Farali cooking during Navratri commonly uses fruit, dairy, potatoes, selected vegetables, sabudana, and specialty ingredients such as buckwheat, water chestnut, amaranth, and fasting rice. These are customary patterns, not universal rules: observance varies by region, community, and household, so check the rules you follow before deciding an ingredient is permitted.
Common ingredients in Farali cooking
Farali foods are often chosen as alternatives to everyday grains and seasonings. The lists below describe foods found in many fasting menus, not a binding list for every Navratri observance. Art of Living’s Navratri fasting guide, Veg Recipes of India’s fasting guide, updated March 29, 2025, and Apollo Hospitals’ Navratri fasting advice describe customary ingredients while noting that practices can differ.
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Specialty staples
- Sabudana (tapioca pearls), used in dishes such as khichdi, vada, and snacks.
- Kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut), and rajgira (amaranth), often used as flours for breads, snacks, and sweets.
- Sama or shamak rice, also called fasting rice, used in place of regular rice in some menus.
Fruit, vegetables, and dairy
- Fruit, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam (suran), colocasia (arbi), pumpkin, and bottle gourd appear in many Farali menus.
- Milk, yogurt or curd, buttermilk, ghee, paneer, nuts, and makhana are also commonly used.
- Households may differ over individual vegetables such as tomato, spinach, or cucumber, as well as over particular oils and spices.
Seasonings
Sendha namak (rock salt) commonly replaces ordinary table salt in Farali cooking. Some fasting guides allow seasonings such as cumin, pepper, ginger, and green chili, while other spice rules vary by household. Confirm the rules you follow rather than assuming every seasoning is acceptable.
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Foods commonly avoided—and why there is no universal list
Many Navratri vrat patterns exclude wheat and regular rice, onion and garlic, pulses and other legumes, meat, eggs, and alcohol. Some households also avoid additional vegetables, spices, or oils. The sources explicitly caution that fasting rules differ by community and region; there is no single list that applies to every devotee.
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In practice, ask which ingredients your household or community excludes, including less obvious ingredients in packaged foods. For example, if your observance calls for sendha namak, check that a prepared ingredient has not been seasoned with ordinary salt. If wheat is excluded, check the flour rather than relying on a dish name.
How Farali meals differ by region
Regional menus show why a single “allowed foods” list can be misleading. A regional overview from Tadka Table, updated July 19, 2026, gives these examples:
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| Tradition described | Examples of Farali dishes and ingredients |
|---|---|
| Gujarati | Moraiyo khichdi, farali kadhi, bateta nu shaak, pattice, sabudana khichdi, rajgira dishes, and peanut-rich chevdo |
| North Indian | Kuttu or singhada puris, vrat ke aloo, sama rice, fruit, and dairy |
| Maharashtrian | Sabudana khichdi and vada, bhagar or varai, potatoes, peanuts, and yogurt |
These are examples, not exhaustive regional rules. Local and family practice still determines what counts as Farali for a particular fast.
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A food may fit a household’s fasting rules and still need consideration for an individual’s health. Apollo Hospitals advises people with health conditions such as diabetes or hypertension to consult a physician before fasting. Seek individualized clinical guidance if you have diabetes, are pregnant, have kidney disease, take medication, or have another significant health concern; fasting-food rules are not medical advice.
The Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India’s Indian Diabetes Educator Journal, Issue 125 (August 2025), notes that amaranth, sabudana, and potatoes have high glycemic index. It suggests samak rice or sweet potato paired with dairy to support glucose control. This is general dietary discussion, not a personal prescription or a guarantee of a particular glucose response.
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