‘Navratri’ is celebrated by Hindus, where the nine different forms of Goddess Durga are worshipped on nine days. Word ‘Navratri’ is a Sanskrit word, where ‘nav’ means nine and ‘ratri’ means night.

The festival is celebrated to worship the ‘Shakti’ (power) of Goddess Durga. The devotees during the festival observe a nine day fast and I feel so proud to share with you all that my mom and dad religiously follow this festival and they are one amongst who fast for nine days. Some people like my lovable maternal uncle (mama) don’t even have food for all the nine days and survive on just liquid still wondering how he manages.

Mom and Dad

Adarniya Mamaji

Navratri is mainly celebrated in the state of Gujarat. The traditional dance of ‘Garba’ is performed by the devotees in front of the Goddess. This year the festival begins on Wednesday and during the nine days of Navratri there is a custom of wearing different color dress Sari or churidhar followed mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The nine Navratri colors for 2011 are:

Pratipada - September 28, 2011 (Wednesday) - Blue 

Dwitiya/Tritiya - September 29 (Thursday) - Yellow

Chaturthi - September 30 (Friday) - Green

Panchami - October 1 (Saturday) - Grey

Sashti - October 2 (Sunday)  - Orange

Saptami - October 3 (Monday) - White

Ashtami - October 4 (Tuesday) - Red

Navami - October 5 (Wednesday) - Purple

Vijayadasami - October 6 (Thursday) -  Pink

During navratri our daily schedule starts Early in the morning after waking up, resolute for the way you want to pray for nine days. After bathing, daily worshiping is a must.

According to our family's custom, if you are doing Kalash Sthapana on the first day of the Navratri, then it would be done in the ABHIJINH MUHURAT. This year for Mumbai it was around 6.30 to 7.30am and we did around 7.00am.

On navami we do Kumari Pooja. However, in this matter Family's custom is more important. The days are fixed for Kumari Poojan and it depends upon the custom of family or clan, it can be done from sixth day till ninth day of Navratri.In Maa Durga's worshiping recitation of Durga Shaptshati is done in Navratri. It has 13 chapters. By reciting the Durga Saptashati, deep wishes can be fulfilled.

Devotees of lord Ram recite Ramayana also in Navaratri but we don’t do. And in end they do Aarti of Shri Ram and Seeta ji.

Devotees of Hanuman worship Shri Hanuman in Navratri by either reciting Sundarkand or Hanuman Chalisa.

And to conclude I would like to wish my fellow bloggers a very Happy Navratri.

May this navratri maa durga fulfill all your dreams and brings happiness in your life. This Navratri, may you be blessed with good fortune as long as Ganeshji’s trunk, wealth and prosperity as big as his stomach, happiness as sweet as his ladoos and may your trouble be as small as his mouse. May your life be filled with happiness on this pious festival of Navratri, Jai Mata Di...

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Shankarpali is a renowned Maharashtrian sweet made during Diwali. Since my childhood I have been eating Shankarpali. I had/have many Maharashtrians friends and fortunately I know what kind of sweets they make on different occasions. Since diwali is near and am sure everybody is busy preparing diwali dishes. Shankarpali is one of my favorite among the diwali sweets. These came out so crispy that I got loads of compliment from my sister and my colleagues. The use of semolina (rava) gave a nice crunch to the shankarpali.

Ingredients

• 2 cups maida
• 1/2 cup semolina (rava/sooji)
• 1/2 cup ghee
• 1/2 cup sugar (powered)
• Salt a pinch
• Water as required
• Oil to deep fry

Instructions

• Make thin syrup of sugar and water in bowl.
• Add semolina, salt, ghee and water to maida and make dough the way we make for rotis, knead dough lightly using sugar syrup.  





• Keep this dough aside, covered, for about half an hour.
• Now take a small round of this dough and roll it like roti.
• Cut this rolled out roti into diamond shape with a knife.

• Deep fry in oil on medium heat till shankarpali turns light brown in color.


• Your crispy shankarpali are ready to eat J

After the shankarpali cools completely we can store them in a dry container with a tight lid. Enjoy them with a cup of tea, during office tea breaks, when you feel like munching or with the rest of the Diwali goodies J

Sending this to Diwali event.

And to Diwali Special – Sweets & Savories event.

And to Khusi's "My Diwali My Way" event.

And to Serve It - Festival Potluck event and to Denny's page

In festive season I love eating suji ka prasad the most and during this ganesh chaturthi I did not get much of it L So to make maximum out of my sunday got up late in morning (Sunday hai bhai who will feel like getting up early :D) after getting up first  thing I did was got in kitchen and made the most awaited suji ka halva. Sharing easier version of this recipe with you all J

Ingredients

·        1 cup suji (semolina)

·        1 cup sugar

·        2 teaspoon ghee

·        Dryfruits of your choice (I used grated almonds, cashwenuts and raisins)

·        2-3 cardamom, coarsely powdered

·        2 cups water

Instructions

·        Heat ghee in pan, add suji and stir on low flame till mixture turns golden brown in color.

·        Add dry fruits in pan.

·        Add sugar and water together and keep stirring.

·        Stir continuously to avoid burning.

·        Continue stirring till the mixture thickens.

·        Your suji ka halwa is ready to eat J

 

Sukhadi is my all time favorite sweet dish because it’s simple and easy to prepare. During my childhood days I use to stay in maninagar, gujrat. And I remember going Mahudi and the reason is its prasad I just love sukhadi. Mahudi is a village near the river Sabarmati. This village is in Mansa Taluka of Gandhinagar District. The temple's prasad Sukhadi is not allowed to be taken outside the temple it’s still a mystery for me why we are not allowed to take them home :(. It has to be eaten in the temple premises itself and the devotees are prohibited from taking outside the temple premises people say it is inauspicious to do so.

Whenever I make them it turns out to be the best and I enjoy that. It’s actually traditional Gujarati dish and here in Maharashtra it’s called as Gudpapdi or Godpapdi. Sukhadi takes very little preparation time and is ready in a moment. So here I share my method of making this close to heart recipe with my blogger friends J

Ingredients

• 2 cups wheat flour
• 1 cup grated jaggery
• 1 cup ghee
• Almond or cashew nut pieces (optional)

Instructions

• Pour ghee into pan and let it heat on medium flame.
• Add wheat flour and keep stirring till the flour turns golden brown and roasted.
• Keep on low flame to avoid burning the flour.
• Remove the pan from flame and add grated jaggery and mix well
• Grease plate with ghee, when the jaggery is melted pour the hot wheat batter on the greased plate and spread the batter evenly on it.
• Let the mixture cool down, with the help of knife cut sukhadi into any desired shape.
• Tasty sukhadi is ready to eatJ.
• Store it in a container and can be enjoyed for weeks.

Sending this to Radhika's Let’s Cook ~ Scrumptious Breakfasts event.

And to Diwali Special – Sweets & Savories event.

Ingredients

• 4 pomegranates
• 2 tbsp date paste
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Cut open the pomegranates, remove seeds collect them in a bowl.

• Blend them in juicer.
• If necessary, strain the juice.
• Stir in date paste and lemon juice. This will help make the drink sweeter. If it is too sweet add water and enjoy. 

Sending this to Aarthi's HLI-DATES and to Kalyani's event.

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday.