Fasting and Feasting on Chhath

This year the Chhath Puja is being celebrated from November 17 to November 20.

Be it Houston or Hazaribagh, the Chhath Puja celebrations have a comforting sameness to it with special rituals, foods and songs that worshippers bring to it with great devotion.

Gaon Connection presents special food recipes associated with each day of the four-day long Chhath celebrations. If you are planning to observe Chhath, you could try these. Rest assured, not only are they delicious, but they are also nutritious.

Chhath Food Recipes

Thekua

Ingredients:

Jaggery (500 g)

Coarse wheat flour (1 kg)

Fennel seeds

Water

Heat a little water in a pan, add jaggery to it so that it dissolves. To check the consistency of the mixture, dip your index finger and using your thumb, stretch that drop to see if it makes threads or not. The proportion of jaggery and flour is 1:2. The jaggery shouldn’t make threads.

Add fennel seeds and jaggery syrup to the dough, and knead it hard. Ghee (clarified butter) doesn’t have to be added to flour if it is for the deity, but otherwise, feel free to add ghee to make the thekuas crispy.

Make small balls of the dough, flatten them on the thekua mould, and press. The imprint gives it a dash of festive flavour.

Deep fry it in ghee (for puja) or refined oil (otherwise) in a kadhai till deep brown. Keep the fried ones on a paper napkin or cloth napkin for the oil to drain, and it is ready to serve.

Also Read: The aalta patra makers of Bihar seek help to keep the age-old Chhath Puja tradition alive

Kohda ki Sabji

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (500 g)

Panch phorna, which is an aromatic blend of five whole seeds — jeera (cumin), methi (fenugreek), kalonji (nigella sativa), saunf (fennel) and rai (mustard)

Ghee 2-3 tbsp

2-3 dried red chillies

Salt a pinch

Jaggery or sugar (not more than 20 g)

Cut the pumpkin lengthwise without peeling off its skin, and then into small square pieces. Heat ghee in a kadhai, add panch phoran, chillies, and once it splutters, add the neatly diced vegetable, mix well. Add turmeric, salt and cover it with a lid and let it simmer on low heat.

When pumpkin becomes soft, add jaggery, and mix well. It will leave some water, you could increase the flame to dry that moisture. Once the pumpkin changes texture and colour, it is ready to eat.

Chana Dal-Kaddu

Ingredients:

Kaddu (bottle gourd) 500 g

Fenugreek seeds

2 dried red chilli (optional)

Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Salt according to taste

Split chickpea lentils 100 g

Coriander leaves to garnish

Ghee/oil 1 tbsp

Peel and cut the bottle gourd lengthwise, and then into neat cubes. Wash the lentils and soak in water overnight or boil it in a cooker.

Put oil in a kadhai, add cumin seeds, chilli and let it splutter. Add chopped vegetables, turmeric and salt, followed by lentils. Cover it with a lid, keep the flame low and keep mixing it in between. The vegetable leaves ample water and helps in cooking.

Once it is done, take it off the stove, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves, and serve with steamed rice.

Also Read: Photo Essay: On the final day of Chhath Puja, devotees offer Usha Arghya in holy city Varanasi

Ole Curry

Ingredients:

Ole/suran/jimikand (yam) 250 g

Salt ½ tsp

Lime juice 1 tbsp

Mustard oil

1 medium-sized onion

2 green chillies

Paste of 1 medium-sized onion, 10 garlic cloves and 1-inch ginger

2 bay leaves

2 dry red chillies

Whole cumin seeds 1 tsp

Desi ghee 1 tsp

Turmeric powder 2 tsp

Kashmiri red chilli powder 2 tsp

Cumin powder 1 tsp

Garam masala powder ½ tsp

Coriander powder 3 tsp

Black pepper powder ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Wash, clean, peel and cut yam into equal-sized square pieces. Use mustard oil on your hands while cutting it because it might get itchy in some cases. You could either marinate it with some salt and turmeric and leave it aside for a few minutes. Or bring a pan of water to boil and add the yam pieces, some lime juice and salt, and boil for 10 minutes, and then drain and let it dry.

Shallow fry it in mustard oil. Once it changes colour to a golden brown, take these pieces out and keep them aside on a plate.

To prepare the curry, add bay leaves, dried red chillies, followed by onion. Once onion changes colour to a dark golden brown, then add paste of onion-ginger-garlic. Let it mix well so keep stirring. Then add the powdered spices and salt. Add a little water so that the spices cook well. Cover it with a lid, and leave it to simmer on low heat.

Once it is cooked, add a little more water, and when the mixture comes to a boil, add fried yam pieces, followed by garam masala powder. Cover the lid, and cook it for not more than two minutes.

You can roast cumin seeds in a small ladle, add ghee to it, and then pour it over the curry. It gives a nice flavour to the curry. Serve it with steamed rice.

Ole ki Chutney

Ole/suran/jimikand (yam) 250 g

Salt

Green chillies (finely chopped) 2

Yellow mustard (powdered) ½ tsp

Ginger (grated) 1 tsp

Garlic (finely chopped) 1 tsp

Carom seeds ½ tsp

Nigella seeds ½ tsp

Mustard oil 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Wash, clean, peel and cut yam into equal-sized square pieces. Use mustard oil on your hands while cutting it because it might get itchy in some cases. Cook it in water and salt. Once it is done, drain water and let it dry.

Put other ingredients in a bowl, add boiled yam, and mix well. Add mustard oil and keep it in the sun. Store in an airtight container and it makes for a great winter addition to the meal.

Bachkas, Chhanuas and Pakodas (Fritters)

Vegetables – potato, eggplant, raw banana, peas, spinach leaves, and onion/garlic leaves, cauliflower

Gram flour

Rice flour

Water

Salt

Carom seeds

Paste of ginger-garlic-chilli

Mustard oil to deep fry

Potatoes, eggplant, and raw bananas are cut into thin round slices. A thick batter of gram flour with a dash of rice flour, ginger-garlic-chilli paste and salt is readied. The cut vegetables are dipped and then cooked on a tawa on low heat. When it changes colour to a deep golden brown, it is ready to be served. These are called bachkas.

Peas, spinach leaves, and onion/garlic leaves follow the same procedure but are deep-fried in oil and called chhanuas.

When vegetables, like potatoes, cauliflower, eggplant, etc, are dipped in a thin gram flour batter mixed with ginger-garlic-chilli paste and salt, and deep-fried, they are called pakodas.

So what are you preparing today – ole curry, chana dal-kaddu, or pakodas?

Happy Chhath! Jai Chhathi Maiya!