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Puris are passé

STRAP: How about having skewers and kebabs while fasting? It’s possible to have a lavish fare as experts share a few recipes which do not violate the Navratri norms

Navratri kick-starts the festival season. Even though you are fasting, the focus is still very much on food. This Navratri, look beyond kuttu puris and makhanas and rustle up something different. We bring you some recipes to make fasting an interesting affair.

So, put on your apron and the chef’s hat to experiment with some super-healthy ingredients to cook dishes that are not just Navratri-approved, but also light on the stomach and heavenly to eat.

Sabudana wada skewers

Ingredients

250 gm potato, boiled

750 gm sabudana, soaked

5 gm raw peanut, crushed

1 ltr refined oil

100 gm cumin seeds

20 gm green chilli, chopped

5 gm red chilli powder

6 skewers

Sendha salt to taste

Method

Soak the sabudana overnight, then strain. Mash the soaked sabudana after adding sendha salt, cumin seeds, crushed raw peanut and chopped green chillies.

Add boiled potatoes to this mix and skewer onto wooden sticks. Deep fry the sago skewers on low flame till they turn crispy or golden in colour.

Serve the sabudana wada skewers hot and fresh with some home-made tangy tomato chutney for the best results.

–Chef Japvir Singh Vohra

Khatte meethe kaddu kebab

Ingredients

250 gm red pumpkin (peeled and thinly sliced)

2 medium potatoes boiled

20 gm raisins, soaked

½ cup sabudana, soaked and drained

3 green chillies, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger chopped

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon crushed black pepper

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped

2 tsp anardanna powder

Rock salt to taste

Refined oil for frying.

Method

Let’s start with frying the pumpkin. Heat oil in a deep-frying pan and fry the slices of pumpkin until they are golden brown. Keep the lot on an absorbent paper to drain the excess oil. Put the boiled potatoes and pumpkin in a mixing bowl and mash it with a masher.

Add chopped ginger, green chillies, cumin seeds, anardana powder, pepper and rock salt together with raisins and fresh coriander. Add it to the mashed mixture of pumpkin and potatoes. Mix everything well and make a dough.

Divide the dough into 7-8 equal portions and roll each portion between the palms and flatten to make a kebab. Now coat the kebab from both sides evenly with soaked sabudana. Arrange the kebabs on a plate and refrigerate it for 10 minutes (if you have time) so that the patties hold the shape well and do not crumble while deep frying.

Heat the oil for frying and fry the kebabs till golden brown and crispy. Garnish it and serve hot with green apple chutney.

Beetroot aloo halwa

It is a delicious dessert with many health benefits and one can make this easily at home.

Ingredients

4 pcs beetroot, grated

2 pcs potatoes, grated

2 cup milk

50 gm malai mawa

20 gm cashewnut, chopped

20 gm almond, slivered

20 gm raisins, soaked

4 tbsp desi ghee

80 gm sugar

¼ tsp cardamom powder

Method

Take a large heavy-bottomed kadhai and put it on moderate flame. Heat desi ghee and add grated beetroot with grated potato. Keep stirring it all the time and cook it for 8-10 minutes. In the meantime, boil the milk and add it to the beetroot mix. Stir it well. Cover and boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cook this mixture until milk evaporates and beetroot and potato get a smooth texture. Further, add sugar and mix well.

After cooking for five minutes, the ghee will separate from halwa.

Add 30 gm mawa and 15 gm of dry nuts. Now flavour it with cardamom powder. Mix well and cook it for five minutes.

Serve the delicious halwa in a serving bowl and garnish it with remaining mawa and dry nuts.

–Chef Sharad Nautiyal

– Compiled by Sheetal