Navratri, the nine auspicious days of worship and positive vibes have devotees of Goddess Durga submerging themselves into the ocean of devotion. With nine days of worshipping the nine incarnations of the Goddess along with shringaar, we often find ourselves contemplating bhog during puja. To your rescue, we are here with some suggestions of bhog for your puja offerings which have been curated according to the special bhog for each incarnation of the Goddess.
Desi Ghee Halwa
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
½ cup semolina flour
¼ cup ghee
⅓ cup sugar
1 ½ cup water
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 tablespoon almond slivers for garnish
Method
For the syrup, in a saucepan over low medium heat, bring the water, sugar, and cardamom powder to a boil. In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the ghee and add semolina. Roast until golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes while stirring regularly. Semolina will have a golden brown color and a soft sweet scent. Add the sugar syrup prepared to the golden brown semolina. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for around 2-3 minutes. Garnish with almonds and serve hot.
Apple Custard
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 apple
¼ cup custard powder
½ litre milk
¼ cup sugar
Method
Mix custard powder with ¼ cup of milk to prepare milk-powder slurry. Pour the remaining milk into a pan and bring it to a boil. Lower the flame and add the slurry. Stir continuously till you get a homogenous mixture. Remove the pan and let the mixture cool. Refrigerate for an hour. Peel an apple and cut cubes of it. Mix the cooled mixture and apples and your apple custard is ready for bhog.
Malpua
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients
1 all-purpose flour
½ cup semolina
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoon cardamom powder
½ cup milk
water as required
sugar syrup
oil for frying
dry fruits for garnish
Method
Mix all-purpose flour, semolina, and sugar in a large mixing dish. Skip fennel seed as you are preparing it for bhog. Add cardamom powder and milk. Stir well to ensure there are no lumps in the batter. Pour water as needed, keeping the batter's pouring consistency in mind. Continue whisking the batter for at least 5 minutes. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Pour the batter into a pan with hot oil or ghee. Splash oil over the malpuas once they begin to float. Now, cook both sides till golden brown. To remove excess oil, drain the malpuas onto a kitchen towel. Soak the malpuas in hot sugar syrup for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot topped with garnish.
(Also Read: Navratri 2021: For A Flavourful Nine Days, Whip Up These Delicious Navratri Vrat Recipes)
Barnyard Millet Kheer
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4
Ingredients
⅓ cup barnyard millet
3 cups full-cream milk
12 to 15 chopped cashews
1 tablespoon of golden raisins
4 to 5 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon green cardamom powder
7 to 9 saffron strands
Rose petals for garnish
Method
Soak barnyard millet rice in water for about an hour and keep it aside. In a thick bottom pan, bring milk to boil and add the drained and soaked barnyard millet into the boiled milk, and let it simmer at a low medium flame. Add sugar and stir for a while. Let it simmer for another 18 to 20 minutes. Add saffron strands and dry fruits. Remove the flame and garnish with rose petals.
Fruit Salad
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 05 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients
Fruits as per choice. Add apples and bananas for energy if fasting.
For dressing
¼ tablespoon honey
¼ freshly squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 lemon
Method
For the dressing, in a small mixing bowl, mix honey, orange juice, and lemon zest. Toss the fruit cubes and slices in a large mixing dish with the dressing, swirling gently. Refrigerate for a while and your bhog is ready for offering.
Honey Lassi
Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
2 cups yoghurt
2 tablespoons honey
8 ice cubes
Method
Pour the contents in a blender jar and blend well till smooth. Add extra honey as per your taste. Serve chilled with added ice cubes.
Fox Nut (Makhana) Kheer
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
150 gm Fox nuts
1 litre milk
3 tablespoon ghee
1 cup sugar
5 saffron strands
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
Dry fruits (almonds and cashew nuts)
Method
Heat ghee in a nonstick pan and add dry fruits along with fox nuts. Roast them until fox nuts turn crispy and dry fruits turn golden. Let the mixture cool and grind them into a fine powder. In a pan, boil milk and add sugar and cardamom powder. Pour the dry fruits and fox nuts powder into the milk and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Add dry fruits for garnish.
Falahari Potatoes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
½ kg potato
2 green chillies
1 tablespoon rock salt
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method
Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes and let them cool. Peel off the skin and cut into dice. Chop green chillies. In a cauldron, heat ghee and put the chopped chillies till they splutter. Add potatoes and let them cook for 5 minutes. Stir for a while and add rock salt to taste and black pepper powder. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes till the potatoes turn crispy and golden brown. Garnish the dish with coriander leaves.
Dry Black Bengal Gram (Desi Chana)
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4
Ingredients
½ kg Bengal gram soaked overnight
2 tablespoon ghee
3 to 4 green chillies
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
Rock salt to taste
Method
Boil the soaked Bengal grams for 45 minutes and let it cool. In a cauldron, pour ghee and add green chillies. Pour the grams into the cauldron and add coriander and cumin powder. Add salt to taste and cover it with a lid for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and check if the spices have blended. Let it simmer for 2 minutes and serve hot.
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