Beginning of Navratri is the onset of the festive season. And it is also the time for much awaited feasting options. After fasting, people love to feast on Navratri special food and those puris made of buckwheat, served with aloo ki sabzi, lauki ka raita and sabudana tikki or kheer becomes the best binging options.

While restaurants including Radisson Blu, Ignis, Rang De Basanti Dhaba, Fio, Vega and many others are serving regular Navratri thaalis, many restaurants are experimenting and adding a holy touch to their international cuisine.
Infinity at Hilton Mayur Vihar is serving Navratra Vegetariano, pure vegetarian Italian cuisine. “We wanted to do something different and since we specialise in Italian cuisine, we decided to experiment. We created soup from sweet potato, pasta with buckwheat, steamed cabbage pockets, buckwheat calzone pizza and kalakand and almond cake. We overcame the challenge of not using onion, garlic and even regular flour in Italian dishes,” says Mayur Thapa, executive sous chef, Hilton, Mayur Vihar.
Café Turtle too has experimented with its menu and is serving buckwheat pancakes, hot jacket potatoes, cottage cheese sizzlers and caramelised bananas as its Navratri special. “While traditional recipes for Navratri are normally heavy, we are presenting low fat and innovative dishes so that fasting can be interesting. And keeping with the norms of the food allowed during this special season, all the foods are enhanced with natural flavours,” says Poonam Malhotra, director, Cafe Turtle.
Apart from its regular Navratri thaali, Dum Affairs is serving Caesar salad with paneer tikka and hung curd and date and pine nut delight. “We have tried to break the norm with our menu. Most people who fast believe that simple food can’t be exciting. What we did this season is to add a contemporary twist to the century old tradition. We experimented and came up with some innovative dishes like Caesar salad made with hung curd,” says Vikas Mudgal, executive chef, Dum Affairs.
Café Uno at Shangri-La is taking special care of separating food in the kitchen. “Five star hotels are famous for different cuisines which include a variety of non-veg dishes. But in our kitchen, we are very particular about defining different spaces for veg and non-veg cuisines. Thus, while cooking Navratri food, our utmost priority is to deliver the most pious food to our guests. All the food is cooked in pure and fresh oils using singhare and kuttu ka atta,” assures Ravi Kumar, executive sous chef, Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel.

Nariyal gulkand ladoo
Ingredients
1 whole coconut (grated)
5 tablespoon gulkand
6 paan patta (finely chopped)
Sauf and any kind of supari
Coloured sugar ball
Date syrup to bind the mixture

Method
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and bind the mixture with a little date syrup. You can add more gulkand if needed. Make small ladoos or serve grated.

Navratra Phirni
Ingredients
1 cup vrat rice (samak chawal)
1 kg Nestle slim milk
Brown sugar
Rose petals
Few drops of vanilla essence

Method
Cook rice in milk. When thick, add rose petals and sugar. Cook well. Add dry fruits. Cool it. Add few drops of vanilla essence. Set the mixture in earthen pots (mitti casora). Keep in fridge till serving time.