Tag: Navratri

Vrat Wali Kadhi

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In continuation with last few posts on food to be eaten during fasts, here’s a recipe for Kadhi. Kadhi is a North Indian dish made with buttermilk and tempered with spices.

Everyone has a different approach to making kadhi, here’s how I make it. I like the consistency to be really thick. Unlike the usual kadhi made with gram flour, since I made this during Navratris, this one is with rajgira flour and added peanut powder to give the kadhi a smooth creamy texture.

Kadhi

Prep Time : 5 minutes
Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup full fat yoghurt
4-5 cups water
3 tsp rajgira aata / Amarnath grain flour
1/4 cup powdered penut powder
5 tsp oil
10 curry leaves
2 green chillies finely chopped
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
a pinch of turmeric (optional)
Rock salt to taste

In a bowl, whisk yoghurt and add rajgira flour and rock salt to taste with water and mix well.

Add turmeric if you use turmeric during fasting.

On medium heat, take oil in a wok and add cumin seeds followed by curry leaves and green chillies. Let them sizzle for a minute.

Add peanut powder and roast it well on low heat for 2 minutes.

Add coriander and cumin powder and mix it well.

Add the yoghurt mixture to the wok and keep stirring it till the mixture thickens.

This should take 10-15 minutes. Take off heat and serve with rajgira roti and potato sabzi.

I once had 2 boiled potatoes on hand. I just diced them and shallow fried on a pan, seasoned them and added the potatoes to this kadhi. The result was good enough!

Garnish with roasted cumin powder and serve with a smile!

Rajgira Roti

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I am sharing the recipe for the very simple to make Rajgira roti / flatbread. It is again recipe which can be had while you are fasting.

Rajgira is also known as Amarnath grain flour. In Dubai, the flour is easily available in Al Adil supermarkets.

Rajgira Roti

Serves : 4

Ingredients
3 large potatoes boiled and mashed
2 cups rajgira aata / Amarnath grain flour
2 tsp roasted peanut powde
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp carrom seeds
1 tsp finely chopped green chillies (optional)
1 tsp cumin powder
Water as required
1 tsp oil

Boil potatoes in salted water. Ensure to use rock salt since it is a fasting recipe.

Let the potatoes cool for a while and then just mash them with a fork.

Add rajgira flour, peanut powder, coriander powder, green chillies, carrom seeds, cumin powder and mix well.

Use some water as need be and bind the dough. It should be a stiff dough.

Add oil once the dough is come together and knead for a bit.

Rajgira Roti

Let the dough rest for 10-15 mins. The texture of the dough is too crumbly hence you would not get perfectly round rotis.

Make small balls of the dough and flatten it out on a well floured surface.

On a hot tawa (Indian griddle) cook the roti on each side on medium heat for a few minutes.

You will be required to brush the roti with a little oil so that it does not stick to the tawa.

Once the roti has acquired a nice brown even color, take off heat.

Serve with Vrat Kadhi or Potato Sabzi.

Sabudana Khichdi

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A quick post in continuation to the previous post. Food for fasting souls. Sabudana i.e sago or tapioca seeds are quite filling due to their high starch content. Sago seed powder also acts as a good thickener for stews and soups.

The recipe below is for Sabudana Khichdi, a simple assembly of modest ingredients to keep the hunger pangs away while fasting. Serve with plain yoghurt topped with roast cumin powder with side of freshly cut fruits.

Sabudana Khichdi

250 grams sago seeds
2 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp canola oil
6 tsp powdered peanut powder
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies finely chopped
Rock Salt to taste
8-10 curry leaves

Soak sago seeds in water overnight or at least 4-6 hours.

By morning, the sago seeds should be soft and should have absorbed the water.

Add coriander powder, cumin powder and rock salt to the sago seeds and mix it well.

Pour oil on a wok on medium heat, add cumin seeds, curry leaves and green chillies and let it sizzle.

Add powdered peanut powder, you can buy the readily available powdered peanut from Al Adil or roast peanuts and give them a mix in the spice jar.

Let it cook for a minute or so and add the sago seeds mixture.

You can also add diced boiled potato cubes to this to give the khichdi more body and make it more filling.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with chilled yoghurt.

Kaju Peda – Cashew Truffles

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CP
It’s the eighth day of Chaitra Navratri today. Navratri is a festival of nine nights, “Nav” means nine and “Ratri” means night.
The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are considered to be important junctions of climatic and solar influences hence it is observed as an auspicious period of worship for Hindus.
During this period, people fast and do not eat non-vegeterian food and avoid onions and garlic. We ended our fast today with prayers in the morning and made the ‘bhog’ i.e. offerings of poori, Semolina Halwa and Kale Chane.
 
I have featured here a recipe for Kaju peda, it’s a traditional Indian cashew nut fudge recipe. It’s very simple to assemble and easy to make as well. I made this for Diwali last and again on Gudi Padwa.
Gudi Padwa is celebrated on the first day of Navratris and marks the start of a Marati new year.  Gudi Padwa is mainly celebrated in the Indian state of Maharashtra where I was brought up.
Cashew Pedas
 
Makes Approximately: 20 pedas
 
Ingredients
200 grams cashew nuts
2 tsp clarified butter / ghee
1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
Few tsp of full fat milk
Slivered Pistachios to garnish (optional)
Soak the cashews in warm water for 2-3 hours. Once the cashews are soft, drain them and blend with very little water in a blender.
Pulse the cashews until they are creamy.
Cashew Mixture
In a thick bottom wok on low heat, heat ghee and add the cashew mixture. I usually oil the wok so that the cashew mixture does not stick to the wok.
Add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and full fat milk to this mixture and keep blending it well until the sugar dissolves.
Cooking
After a few minutes, the mixture will start leaving the sides of the wok. Turn off the heat at this point.
Cooling the Mixture
Let the mixture cool until it is ok to handle the mixture. Make bite sized balls from the cashew mixture. Let me show you my attempt previously around Diwali which I was not quite happy with.
Diwali
Result this time, the difference just adding 2-3 tsp of milk to the mixture so that it does not dry out. Also I did grease my palms well and hence you see the sheen on the peda this time around. Win!
Cashew Peda2
Press down a pistachio sliver in the cashew ball and roll it well.
You can also use silver vark easily available in Al Adil stores to add a nice festive touch to the pedas.
I will bring you some Navratri recipes over this week before it’s too late. Happy Cooking! 🙂