Food for fasting

Chaitra Navratri is celebrated widely across the country. The nine days leading up to Ram Navami are days of fasting and prayer for the devotees. Here’s a variety of fasting food that you can have during this Navratri

Bellam Dosalu

Ingredients

• ½ cup wheat flour
• ¼ cup maida
• ¼ cup rice flour
• 2 crushed cardamom
• 1½ cup grated jaggery
• Ghee for frying
• A pinch of edible camphor

Method

• Add a cup of water to the grated jaggery and mix well till the jaggery is completely dissolved. Add wheat flour, maida, rice flour and cardamom. Mix well and ensure no lumps are formed. Keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Now add edible camphor to the batter, and mix well. Heat a tawa and add some ghee. Over medium heat, pour a ladle of the dosa batter on the tawa.
• Cook till golden brown, adding ghee to it on the edges regularly.

Sweet Potato Kebab

Ingredients

• 500 gm sweet potato.
• Oil for frying
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 tbsp ginger-chilli paste
• 2 tsp coriander, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp lemon juice.
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp black salt
• Salt to taste

Method

• Boil, peel and cut the sweet potatoes in ½  inch roundels.
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients, except black salt. Add the sweet potato roundels to this mixture and set aside for 30 minutes.
• Heat some oil in a pan and shallow fry the roundels. Once done, sprinkle black salt on it and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Vadapappu

Ingredients

• ½ cup moong dal
• 5 tbsp mango pieces
• Salt to taste
• ¼ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander, chopped

Method

• Wash and soak moong dal for two hours. Drain the water completely and let it dry for ten minutes.
• Mix mango pieces, chopped coriander leaves, salt and red chilli powder. Mix well and serve.

TIP: Instead of mango, you can also use lemon juice to the mixture to give it a tangy taste.

Chalimidi

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• ½ cup jaggery, grated
• ½ cup cardamom powder

Method

• Wash and soak the rice for three hours. Drain the water and spread on a cloth. When the rice is semi dry, make it into a fine powder.
• Add grated jaggery and mix well. Knead it till it forms a smooth dough like mixture. Mix cardamom powder and knead for two minutes and serve.

Peanut Kadhi

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 cup roasted peanut powder
• 1 cup curd.
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp jeera
• 1 tsp ginger-chilli paste
• Few curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Grated coconut and chopped coriander for garnishing

Method

• Mix the curd and arrowroot powder and make a paste without any lumps. Keep it aside.
• Heat ghee in a pan and add jeera, curry leaves and ginger-chilli paste. Add roasted peanut powder and sauté for one minute. Now add curd and arrowroot powder paste, two cups of water and salt. Cook for three to five minutes.
• Remove from heat and garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves.