It’s the Navratra Festival – Dish out the Indian Gluten Free Goodies!!

Navratra  is an Indian Festival lasting nine nights culminating in a feast on the tenth day . It is dedicated to the worship of the Goddess Durga or Shakti. During this period Her Nine forms are worshipped (hence the duration) Hindu folk in North, West & East India celebrate this in different ways, with the South generally celebrating only the grand festival on the tenth Day called Dusshhera. I guess that’s enough background on the festival. Go google it if you need more!

The pious and the devout were instructed by the scriptures to undertake a fast for the entire duration of the festival, and advised to consume just one meal a day (usually in the evening) after the “pooja and aarti” – consisting of just fruits and milk.

Over the years this “one meal a day” diktat seems to have undergone various mutations – as per the whims and fancies of the various custodians of the religion.  

A relatively popular belief is that the one meal that you consume at the end of each day – has to be made of ingredients which are of fruit, fruit extracts and milk only. The food also should not contain pungent ingredients like garlic, onions etc. That seems to be the origin of the now popular “Vrat Ka Khaana” (food for fasting) – though I like its literal translation better (fast food). Numerous restaurants have taken advantage of this – to offer a delectable array of dishes – all containing no cereal or cereal extracts. Pretty clever – isn’t it?

All the cereal based components in a usual Indian meal (Rice, Chappati’s etc) are replaced with pseudocereals like Amaranth (known as Rajgira), BuckWheat (Kuttu) & Samo Seeds / Samo Rice (Samak), Sago (Sabudana), Water Chestnut flour (Singhare ka Atta). Most importantly – Salt is a no-no during the fast, so sea salt is ingeniously substituted  with rock-salt (don’t ask me why that is permitted) – reach out for the Upanishads if you have the time!

While I won’t debate the veracity of such a fast – where one can indulge in such unusual but delicious fare, I would certainly take advantage of the fact that these dishes are made available for only two weeks, or thereabouts, in a whole year!! Navratra is twice a year. The Vasant (Spring) Navratra is usually in April each year, though the one in the Fall is usually considered the more important one.

At the end of the exhaustive narrative on Navratra and the evolution of the food consumed therein (probable, I might add – and according to “myopedia”), I arrive at what I really look forward to – The glorious “GLUTEN FREE” Indian food doled out by some of the Indian restaurants around town. 

The Hindus probably had no idea that this concept of gluten free food would develop into such a fad in the western world. To-date, I haven’t seen a single Indian outlet promoting this fare as such!! Tch tch – such waste of an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon. Just look at how popular gluten free Pizza’s are getting!   

Anyways… I decided to go for the Navratra Thali (platter) on offer from one of the popular vegetarian restaurants in town – Bikanervala, at their Karama outlet. Though situated on a back street in Karama, Bikanervala is extremely popular and can get very crowded in the evenings. After a recent renovation, the décor is quite agreeable for a relaxed and casual meal. We landed up there at around 9 pm and got seated with relative ease. There wasn't much of a crowd (probably since it was still the first day of The Navratra) – and most diners were clearly opting for the Navratra Thali.

It’s a self serve concept so we got our orders in quickly and waited for the buzzer handed to us – to go off! I guess I was hungrier than most people who were on an actual fast. It didn't take too long though.

The Thali refers to a complete Indian meal served on a single platter (the word literally usually means the deep plate in which the food is served) 

The Pooris (deep fried unleavened flat bread) were made of Kuttu ka Atta (buck wheat flour) and were fresh out of the pan – nice puffed dark grey brown pillows of taste. What I liked most about the pooris was that they were completely non oily! The oil was drained perfectly – usually the sign of a very good chef – since buck wheat flour has a tendency to absorb and retain oil.

The accompaniments included Paneer ki Subji   (Cottage cheese curry) , Aloo ki subji (potato curry) & Cucumber Raita (Yoghurt with cucumber) & Pethe ki subji (Ash Gourd curry). There were also a couple of homestyle potato chips thrown in.

The Paneer (cottage cheese) in the curry was soft and fresh, the gravy a little sweeter than what I would prefer, but it was that way keeping in mind the popularity of the festival amongst the Gujarati Community. It was a slightly sweeter version of the immensely popular Paneer Makhni. Three huge chunks of paneer in my serving were quite enough.

The Aloo ki Subji was staple. Nice and easy on the spice & nothing to find fault with. A preferred and popular choice with Pooris usually.

The unlikely star of the show was the no-so-usual Pethe ki Subji (Ash Gourd curry). A semi dry version tempered with whole red kashmiri chillies, it achieved the right balance between the sweetness & fruitiness of the Ash Gourd and the spices it was cooked in. I loved it,  both- with the pooris and some dunked into my khichdi as well. 

Well Khichdi is usually my favorite, and I can probably even pair it with the Thai dish - Pad Ga Prao Gai – and still love it.

So as you guessed, there was also Samak ki Khichdi (a sort of porridge made with Samo Seeds) – to mimic the usual “Rice Khichdi” that Indians love. A great act though – I admit, since it tasted very similar to the actual khichdi. Deeply Satiating in a way only a home cooked khichdi can be . The portion was too small though *grumpy face*

The obligatory dessert was in the form of the Bengali RasBhari – mini rossogollas – but not as soft. This probably was the only food on the platter which did not match up to the otherwise very high standard overall. It was as if it was thrown in as an afterthought. Not enough love in there.

All in all – a hugely satisfying meal after a day of fasting (for those who do) – I could fast all nine days if this was what was on offer at the end of the day. Period.

Bikanervala, also has a-la-carte options for those not too keen on the platter. Even some innovative “Chaat” dishes for the fasters, made of the “permitted” ingredients. Like Falahari Paneer Tikka, Singhara Atta Papri Chaat, the ubiquitous Sabudana Vada & even an Aloo Lachcha Tokri!. I’m sure going back for more of these Gluten free goodies while Navratri lasts!

Bikanervala has three locations in Dubai (Karama, Barsha & Ghusais) and one in Sharjah (Al Wahda Street)
They also have a nice range of Indian Sweets & confectionery.

AL Karama

AL Karama, Dubai UAE, 
P.O. Box 49615
Tel. : +971-4 –3968813


PS:  I did not carry my camera in all the rush to try the Thali (the mark of a greenhorn) I've borrowed the pictures from their Social Media sites. So picture Credits are Bikanervala and their photographer.

PPS: The picture of the platter in the promotion varies a bit from my experience and description. So I've just described my version of the platter.