Navratri fasting and paneer

Cheeses for Navratri fasting and paneer

During Navratri many Hindu families keep a partial fast, avoiding grains, onion, garlic and ordinary salt. The rules differ from home to home, but in many households milk products are welcome, because they are seen as pure. Fresh paneer, often made at home that morning, is cooked with rock salt, cumin, black pepper and green chilli, crumbled into kuttu flour parathas or served in a tomato-free curry. Some families keep paneer out of the vrat altogether, so the custom is a matter of household tradition. On the eighth or ninth day, girls are fed puri, chana and halwa in the kanya puja.

The cheeses

PaneerAllowed in many vrat kitchens, cooked with rock salt and cumin.ChhenaThe same fresh curd, used for fasting sweets in eastern India.