Nine-fold festivities

With Navratri beginning today, a chef shares a few tips and a recipe to get you through the nine days

The nine-day long celebration of Goddess Durga, which kicks off today, brings with it a plethora of food and fasting rules. While some devotees avoid onion and garlic during Navratri, most steer clear of wheat, pulses, rice and lentils. Mumbai-based patisserie chef Guntas Sethi Bhasin informs us that in absence of these food items, people can consume amaranth flour, sabudana, buckwheat flour, sweet potatoes, and milk products such as curd and paneer. “While growing up, my favourites were makhana kheer, sabudana khichdi and sweet potato tikki chaat,” she shares. Those who undertake fasting and miss snacking can whip up a quick makhana chaat or a fruit chaat, she suggests, apart from makhana kheer. “As rice isn’t allowed during Navratri, it is replaced with toasted makhanas or fox nuts which are rich in proteins and fibre,” she adds.

Guntas Sethi Bhasin

Makhana kheer

Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes Yield: 3 to 4 people

Ingredients
>> 2 cups makhana
>> 2 cups (500 ml) boiled milk 
>> A mix of cashew nuts, pistachios and almonds
>> 1 tsp cardamom powder 
>> A pinch of saffron
>> 4 tbsp sugar 
>> 1 tbsp ghee

Method
Toss the makhana for a couple of minutes in ghee until it’s firm. Remove half; hand-crush them. In a wide saucepan, heat the milk. Add some saffron milk (saffron mixed with warm milk). Add the tossed and toasted makhana, and boil it for five minutes. Add the crushed makhana. Meanwhile, roast the cashews and almonds in ghee, and keep them aside. Now, add the ground cardamom powder and nuts to the kheer. Add sugar, and take it off the heat once it thickens. Makhana kheer is ready.

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