Navratri 2025 Special- Vrat friendly food items: How to make your favourite dishes

The happy time has begun with Navratri 2025, the festival of lights and pure joy for Hindus. The nine days of Navratri bring happiness as devotees worship Maa Durga. The only problem every devotee has to face is this: what to eat during fasting? What are the recipes that are vrat-friendly, that are fulfilling as well as delicious? Don't worry, we have you covered.

Popular dish sabudana khichdi is fulfilling, high in carbs, but light on the stomach.

Ingredients you need:
Soaked Sabudana
Oil or Ghee
Roasted Peanuts
Boiled Potatoes
Green Chilies
Fresh Coriander
Rock Salt (Sendha Namak)

Step-by-step process:
Take a pan, pour oil or ghee into it. Heat the oil or ghee, then add cumin, green chilies, or, if you want to add more flavor to it, you can add grated ginger into it.

Add boiled potatoes and sauté them till they turn light brown.

Add soaked sabudana, whole spices like sendha namak, and black pepper. After mixing it all up, top it up with roasted peanuts, which will give it a good crunch.

Garnish it with fresh green coriander and enjoy it.

Kuttu (buckwheat flour), is an ideal ingredient for the vrat friendly dishes, which is high in fibre and have all the necessity minerals in it.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin (Kaddu)
Ghee or Oil
Ginger paste
Rock salt (Sendha Namak)
Dry mango powder
Jaggery

Step-by-step process:
Peel the pumpkin, clean it and cut it into small cubes.

Pour some oil in a cooker or pan, put cumin seeds, green chilies and ginger paste, mix them well and rest it for 1-2 minutes.

Put all the cut pieces of Pumpkin into it and cook it until it gets soft. Add salt, turmeric and black pepper to the pumpkin, and coat all the spices to it.

Pour the adequate amount of water and cover the pan or cooker with its lid. Cook it for 10-15 minutes. Keep checking it in a while.

Once the pumpkin pieces gets all riped up in it, smash the rest and add mango powder and jaggery to it for the sour and sweet flavor. Mix it well and enjoy!

Bottle guard i.e, Lauki, is rich in Fibre and nutrients. Lauki can also be a great vegetable to eat during the fasts of Navratri 2025.

Ingredients:
Grated Bottle gourd (Lauki)
Buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta)
Green Chilies
Grated Ginger
Rock salt (Sendha Namak)
Ghee or oil

Step-by-step process:
First, make a batter, taking a bowl, add grated lauki, buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta), spices like sendha namak and black pepper, green chilies and ginger to it.

Then add water for binding and make a thick batter with no lumps in it.

Take a non-stick pan, grease it with little oil or ghee.

Pour some batter onto it and sprinkle some of the oil or ghee over it. Let it cook until the side turns brown in color.

Flip it upside down once you see that one side gets cooked, crips both sides and enjoy.

Mixing the samak rice with nutritious vegetables makes it a full packed delicious dish.

Ingredients:
Samak Rice (barnyard millet)
Ghee or oil
cumin seeds
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
Green Chilies
Grated Ginger
Potato, peeled and finely chopped
Sendha namak

Step-by-step process:
Take a bowl, pour samak rice in it, add water and wash it thoroughly 2-3 times.

Let it soak in it, for 30-40 minutes. Then take a cooker, put oil or ghee, add cumin seeds and potatoes to it, cook the potatoes well, add spices to it like sendha namak, black pepper and turmeric to it.

Add drained samak rice, mix all well, pour water in it and keep it for boiling closing it with its lid.

Cook it for about 10-15 minutes, when the water gets absorbed, switch off the flame and have it hot and enjoy.

Packed with vitamins and minerals

You just need some of your favourite fruits, cut them into pieces, add them all to a bowl, and enjoy. Season it with some pink salt or add yogurt to it if you wish to.