivals or fasting during festivals, food has its own significance. As the mode of fasting, so the fasting recipes vary from one household to another. What might be a common Navratri fasting food for a particular community may not be consumed or allowed by another community. Therefore before deciding the Navratri recipes to follow, be sure of the ingredients you can eat.

Fasting recipes

Well, my mother would always say, during Navratri fasts one should eat one meal after the sunset in one sitting. But again it differs and I have seen people observing Navratri fast with 1 or more meals. There are a number of breakfast recipes, lunch recipes as well as dinner and snack recipes for fasts. Indispensable for the festivals are the easy sweet recipes.

Fasting recipes exclude the use of ingredients such as onion, garlic; flours such as the commonly used whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, gram flour and so on. As regards the spices, the rules vary. For instance, my mother would not even use red chili powder, but people do use it for fast recipes. However, regular salt or table salt is not consumed. Instead, rock salt is used for the fasting recipes. In fact, lately, I have switched to rock salt in my day to day cooking. Here is why I am using rock salt for cooking. Potato recipes are the most common fasting recipes. Likewise, sweet potato recipes are also prepared.

Breakfast recipes for fast may include sabudana recipes, parathas for fast, etc. Further, the lunch recipes are mini-meals such as kuttu ka chilla with aloo ki sabji, sama ke chawal with Rajgira ki kadhi and so on. Dinner recipes for fast could be simple raita or kheer or easy sweet recipe. Apart from these there should be fasting savories/sweets in your pantry to help you deal with the sudden hunger pangs.

Here is a collection of fasting recipes:

Kuttu ka Chilla

If you follow a vegan diet or are looking for some gluten-free breakfast recipes, kuttu ka chilla is perfect for you. A pancake, rather a crepe, made with buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta), water and salt, is kuttu ka chilla. This cheela recipe has been prepared with minimal ingredients to keep it a low-calorie breakfast idea or a healthy breakfast recipe.

View the recipe here.

Sabudana Khichadi

One of the most popular fasting recipes is that of sabudana khichadi. Reason being, it is prepared in less oil, an exception to the other fasting recipe which often includes deep-frying, etc.

View the recipe here.

Moongphali ki Kadhi

Kadhi recipe is generally a preparation of yogurt and gram flour. However, gram flour is not consumed during fasts and therefore to make fasting kadhi recipe Rajgira flour is used. When fasting kadhi is flavored with peanuts, it becomes moongphali kadhi.

View the recipe here.

Fasting Desserts Fasting Desserts

Sweets or desserts are important during fasts because it is offered to Goddess and also gives energy to the fasting people. Here is a collection of dessert sweets recipes which include under 10 minutes desserts, some deserted (forgotten) desserts which are absolutely divine.

View the recipes here.

Tandoori Aloo (farali side dish)

Yes… farali tandoori aloo. These exist! And you won’t believe how simple the recipe is. Believe me, you will continue to use this recipe to make the regular tandoori aloo too.

View the recipe here.

Sama Rice Khichdi Recipe

Fasting khichadi recipe prepared using sama rice is sama rice khichdi. Sama rice prepared with the tempering of ghee, cumin seeds, cooked to a mushy consistency is Sama Rice Khichdi.

View the recipe here.

Sabudana Vada

Another very popular fasting recipe is sabudana vada. Sabudana vada is such an appetizing recipe that even in non-fasting days it is made for breakfast or snacking.

View the recipe here.

Vrat ke aloo

I wait for Navratri because I love to relish vrat ke aloo. No red chili, turmeric or tomatoes are used to prepare the gravy for vrat ke aloo, still, it is absolutely exquisite.

View the recipe here.

Kuttu ki Poori

There can be no better companion for vrat ke aloo. It should be eaten with kuttu ki poori. Kuttu ka aata is buckwheat flour. It is gluten-free. Kuttu ki poori is a very popular fasting recipe.

View the recipe here.

Farali Aloo Tamatar ki Sabji

Potato curry prepared in a tomato base, without onion, garlic and much spices; sing sedha namak or salt for fasting is aloo ki sabji for fasts. It is mildly spiced yet totally delicious.

View the recipe here.

Fasting Chutneys

No meals can be complete without chutneys. Here is a collection of fasting chutneys to pep up any of your fasting meal.

View the recipes here.

Vrat ke Chawal

Chawal ki recipe is an easy rice recipe. It is not supposed to cook into separate and long grains, therefore, it is a forgiving recipe. It can be prepared in a pressure cooker; however, I have used a cooking pan for this chawal ki recipe.

View the recipe here.

Sabudana ki Tikki Sabudana ki Tikki

Cutlets made using sago along with boiled potatoes, peanuts, and other ingredients. It is a healthy fasting recipe as sabudana tikki is fried in very little oil still, is absolutely crispy and delicious.

View the recipe here.

Arbi Fry (farali side dish)

At times we feel like taking a break from the potato recipes during fasts. Colocasia is also consumed during fast and this is an under 15 minutes recipe.

View the recipe here.

Vrat ke Sookhe Aloo

So appetizing, tangy and spicy potato recipe, when combined with some chilled yogurt and serve with fried potato chips, makes a simple yet soulful fasting meal.

View the recipe here.

Sabudana Thalipeeth

Lots of recipes can be prepared with sabudana. Recently I tried making sabudana thalipeeth, it was a good break from commonly made dishes. It gets a good crunch with little oil. Sabudana thalipeeth is the farali version of the popular Maharashtrian dish, thalipeeth.

View the recipe here.