Navratri is round the corner and most houses are gearing up to eat clean. The popular nine day festival that celebrates Goddess Durga in her nine different avatars is widely popular in North India. Idols of goddess Durga is decorated with kumkum, bangles, flowers and every morning prayers are offered. And during these nine days people observe fast and choose to eat all vegetarian food even eliminating onion and garlic from their meals. With vegetarian dishes topping the list dishes like sabudana tikki, kuttu ke dosa, Singhare ke Atte ka Samosa, Makhana Kheer, sabudana kheer and more.
Here are few Navratri special dishes by Tarun Sibal for our readers.
Sabudana Tikki
Ingredients
- 250 gm-soaked sago
- 1 boiled potato
- 1/4 cup coriander leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 cup ghee
- 2 large chopped green chilli
- Sendha namak as required
- 1/4 cup crushed roasted peanuts
Method
- Soak the sago in water
- To make this scrumptious Navratri special recipe, soak sago (sabudana) in water for around 2 to 3 hours. When the sago has turned a little fluffy, drain the excess water and transfer the sago to a bowl.
- Mash the ingredients to make the tikki
- Now to prepare the tikki mixture, take a big bowl and add the boiled potatoes to it. Mash them completely using your hands. Now add crushed roasted peanuts, chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, red chilli powder and sendha namak along with the drained sago.
- Pan fry the tikki
- Make small tikkis of this potato and sago mixture. The tikkis should not be soggy. Now take a pan and add ghee to it. Heat it over moderate flame. Once the ghee is sufficiently hot, carefully place the sago-potato tikkis in it and fry till they turn crispy and brown in colour.
- Serve hot with Imli chutney and mint
Watermelon and Sweet potato salad with broiled quinoa and Shikanji dressing
Ingredients
- 2 slices seedless watermelon
- Shikanji Imli Dressing – 4 tbsp
- Sweet potato dices - 1 cup
- Ghee – 4 tbsp
- Quinoa – 5 tbsp
- Micro greens – a few
Method
- Prepare two big slices flat of watermelon and ddd 2 tbsp of dressing on it so that it gets soaked in. keep it for 20 minutes in a fridge
- Cut the sweet potato (skin less) into dices and boil them till done upto 90 percent. Pat dry them and remove access moister. Heat ghee in a pan and fry them, till golden brown
- Quick boil the quinoa and strain it. Let it cool and then broil it in a hot pan to attain crip texture
- Place the watermelon on a plate and top the sweet potatoes and quinoa
- Drizzle the remain dressing and finish with micro greens and serve
Shikanji Dressing
- Imli puree – 2 tbs
- Lemon juice – of 3 lemons
- Sendha Namak - 1 tsp
- Sugar syrup – 4 tbsp
- Mint and Coriander puree – 1 tbsp
- Jeera powder – 1tsp
- Cracked Black pepper – 1tsp
- Mix all the ingredients to make a fine dressing
