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Vrat ka khana is the food prepared on fasting days in India. This recipe of falahari namkeen is made with everyone’s favorite, potato.
This fasting recipe is easy, quick to make and uses just a few basic ingredients from the kitchen pantry. So let’s make this delicious vrat ki recipe.
Falahar
Falahar word is made up of two words, fal + ahar , which means fruit + food. Therefore, food that includes only fruit is called falahar. In India during fasts like Navratri, MahaShivratri, Krishna Janamashtami and a few other fasts, falahar food is allowed to be eaten.
Other than fruits some flour and a few other food items are allowed and are considered as falahar, like sabudana/ tapioca pearls, Aloo (potato), Kachalu (Colocasia/ taro), Kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour), singhare ka atta ( water chestnut flour), Rajgira ka atta (Amaranth flour) etc.
Falahari Namkeen
Namkeen is a dry savory food items also called as mixture. Fafda, Khara, Farsan, Sev, Chips, mixture all are some other names for namkeen.
Falahari Namkeen is a savory snack which includes food items that are allowed to be eaten during the fasting days.
This falahari namkeen is made with potato and a few dry fruits and spices. It is mildly seasoned and has a sweet, sour and spicy flavour. The spice mix used in this is refreshing and so yummy, nothing like you get in the store bought namkeen/ mixture. Read till end to know all about this easy and delicious snack recipe for fasting days.
This vrat ka khana / falahari namkeen can be made in large quantity and then stored in an air-tight jar for later use. It can be made to be consumed as a normal snack too, other than fasting days.
This recipe is quite versatile also. You can make changes in its ingredients and add a few other dry ingredients like roasted chana/ black gram, roasted poha/ flattened rice, roasted murmura / puffed rice etc and make your own favorite namkeen at home.
So let’s read its important points to make a perfect snack at home.
Important Points for Vrat Ka khana / Falahari Namkeen
1.Potato – For this vrat ka khana we need big size potatoes to make good long aloo lachha from potatoes. You must select potatoes which are from new crop as they are crisp and will yield crisper aloo lachha namkeen.
2. Dry Nuts – Dry nuts are used in this recipe to make it tastier and rich in calories as on fasting days one doesn’t eat regular food and sometimes lack energy. So nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts, dry coconut, raisins etc are added for flavour and energy.
3. Groundnuts – Groundnuts/ peanuts is a must in this recipe. It is a cheaper alternative for adding good calories in this recipe. Use good quality peanuts or else they might leave a very bad taste in this falahari namkeen if peanuts are old or soggy.
4. Spices – Some basic spices are needed for this vrat ka khana / falahari namkeen, like black pepper powder, dry mango powder, red chilli flakes, chaat masala etc. If any of the spices mentioned here are not used by you on fasting days then you can easily skip that while making it.
5. Rock Salt – For making food during the fast days, normal white salt is not used. In falahari dishes, rock salt is used instead. So in this recipe I have used rock salt. You can choose between normal or rock salt as per your eating preferences.
6. Oil – Some cooking oil is required for frying the potato strips or aloo lachha. Use good quality oil for this purpose. Ghee or butter is not used for this purpose.
7. Mint Powder – I have used mint powder in this recipe which gives it a very refreshing taste and a wonderful aroma too. Mint powder is easily available in stores and can be made very easily at home too. Just harvest mint leaves in the summer season and dry the mint leaves in shade until completely dry. Then dry grind them and make its powder. Store in an air-tight jar.
Some other recipes from my blog and YouTube channel;
- Hara Bhara Kabab Recipe
- Samak Ka Dosa / Falahari Recipe
- Lauki Ka Halwa / Bottle gourd Dessert
- Sabudana Khichdi / Tapioca Pearls Pilaf / Fasting recipe
- Sabudana Vada / Tapioca Pearl Fritters/ Fasting recipe
- Instant Pan Pizza Recipe
Recipe Video of this Vrat Ka Khana / Falahari Namkeen
I have made a quick video of this Falahari Namkeen recipe for a better understanding of its process. You can take a look and check all the important steps in just few minutes. Do Subscribe to my YouTube channel “flavourhome by Sutiksha” and press the BELL icon too, so that you get instant recipe updates, as soon as I upload them and also to support my efforts. If you like these videos, kindly like and share them with your family and friends and COMMENT under the video or in blog to let me know how you made this dish.
Ingredients
- Potatoes – 2, big size
- Almonds – 1/4 cup
- Cashew nuts – 1/4 cup
- Raisins – 1/4 cup
- Groundnuts/ peanuts – 1/4 cup
- Foxnuts/ Makhana – 1 cup
- Rock salt – as per taste
- Black Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
- Red Chilli Flakes – 1 tsp
- Dry Mango Powder – 1.5 tsp
- Powdered sugar – 1.5 tsp
- Mint Powder – 1 tsp
- Cooking oil for frying
Method
1.Wash and peel the potatoes nicely. Take big size potatoes for long aloo lachha or potato strips.
2. Grate them lengthwise with a grater. Don’t use very small size grater.
3. Wash the aloo lachha / potato strips nicely. Wash them 3 – 4 times with clean water. Remove all the starch like this. After washing them nicely with water, pat dry them on clean kitchen towels as shown in the video. Keep aside for frying.
4. Heat the oil nicely and then lower the heat to medium. Add aloo lachha/ potato strips to the hot oil and wait until the foam settles down. Once the foam is settled, stir the potato strips/ aloo lachha in between and fry them on medium to medium low heat to get a light colored aloo lachha namkeen.
5. Fry for about 8-10 minutes and then take out the lachha or potato strips on a tissue in a plate. Leave them like this and in sometime they will be crispier and crunchy.
6. For frying to a golden brown color, fry the potato strips / aloo lachha in hot oil, on medium high to high heat. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning them. Once light brown in color, take out the strips or lachha out of the oil or else they will burn quickly. Keep on tissue paper in a plate.
7. Cut almonds in two pieces and fry them in the same oil on low heat. Make sure the temperature of the oil is low too. Half the cashew nuts and fry them too on low heat until light brown and crunchy. Similarly fry the raisins and groundnuts/ peanuts. Dry roast the foxnuts on low heat.
8. Make spice mix masala for this vrat ka khana / falahari namkeen. Mix the spices and salt as mentioned in ingredients section in a small bowl so that the flavours mix nicely.
9. Now in a big bowl add the fried aloo lachha / potato strips, fried almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, peanuts, and roasted foxnuts. Now sprinkle the spice mix as per your tatse and mix everything lightly with your hands. Using spatula might break the lachhas so be careful while mixing these.
10. Delicious Vrat Ka khana / Falahari Namkeen / savoury snack is ready to be eaten. You may store this namkeen in an air-tight jar for long.
I would love to hear from you if you try out this falahari namkeen recipe. Do mention about it in my comments section how you liked it or if you added more ingredients to it. If you make this dish and share its pics on social networking sites, do remember to add #flavourhomebysutiksha and tag me there so that even I can appreciate your efforts. I would love to see how it turned out.
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