Buzz 46: 6 Authentic Durga Puja Recipes For You To Prepare This Festive Season

Maa Durga is here and though the global pandemic has put a damper on the festivities, the five-day celebrations can still be enjoyed. It’s that time of the year where good rules over evil and if you’re in Kolkata, this is one festival you simply must not give a miss!

Durga puja is all about celebrating with friends and family through music, rituals, delectable food and, of course, the seemingly never-ending fun. Food has always been an important part of the Bengali culture, and Durga puja is a time when the spread is as delicious as it can get.

Fun Fact

In Kolkata, apart from the various Durga idols that you can witness in each pandal, these puja pandals also act as a food paradise for all foodies and the Ashtami bhog is given out for free to visitors!

6 Classic Durga Puja Recipes That You Can Whip Up At Home

Though Pandal hopping and feasting in restaurants are off everyone’s checklist this Durga Puja, here is how you can create some classic Pujo dishes at home for your close friends and family. 

1. Luchi & Alu’r Dom

Start your day with this classic combination of luchi (which is basically poori in Hindi) and alu’r dom, a rich gravy made of ginger-garlic paste, onions, spices and baby potatoes.

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 290 | Carbs: 37g | Fat: 20g | Protein: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Fibre: 5.2g

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

For making luchi:

• 200 gm refined flour (maida)
• 1 teaspoon salt (for taste)
• 500gm oil (to deep fry)

For making Alu’r Dom:

• 200gm baby potatoes
• 4 tablespoon mustard oil
• ¼ tsp hing
• 4-5 green chillies (slit into half)
• 2 bay leaf (tej patta)
• 2-3 cloves
• 4-5 Black peppercorns
• ½ cup onion (chopped)
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 cup tomato (chopped)
• ½ cup yoghurt (dahi)
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• ½ tsp cumin powder (jeera powder)
• ¼ tsp garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon ghee
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander (dhaniya)

Method:

1. Take maida in a bowl and make a well in between. Add a pinch of salt, oil and mix them together. Add lukewarm water and knead it into a soft dough. 
2. Make sure that you don’t instantly start making luchi. Cover and rest the dough for a minimum of 15-20 minutes before using.
3. Divide the dough into equal portions and add press flat on a rolling board. Use plain flour for rolling out round-shaped pooris!
4. Heat oil in another pan. Add the pooris and deep fry them. This is how your luchis will get ready. 
5. For making alur dom, boil the baby potatoes completely. In another pan, heat some oil and add whole dried red chillies, tej patta, jeera, peppercorns and whole garam masala. Sauté till fragrant!
6. Then add ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala powder, jeera powder and fry them nicely. Make sure to add a bit of water so that the spices don’t burn.
7. Add tomatoes, green chillies and dahi and keep frying. Let this get cooked properly so that there is no raw smell of the spices left. Next, add sugar, boiled potatoes and let the spices coat the alu properly.
8. Add water, cover it and let it boil. 
9. Before taking it off the heat, make sure to add ghee, garam masala and stir for about 3 minutes. 
10. Garnish with freshly chopped dhaniya leaves and serve it with hot Bengali luchis!  

2. Aloo Posto

This delicious and quick recipe is a perfect dish for the festive season. With rich flavours, aloo posto is ideal to be served with some steamed rice or pulao.

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 115 | Carbs: 19.8g | Fat: 2.6g | Protein: 2g | Sugar: 4.5g | Fibre: 1.5g

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 5

Ingredients:

• 60g mustard oil
• ¼ teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji)
• 2 pcs dried red chillies
• 25g onions
• 500g potatoes
• 50g poppy seeds
• 4 pcs green chillies
• 12g salt
• 8g sugar

Method:

1. Soak poppy seeds in water for about 2 hours before grinding it for 2 hours along with 2 green chillies and 75g water. Make sure to grind it to a coarse paste. 
2. Peel and cut the potatoes in 1-2 cm cubes. Slice the onions too.
3. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Once it’s smoking hot, add the onions and fry it till it’s pale in colour. Drain the oil and set it aside.
4. Temper the oil with dried red chillies & nigella seeds. Add the potatoes. Fry for about 5 minutes but make sure that the potatoes shouldn’t turn brown at all. 
5. Add the poppy seed paste along with salt and sugar. Cook on low heat unless the raw smell of the poppy paste goes away. This shouldn’t take more than 4-5 minutes. 
6. Continue cooking this on low heat with the lid on until the potatoes are soft. The pan might dry out once in a while and you will have to add a splash of hot water. 
7. Finish your aloo posto with a hint of mustard oil and slit green chillies. Add the fried onions and give one final stir. Your dish is ready to be served!

3. Kolar Bora

Kolar Bora, also known as Banana Fritters are extremely easy to make and are a delicious snack or starter when you invite people over during the puja.

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 132 | Carbs: 18.9g | Fat: 6.1g | Protein: 1g | Sugar: 11.2g | Fibre: 0.3g

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 20

Ingredients:

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup scraped coconut
• Whole-wheat flour (atta)
• 2 tablespoon rice flour
• 1 cup jaggery
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Oil (for deep frying)

Method:

1. Mash the ripe bananas with a masher or your hands. These fritters are best made with over-ripe bananas.
2. Add the coconut, atta, rice flour, salt to make a lump-free mash.
3. Add jaggery as well. Mix everything to make a thick batter. 
4. If the batter turns out to be slimy, make sure you add some more wheat flour to adjust the consistency.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Once it’s nicely heated up, add dollops of the batter and deep fry them. You can make 5-6 fritters depending upon the size of the pan that you’re using.
6. Fry them unless it’s crisp and brown in colour. Strain and let your kitchen tissues soak up the excess oil. 
7. Serve them at room temperature or you can even store them for 3-4 days.

4. Kosha Mangsho

Full of traditional flavours, this delicious mutton recipe of goat meat is a must-try during Durga Puja. Here’s how you can make it.

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 465 | Carbs: 9g | Fat: 36g | Protein: 25g | Sugar: 4g | Fibre: 1g

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• ½ kg mutton
• ½ cup dahi
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic Paste
• 1 tbsp mustard Oil

For the gravy:

• 3 tbsp mustard Oil
• 2 tej patta
• 2 black cardamom
• 3-4 green cardamom
• 1-inch cinnamon (dalchini)
• 2-3 cloves
• 3-4 dry red chillies
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 and ½ cup onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 tsp ginger (chopped)
• 1 tsp garlic (chopped)
• ½ cup tomato (chopped)
• 2-3 potatoes (peeled and cut into halves.)
• 2 tsp dhaniya powder 
• 1 tsp turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• Salt to taste
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Fresh dhaniya

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and marinate the mutton for 3-4 hours. Marinating it overnight actually works the best.
2. Heat mustard oil in a pan.
3. Slightly crush black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves.
4. When the oil is hot, add the tej patta, crushed garam masala, dried red chillies and sugar (this is normally added for colour) and fry for a few seconds.
5. Add the onions and fry until lightly browned. Next, add ginger and garlic and fry until nicely browned.
6. Now add the tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes.
7. Add the mutton pieces and potatoes along with the marinade and fry for 5-6 minutes on high heat.
8. Add coriander powder, haldi powder, red chilli powder, jeera powder and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes.
9. Now add a cup of water and cover the pan. Cook for 1.5 -2 hours until the mutton is cooked well. Keep stirring in between.
10. Open the lid and add garam masala powder and lemon juice and mix it well.
11. Cook for another 3-4 minutes until the gravy is slightly thickened.
12. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve it hot with Luchi or Basanti Pulao. Also, note that for a dark, rich colour of the gravy you can use an iron kadhai.

5. Kancha Aamer Chutney

Bengalis can never live without sweet dishes. This sweet and sour chutney is prepared with raw mangoes, sugar, dried red chillies along with few other spices and is traditionally served with bhog er khichuri (a kind of Bengali khichdi).

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 200 | Carbs: 50.5g | Fat: 2.3g | Protein: 2.2g | Sugar: 48.4g | Fibre: 1g

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 1kg green mangoes 
• ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 25g raisins
• 1 teaspoon Bengali five spice (panch phoron)
• 2 dried red chillies
• 250g sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1.2 teaspoon haldi powder
• 1 teaspoon Bengali bhaja moshla
• 1 tablespoon mustard oil

Method:

1. Wash and pat dry the green mangoes. 
2. Now heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the whole red chillies  & black mustard seeds to the oil. Fry them till the seeds start to crackle. When they start crackling, add the mango chunks and fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Now add the water, turmeric & salt to the pan and cover it to cook the mango on low heat.
4. In this meantime take a non-stick pan and dry roast the jeera, coriander, fennel & red chilli for 1-2 minutes. Grind them coarsely & keep aside.
5. Now open the saucepan and check if the mango chunks are cooked or not. It should be cooked by then, so add the sugar to the saucepan and bring the chutney to boil till it becomes thick & sticky.
6. When you will get the right consistency of your chutney, check the sweetness of the chutney. If needed add some more sugar to it & boil for a couple of minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and pour the chutney into a serving bowl and sprinkle with bhaja moshla on the top of the chutney. Keep the chutney inside the refrigerator for 2-3 hours and remove 15 mins before serving.

6. Bengali Khichuri

Made with roasted moong dal, rice, spices, veggies and ghee, this authentic dish is usually prepared during Ashtami & Mahanavami. 

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving): Calories: 200 | Carbs: 50.5g | Fat: 2.3g | Protein: 2.2g | Sugar: 48.4g | Fibre: 1g

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup small grain rice
• 1 cup split yellow lentil (moong dal)
• 2 large boiled potato, chopped into 6 pieces
• 1/2 cauliflower head, roughly chopped
• 1 cup green peas 
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• 4 tablespoon ghee
• ½ cup of water
• 3 cups of water (for soaking rice and lentils)
• 1 large tej patta
• 2 dry red chilli
• 2 black cardamom (elaichi)
• 2 cloves (laung)
• 1 stick of dalchini
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 2 tablespoon salt (as per your taste)

Method:

1. Heat a large pot. Add moong dal and roast it over medium-low flames for 2 minutes. (this brings out the nutty lentil aromas and the dal will turn slightly brown-pink).
2. Remove the roasted dal and add rice to the same pot.
3. Roast the rice for 2 minutes and transfer to the roasted dal bowl.
4. Soak the roasted dal and rice mix in 2 cups water.
5. In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (you can add ghee in here too) and roast the cauliflower until light brown (takes about 2 minutes). Remove and keep aside.
6. Heat the same pot and add remaining vegetable oil & 1tbsp ghee.
7. Add the whole spices and sautéfor about 30 seconds.
8. Add the powdered spices and fry for another 30 seconds.
9. Now add the soaked roasted dal and rice (keep the water and just add the grains).
10. Sauté this mix 1-2 times and let this cook on low heat for 2 minutes.
11. Now add water, green peas and fry everything together. Let this cook on low-medium heat for 2 minutes.
12. Finally add cauliflower, potatoes, ghee and mix everything.
13. Add 1/2 cup water, mix everything, and cover the pot.
14. Let this cook for 10 minutes over low-medium heat. Keep checking the rice and the dal.
15. Once the khichuri is cooked, add some ghee on top and lightly mix in. Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy.

Want some tips on aarti thali decoration at home. Worry not, check it out here. Bring home the joy of Durga Puja with these classic recipes. Let us know in the comment section below which of the above recipes turned out the best.

Dugga, Dugga!