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9 colours of Navratri

Haven’t you heard, we eat with our eyes first! Taste on the other hand comes in later with texture and sound. The link between visual senses and perception of flavours is very strong, otherwise why would a picture of food make you salivate? Such is the power of visual appearance! Having said that, on the occasion of Navratri, let’s play on with the nine colours of the festival. Colours you can wear and eat. We all know that the colours of Navratri represent the nine avatars or incarnations of Goddess Durga. So, wear and at the same time eat these colours to celebrate the festival in all its glory! 

9 colours of Navratri

1. Joyful Yellow: The first day is dedicated to Goddess Tara, if you’re wearing this bright colour, don’t forget to match it up with something on your plate. Make peach or pineapple halwa or kesari shrikhand, boondi laddoo for prasad. Or cook up something with boiled corn kernels, yellow bell pepper and black salt. Remember, yellow is the theme! Even a simple upvas ki kadhi is perfect to keep up with the yellow tone. 

2. Feel fresh with Green: Go green on the second day! Let your dress match your food and if you are inviting people home for celebrations or aarti, decorate your home green and let them feel the power of this happy colour. Do make honey glazed beans and four bean salad to feel fresh. Just make kadipatta chutney for the green effect. Cook up Beans poriyal – a south Indian delight or coriander wadis or kiwi pudding as a sweet dish. There are no limits for green delights!

3. Gorgeous Grey: Third day is also known as Sindoor Tritya! Wear grey as it signifies stability and calmness, let your food plate do the talking. Use millet, buckwheat or chestnut flour for the grey effect on this day. Whether you make halwa, barfi, laddoo or sheera, let grey be the hero of your fast food plate. Or make dry fruit laddoo, a fasting delight. This is a must for the grey day - rich sweet made of water chestnut flour, especially for fasts – Singhade Ka Sheera.
 
4. Lively Orange: On fourth day of kashmanda puja, let colour orange do the talking with some delights like orange rasmalai, tomato rasam, santra barfi, bhajnee chakli or simply make a unique orange coloured dal with masoor dal. Simple Rajasthani Pulao with Chana Dal will set an orange theme on your food plate too. You just can’t shun away from the epic motichoor laddoo
 
5. White is right: Adored by many, thinking of white options isn’t really a difficult job. Dishes with sabudana dominate during the 9 days of Navratri. One can also try sweets with custard apple, banana and coconut. Boil custard apple alongwith milk, sugar and saffron to get a thick Sitaphal Basundi. Or substitute custard apple for bananas. Make a simple accompaniment with yogurt.  You can also make healthy milkshakes using cashew and almond. Also, try cashew barfi, in a hot pan, mix ghee, castor sugar and broken cashewnuts and set aside for 20 minutes to get the crunchy texture or chikki! Make white prasad like paneer pethe ke laddoo or fresh nariyal barfi. Keep calm and cook up white on the fifth day!. 
 
6. Paint your palate red: There is no dearth of red in a woman’s wardrobe, whether it is beautiful bandhni skirts or a vibrant red dupatta, similarly red food options are also many. Go red on the sixth day with fruits like pomegranate, apple, fresh dates and berries like cherries, cranberries or raspberries. You can make an accompaniment, kheer, pudding or just a simple milk shake, which has a hint of red. If you can’t resist temptation for desserts during Navratri, you must try the mouthwatering cherry halwa. Watermelon and apple cooler makes a refreshing drink post all the dancing!
 
7. No more feeling Blue: On the seventh day of saptami, cook up blueberry halwa or kheer by simply mixing ghee, milkshake and a generous amount of blueberries puree. Mango and blueberry yogurt – a delicious dish of hung yogurt mixed with blueberry jam and add mango pieces only if you want to.
 
8. Pretty Pink: While you look pretty in pink, make sure your menu has the delightful colour as well. Go for a pink barfi or kheer, garnish this with pink rose petals as they not only have a sweet fragrance but are good for health. Other pink options for the eighth day are beetroot raita, beet pulao and a cooling orange and strawberry soya milkshake. You must try Strawberry phirni - creamy rice Indian dessert is perfect to sweeten your mouth during Navratri. You can always replace canned strawberries for the fresh ones! 
 
9. Adieu with Purple: On the ninth day of Vijaydasami, create yummy dishes with brinjal, red cabbage, fresh figs, jaamun or plums. Do not forget to make authentic baingan bharta. As you bid adieu to the Mother Goddess, make sure your plate has that royal, purplicious look. 

 

Browse through SanjeevKapoor.com or SanjeevKapoorKhazana for loads of vibrant food options. 

You can always tweak subtract or add certain ingredients in the recipes mentioned above to suit your fasting requirements. 

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MasterChef Sanjeev Kapoor

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is the most celebrated face of Indian cuisine. He is Chef extraordinaire, runs a successful TV Channel FoodFood, hosted Khana Khazana cookery show on television for more than 17 years, author of 150+ best selling cookbooks, restaurateur and winner of several culinary awards. He is living his dream of making Indian cuisine the number one in the world and empowering women through power of cooking to become self sufficient. His recipe portal www.sanjeevkapoor.com is a complete cookery manual with a compendium of more than 10,000 tried & tested recipes, videos, articles, tips & trivia and a wealth of information on the art and craft of cooking in both English and Hindi.