Mahashivaratri Fasting: Foods You Can Eat, Vegetarian Recipes

The whole nation is geared up to celebrate one of the biggest Hindu festivals - Mahashivratri. Known as the 'Great Night Of Shiva', this year Mahashivratri falls on Monday, 11th March 2021. The festival is celebrated in the Hindu month of 'Phalguna' every year. The festival begins on the morning of Shivaratri day and ends only on the next day morning. In the morning, devotees perform Abhishek with milk and water and offer different items including Bilva leaves, Bilva fruit and Dhatura.

Well, there is a different tradition behind the entire fasting culture not to eat any food. If you opt to not eat the entire day, make sure that you eat light food the next day too. This will help your body to digest properly, as heavy food on the next day can create a problem of indigestion.

On this day, those fasting have to abstain from food made with rice, wheat, dal or pulses. This leaves limited ingredients for consumption in case one requires gorging on vrat specific food. Of course, besides fruits and dry fruits. Here are a few delicacies and their recipes to make on Maha Shivratri.

Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients: Potatoes, sugar, ghee and cardamom powder

Peel off potatoes’ skin and cut it into round slices. Deep fry the slices in ghee and dip in sugar syrup. Sprinkle cardamom powder on it. Serve the sweet chips once it is crispy. Sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamins and also help to balance the sugar level during fast.

Tikki

Ingredients: Vrat ke chawal, boiled potatoes, green chilli, red chilli powder, water, salt and oil.

Steam Sama rice in a pressure cooker. Assemble rice, boiled potatoes, red chilli powder, salt and green chilli and knead soft dough. Make a small Tikki and deep fry the tikkis. You can use the same ingredients and method and make medu vada by making a hole in the centre of the Tikki. Serve it with chutney.

Sabudhana Kheer 

Ingredients: Sabudana (Sago), milk, sugar, cardamom powder and water.

Wash and soak Sago granules for 2-3 hours. Add the soaked granules in boiling water and stir. When cooked properly add milk, sugar and cardamom powder as required. Serve the kheer hot and garnish it with dry fruits. The kheer has a lot of starch and carbohydrates and is a great source to restore energy during fasts.

Ramdhana Puri

Ingredients: Ramdhana (Amaranth) flour, boiled potatoes, Ajwain (Carrom Seeds), red chilli powder, salt, oil and water.

Assemble Rajgira flour, boiled potatoes, ajwain, red chilli powder and salt in a bowl. Add water as required and knead soft dough. Cover the dough for 20 minutes. Make small balls and using fingers and palm press down to make it small puris. Deep fry the puris and serve it with tea, potato sabzi or chutney.

Also Read: AP CM YS Jagan Invited To Kalahasthi Temple For Shivaratri Celebrations