Navratri fasting food

Spices for Navratri fasting food

During Navratri many Hindu families keep a partial fast that avoids grains, onion, garlic and ordinary salt. Cooks work with a short, pure list: rock salt (sendha namak), cumin, black pepper, green chilli, ginger, coriander leaf and sometimes ajwain or mild fennel. Kuttu (buckwheat) puris, sabudana khichdi, potato curries and samak rice are seasoned with these alone, and the flavours turn clean and sharp rather than rich. The fast is a discipline, and the shortened spice shelf is how the household feels it each day. The ninth day often ends with a feast of black chickpeas, halwa and puri for young girls.

The spices

CuminTempered in ghee to season potatoes and sabudana.Black pepperOne of the few hot spices allowed on the fasting list.GingerFresh ginger gives fasting curries their heat and lift.