Navratri is a Hindu festival celebrated with a lot of devotion and love. Navratri literally means "Nine Nights". These nights are devoted to the reverence of Goddess Durga (Maa Durga), the divine Mother, who exists in nine forms and is the manifestation of the absolute energy that pervades the Universe. Each day and night is devoted to one of her forms.

Traditionally there are five Navratri's out of which two are more popular and known than the others.

The beginning of Spring and the beginning of Autumn are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence and are taken as sacred opportunities to worship the Divine Mother. The dates of the festival are based on the Lunar Calendar.

The Spring Celebration of Navratri is called Vasanth Navratri or Chaitra Navratri or Spring Navratri. The spring Navratri is not celebrated by all and observed mostly in Northern India. This year this ranges from March 26th to Apr 3rd.

The Winter Celebration of Navratri is called Sharad Navratri and is more important and celebrated by all. This falls during Sept-Oct.

During Navratri, many people observe fast and eat only certain kinds of food – phal-ahaar or fruit food. Essentially, this means no lentils or grains. Also salt is restricted to sendha namak or rock salt. As for spices and vegetables, different people follow different set of rules. Broadly speaking, heeng (asafoetida), haldi (turmeric) and amchur (dried mango powder) are avoided.

Milk products are freely consumed – so plenty of curd and paneer is used in these recipes. All kinds of fruits are part of the diet.

Some of the recipes we cook at my home during these nine days include :

Sabudana Pakora	Sabudana Khichidi
Singhare Ki Puri	Vrat ki Alu Ki sabzi