In the holy month of Sawan, many devotees observe the ritualistic vrat, wherein they do not consume any lentil, grain, rice, or cereal in addition to meat, eggs and liquor. During this time, many ‘vrat’ ingredients like Sabudana, Kuttu, Sama ke chawal, Singhare ka atta gain relevance. These are pseudocereals or grains that serve as an excellent substitute to traditional flours like atta or maida.
While preparing the fasting meal, you can make use of many of these ‘vrat’ friendly flours to fix yourself a decent puri or paratha. These flours are loaded with nutrients. This means they not only help keep you energised but also ensure a steady inflow of nutrients while you are fasting.
Here are some examples of puris and parathas you can still have while fasting.
Singhare Atte Ka Paratha: Singhara atta or water chestnut flour, is made from the water chestnut fruit, also known as singhara or paniphal in Hindi. Made with water chestnut flour, spinach, potatoes, carom seeds and rock salt, this paratha can serve as one loaded breakfast.
Rajgira Atte Ki Puri: Rajgira flour, also known as Amaranth flour is flour retrieved from seeds of amaranth flour. This deep-fried puri is made with Rajgira atta, potatoes and rock salt. Pair it with simple potato curry for a wholesome meal.
Kuttu Ki Puri: The star ingredient of fasting, Kuttu is actually buckwheat flour. It is high on fibre, gluten-free, and replete with nutrients. Since Kuttu, like most ‘vrat flours’ cannot hold shape, it is advisable you mix it with potatoes, or bananas or arbi for a pliant dough. Here’s an excellent Puri recipe you would love to try.
Sama Ke Chawal Ki Puri
While rice is off bounds in the Navratri vrat, you can still use Sama Ke Chawal to grind yourself some ‘rice flour’ that does not comprise rice. Making Sama ke chawal ki puri is very easy, all you need to do is combine the flour with rock salt, water and black pepper, make a nice dough and then deep fry the puris.