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Navratri, one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals, is a time of prayer, devotion, and fasting across India. During the nine-day festival, many devotees follow a satvik diet and observe fasting. Avoiding grains like wheat and rice, eggs, meat, and seafood people usually move towards fast-friendly ingredients like raw fruits, vegetables, milk, and millet.
A wide range of millet, the gluten-free grains are allowed while fasting for Navratri. Apart from being vrat-friendly, adding millet, filled with fibre, vitamins, and minerals automatically detoxifies the body. So, if you want to make your Navratri 2024 thali sumptuous, here are some millet desserts you can easily make at home.
Samak Ke Chawal Phirni
Samak ke chawal, also known as barnyard millet is one of the go-to ingredients that is used while fasting. With a texture similar to rice, you can make gluten-free phirni. All you need to do is soak the millet and then grind it into a coarse paste. Then, simmer the paste in milk till it thickens. With sugar or jaggery, sweeten the phirni and stir in saffron, cardamom, and dry fruits and nuts. Let it cool, refrigerate for a couple of hours and then serve it chilled.
Amaranth Ladoo
Amaranth is another nutritious millet that you can add to your Navratri thali. To make gluten-free ladoos, you can roast amaranth flour with ghee and sugar. Once the sugar dissolves and the mixture is fragrant, you can add cardamom and chopped dry fruits and nuts. Shape the mixture into small balls and coat it with coconut flakes, and your fast-friendly dessert will be ready to serve.
Rajgira Halwa
Halwa is a traditional dessert that cannot be missed while celebrating any Indian festival. To add gluten-free halwa to your Navratri 2024 thali, you can make it with Rajgira flour. All you need to do is roast the flour with ghee till it is golden brown. Then, mix in sugar, milk, and a generous amount of chopped nuts. Once you get the desired consistency, serve it hot.
Samak Kheer
Samak ke chawal is popularly used during Navratri. While fasting, instead of making kheer with the usual rice, you can use samak chawal. Let the samak chawal simmer in milk. Once the mixture thickens, add in sugar and flavours like cardamom and cinnamon. Garnish with chopped dry fruits and nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, and pistachios to make your bowl of dessert richer and Navratri 2024 more special.
Jowar Ladoo
To add some variety to your fasting thali, you can also make ladoos with jowar or sorghum. By roasting jowar with some ghee, you can mix the fragrant mixture with sugar or gud (jaggery). Mix in your favourite nuts and flavours like cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron. Let the mixture cool down and then shape it into balls and your gluten-free ladoos will be ready.
