Mumbai: Navratri is a Hindu festival. The word ‘Navratri’ means ‘nine nights’. The festival is celebrated five times a year – Vasanta or Chaitra Navaratri, Ashadha Navaratri, Sharad Navaratri, Paush Navaratri and Magha Navaratri.
However, Vasanta Navaratri and Sharad Navaratri are the most widely observed festivals. The festival is dedicated to Goddess Durga. The festival is spread over nine days and each day is dedicated to a different form of Goddess Durga, known as Navdurga.
In addition, devotees fast during this festival. For a great Navratri with great health, we bring you these 7 special Navratri dishes. Here are some tips on how you can celebrate Navratri like never before.
Mixed fruit salad
The best fruity dish to include in the diet plan for Navratri is mixed fruit salad with apples, berries, apricot, avocado, and cherries.
Main Ingredients: apples, berries, apricot, avocado, cherries
Health tip: It is recommended to eat this salad during the day. Adding berries makes it a healthy fruit salad that contains less sugar. You can also include varieties of berries like blueberries and strawberries. Fruit can also help keep cholesterol and glucose levels in check.
Sabudana Vada
It is yet another popular Navratri recipe during fasting. For a healthy diet, this food can be prepared with less oil and vegetables.
Main Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Sabudana, Rock Salt, Coriander leaves, Green chillies.
Cooking Tips: Fry sabudana in coconut oil and rock salt. Avoid regular oils such as sunflower and peanut oil. Avoid deep-frying. Coconut oil has less fat, so this dish is healthier.
Health tip: Coriander leaves, green chillies, and other vegetables can be included.
Barnyard Millet Rice or Samvat Rice
This dish is a traditional navratri dish with cashews, almonds, and coriander leaves. Almonds are a good source of dietary fibre. Almonds and cashews are also healthy and contain a lot of vitamins and minerals.
Main Ingredients: Samak chawal or barnyard rice, coriander leaves, curry leaves, water, onions, ginger, beans and peas.
Cooking Tips: Use a cooker to make rice that is creamy and takes less time. Along with this, you can use other nutrient-rich vegetables such as peas and beans. Avoid excessive use of ghee. Wash the rice twice. Cook with coconut oil. Sauté vegetables rather than deep fry.
Health tip: Barnyard millet is gluten-free and provides carbohydrate and protein energy for the Navratri fast.
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Chakkali with Poha
In South India, this is one of the most popular Navratri dishes. Make sure that you make it healthy.
Main Ingredients: Maida, rice flour, coconut oil, water, rock salt and turmeric.
Cooking Tip: You can prepare this dish with less oil and cholesterol. Boil the flour mixture only for 5-7 minutes in steel containers. Do not deep fry. Use nutritional sesame seeds.
Health tip: Turmeric is healthier because it contains curcumin, which prevents adipose tissue accumulation.
Aloo Puri
It is a popular dish made during Navratri in North India. To make it even healthier, you can add coriander leaves and turmeric to the recipe, without having to worry about fat content. You can use rock salt instead of regular salt since it is unprocessed and pure.
Main Ingredients: Potatoes, puris, coriander powder, rock salt, coconut oil, salt, green chillies, turmeric powder.
Tip: Prepare the puris with coconut oil at medium heat. Potatoes should be mixed with atta or buckwheat flour and rock salt. Boil potatoes with water, without adding oil. Don’t add ghee or other fattening ingredients. Coriander leaves increase health with their vital nutrients along with this.
Health point: A calorie-dense carbohydrate like potatoes helps you lose weight as it has a low glycemic index and complex carbohydrates.
Navratri Special Kheer or Payasam
During Navratri, Samak Kheer is a popular sweet dish. Samak chawal, or barnyard rice, is used to make this payasam.
Main Ingredients: Samak chawal or barnyard rice, cashews, almonds and milk.
Health point: This sweet kheer contains less sugar than other sweet dishes.
Special Beverages for Navratri
Tea made with lemon and green tea, lassi made with milk are recommended beverages during Navratri, which keep you away from sugary beverages like coffee and tea.
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