Navratri is a major festival celebrated across India among the Hindus. It has lots of customs and rituals associated with it and one among them is eating specific dishes and food items on particular days. To make your fasting days smoothly we have a wonderful collection of fasting recipes that you can make during Navratri.
Navratri is celebrated differently across India. In the North people fast for 9 days throughout and have a great celebration at the end of the fasting. The festival fall mainly during the month of October and November. People worship 9 different forms of Goddess Durga during the festival, thus the name “Navratri” came into existence.
The legend has it that “Mahishasura” the mighty demon was a devotee of Lord Shiva. At one point the demon became greedier because of his power, he started killing many innocent people. As a result the trinity gods – Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, and Lord Shiva joined hands together and created a female deity “Goddess Durga” to destroy Mahishasura for good.
When “Mahishasura” got glimpse of Goddess Durga, he was mesmerized completely by her beauty and approached her to marry him. But Goddess Durga struck a deal by asking him to fight over a battle to win her. The fight went for 9 days and on the 10th day, Goddess Durga Beheaded Mahishasura and washed away all the evil. Therefore the nine days were thus called as the Navratri and the 10th day came to be known as “Vijayadashami”.
Traditionally, people fast for nine continuous nights by consuming just water. But later to avoid fatigue people slowly started consuming fruits or one meal per day with certain regulation.
The common ingredients that can be had during the fasting are:
Flours Used:
- Singhare ka atta (water chestnut flour)
- Kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour)
- Rajgira ka atta (amaranth flour) and rajgira (amaranth)
- Sama ke chawal ka atta (barnyard millet flour)
- Vrat ke chawal (barnyard millet)
- Arrowroot flour
- Sabudana or sago (Tapioca Pearls)
Vegetables Consumed:
- Potatoes
- Sweet Potato
- Colocasia (Arbi)
- Pumpkin
- Raw Banana
- Tomatoes
- Coconut
Preferable Spices Used:
- Cumin whole or powder
- Black peppercorns whole or powder
- Green cardamom
- Ginger
- Green Chilies
- Black Salt/ Rock Salt/Fruit Salt
Preferable herbs used:
- Coriander leaves
- Mint leaves
- Curry leaves
Ingredients to be avoided:
- Onion and Garlic
- Legumes/ lentils
- Salt
Consuming water during the fasting will help to keep your body energetic and healthy. It will also drain out the toxins from the body. As the recipes that we have created are also simple and light meals that can help your fasting to provide nourishment to the entire body.
