This year, Maha Shivratri will be celebrated on March 8 and you can embrace the spirit of devotion and festivity by engaging in delectable recipes specially curated for this sacred day. From traditional fasting delicacies to delightful prasad offerings, these Maha Shivratri recipes will not only tantalise your taste buds but also add a touch of spirituality to your kitchen.
Here are a few dishes that you can try:
1. Dryfruits Thandai (By Nidhi Goyal AKA Fun2oosh Food)
Ingredients
- 1/4th cup Almonds
- 1/4th cup Cashew
- 2 tbsp Pistachios
- 1/4th cup Lotus Seeds
- 1/4th cup Melon Seeds
- 1/4th cup Fennel Seeds
- 2 tbsp Poppy Seeds
- 2 tbsp Black Pepper
- 2 tbsp Cardamom
- 200gm Sugar
- 1 Nutmeg
- 1gm Kesar
- 2 tbsp Dried Rose Petels
- 1 tbsp Bhaang Paste
Method:
- Soak all these above mentioned ingredients (except bhaang) in 1 cup water and let it rest for 6 hours
- Now grind it to a smooth paste along with 1 tbsp Bhaang Paste & Strain it using a muslin cloth
- Your Thandai Paste is Ready
For Preparation of Thandai:
- Take 5 glasses of Milk add 5-7 tbsp Sugar, 5 tbsp Thaidai Paste and give this very good mix
- Serve in Kulhad and Enjoy
2. Sheera (By Dheeraj Mathur, Cluster Executive Chef at Radisson Blu Hotel Kaushambi)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup semolina (rawa or suji)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)
- 2 & 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 1-2 tsp cardamom powder
- Few saffron strands
- Handful of raisins
- Slivered almonds
Method:
- Take a deep thick bottom pan over high heat and add ghee into the pan.
- Once ghee is hot and melted, add semolina into it.
- Turn heat to medium-low and roast semolina while stirring continuously.
- Keep heat onto low and stir it continuously. Do not allow to burn it.
- When semolina is roasted properly, it will slightly changes the colour and turns aromatic.
- Meanwhile, mix water and milk together in a separate saucepan. Boil this mixture on a high heat.
- Keep dry fruits ready, I have used raisins and chopped almonds.
- Add saffron strands into hot milk, by doing so we can get maximum flavour of saffron.
- Once semolina is almost ready, add chopped almonds and raisins into it.
- Roast raisins and almonds along with semolina.
- Once everything is roasted thoroughly, add hot boiling mixture of milk and water into pan. (Be careful while doing this as milk mixture is boiling hot. You might want to turn off the heat, just for few seconds.)
- When milk mixture is added, turn heat to low. Gently mix everything together.
- Semolina will absorb the milk mixture and starts thickening.
- Simmer it on low heat for another 4-5 minutes. Add saffron milk into the pan.
- Semolina will absorb milk and starts releasing from sides of pan.
- Cover with lid and simmer it another 3-4 minutes.
- Now, add cardamom powder and sugar into the pan. As sugar starts melting, it will soften the semolina.
- Mix everything together, cover with lid and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Sheera is ready to serve with some silvered almonds over the top
3 Sabudana Kheer (By Dheeraj Mathur, Cluster Executive Chef at Radisson Blu Hotel Kaushambi)
Ingredients:
- ½ Cup Sabudana
- 1.5 Cup Water
- 1 Cup Milk
- ¼ Cup Jaggary
- 1 pinch cardamom powder
- 1 Table Spoon Ghee
- 10 Pc cashew
- 10 pc Raisins
Method:
- Grate the jaggary and add it to a pan with 4 table spoon water . Heat it until jaggary dissolves . strain the jaggary syrup through a strainer . Boil the syrup again until it becomes slightly thick and keep aside for cool .
- Wash sabudana in a pan with running water. Take a pan and boil 1.5 cup of water and add sabudana in it and cook it until they are cook and transparent . add milk and cook until it thickens .
- Add cardamom powder and cooled jaggary syrup to the cooked kheer .
- Heat ghee in a small pan and fry cashews until they turns light brown and then raisins . Mix them to the keer and serv the kheer at cool temperature .
4. Varicha Bhat (By Siddhesh Sawant, Sous chef, Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai, Vashi)
Ingredients:
- Varicha Bhat 100 Gms
- Hot water 2 cup
- Peanuts 50 Gms
- Ghee 10Gms
- Jeera 5 Gms
- Sugar 10 Gms
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves 15 Gms
Method:
- Soak the Bhagar in 1 cup of water for at least 15 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, roast peanuts, cool, remove skin and coarsely grind them in a mixer grinder jar.
- Finely chop some Green chillies and coriander leaves.
- After 15 minutes of soaking time, you will notice the grains would have puffed up slightly, which means it is ready to cook.
- Drain the excess water. Heat a kadhai and add 1 tsp of Ghee.
- Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pan.
- Add Jeera Once they have browned.
- Now add the soaked and drained bhagar.
- Now add the boiling water, salt to taste, coarsely ground peanuts and sugar.
- Mix well, cover and let it cook for few minutes. Remove the lid, allow the moisture to escape until you get khichdi consistency.
- Switch off flame, add a tsp of ghee and finely chopped coriander leaves. Mix lightly and serve immediately with a side of curd
5. Sabudana Khichadi (By Siddhesh Sawant, Sous chef, Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai, Vashi)
Ingredients:
- Sabudana 50 Gms
- Water as required
- Potato 50 Gms
- Peanut 25 Gms
- Curry leaves 10Gms
- Ginger 5 Gms
- Green chilli 5 Gms
- Cumin seeds 5 Gms
- Coriander 10 Gms
- Ghee 20 Gms
Method:
- Rinse sabudana very well in water. Then soak sabudana overnight or for 3 to 5 hours.
- After the sabudana has soaked well enough, check if they have become soft
- Drain the soaked sabudana very well of all the water and set aside.
- Boil the potatoes and when warm peel and chop them.
- In a pan, dry roast the peanuts till browned and when cooled make a coarse powder
- Mix the coarsely powdered peanuts, salt and sugar with the drained sabudana.
- Now heat peanut oil or ghee. Fry the cumin first till they crackle and get browned on low to medium-low heat.
- Now add the curry leaves if using and green chillies. Fry for a few seconds and then add the grated ginger if using.
- Sauté for a couple of seconds till the raw aroma of the ginger goes away. Now add chopped boiled potatoes and sauté for a minute.
- Add the sabudana. Keep on stirring often on a low heat for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- When the sabudana loses their opaqueness and starts becoming translucent they are cooked.
- While serving garnish with a few coriander leaves
6. Aloo Bhaji (By Siddhesh Sawant, Sous chef, Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai, Vashi)
Ingredients:
- Boiled potato 2 No.
- Green chilli 5 Gms
- Ghee 20Gms
- Coriander 10Gms
- Peanut 15 Gms
Method:
- Heat ghee in a wide pan.
- Add the diced boiled potatoes
- Season with all the seasonings.
- Mix well and let the potatoes cook for 5-6 minutes. Then add roasted peanut powder.
- Mix well and let everything cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- Then sprinkle cilantro