Vrate wale aloo is a popular fasting recipe especially made during the festival of Navratri. We don't eat onion and garlic during Navratri, or other fasts we, Hindus observe. We only eat a few foods like fruits, vegetables, and millet. This vrat ki Aloo ki sabzi is a delicious, easy, and comforting recipe.
Navratri is a special festival for me. We observe fasting throughout the 9 days of the festival. And along with observing the fast, we dance our hearts out through the night. This dance is a Gujarati folk dance called Garba. And for us Gujaratis, this festival is very special.
My mom would make at least 4-5 different varieties of fasting recipes, whenever we would observe a fast. We used to enjoy these vrate ke aloo, with Rajgira Bhakris, and Kuttu Ki Poori. We would also make, beetroot raita, kesar malai ladoo, and sabudana vada.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- What is Vrat Wale Aloo ki Sabzi?
- What Can You Eat For Vrat?
- Ingredients to Make Vrat Wale Aloo
- How to Boil The Potatoes
- How To Make This Rassedar Vrat Wale Aloo ki Sabzi
- Tips and Variations To Make This Recipe
- Serving Suggestion
- More Recipes You Might Like From The Blog
- More Potato Curry Recipes From The Blog
- Vrat Wale Aloo Ki Sabzi
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It is delicious and gets ready quickly
- Can be prepped ahead of time
- It is tangy, with a hint of sweet, and peppery notes!
- Pairs well with millet flatbreads
- This is a perfect recipe for those observing fasting during Ekadashi, Navratri, Janmashtami, or Mahashivratri
What is Vrat Wale Aloo ki Sabzi?
Vrat wale aloo ki sabzi can be made in many different ways. This is a rassedar (gravy) aloo tamatar recipe, where boiled potatoes are cooked in tomato based sauce. I use a tempering of ghee, cumin seeds, ginger, green chilies, and curry leaves for this recipe. The freshness that curry leaves add to this recipe is beautiful. I like to crush the boiled potatoes with my hands instead of cutting them with a knife for this recipe. The big and small chunks of potatoes add a beautiful texture to the recipe, as they also work as a thickening agent for the curry.
I also make a sukhi aloo ki sabzi with peanuts which is delicious. In Gujarati, we call this Sukhi Bhaji. We serve these vrat wale aloo with Rajgira Bhakri, Kuttu Puris or Kuttu ki Roti, and some either cucumber or beetroot raita!
What Can You Eat For Vrat?
Vrat or Upvas in Hindi/ Gujarati means fasting. Hindus observe fasting where certain vegetables, and grains are restricted, including regular table salt. There is a list of foods that you can eat while fasting, but it changes from family to family. In my family, we mostly eat root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, beetroots, and arbi. We also eat grains, like sabudana, rajgira (amaranth), kuttu (buckwheat) and singhare ke atta(chestnut flour). Along with this, we eat fruits and nuts.
The goal during the fasting is to eat healthy and nourishing foods. While carbs are high in these meals, I try to balance the meals with protein from yogurt and paneer.
Hindus most commonly fast for Navratri twice an year, Ekadashi, Janmashtami, and Mahashivratri.
Find a collection of Hindu Fasting Recipes from the blog here.
Ingredients to Make Vrat Wale Aloo
Boiled Potatoes - You will need 3 boiled potatoes. I like to use Yukon gold potatoes. Here's how I boil them using my Instant Pot.
Tomatoes - I like to use ripe, and juicy puree of 3 tomatoes. Blitz them until pureed in a blender.
Ghee - We will be using ghee for this recipe, for tempering as it tastes so delicious.
Cumin Seeds - Now some families eat cumin seeds, and some don't. My family eats cumin seeds, but if yours doesn't, you can add carrom (ajwain) seeds.
Ginger and Green Chillies - I pound together 1-inch ginger and 2 Thai green chilies in a mortar pastel.
Curry Leaves - Curry leaves add a delicious freshness to the curry and gives a beautiful aroma. This is optional!
Black Pepper Powder - Use finely ground black pepper powder to the recipe, for the kick.
Salt and Sugar - Add sendha namak (fasting salt) and sugar to balance the flavors of the recipe.
Water - Add warm water to the curry, to make it rassedar.
Lemon Juice - Finish it off with lemon juice!
Cilantro - I add finely chopped cilantro for garnishing in the recipe.
How to Boil The Potatoes
- Wash and scrub the potatoes well.
- Add water to the steel insert pot in the Instant Pot.
- Place a trivet. Place the potatoes on the trivet
- Close the instant pot lid, and make sure to check the pressure valve is at the sealing position.
- Press Pressure Cook, and manually adjust the time to 12 minutes.
- Pressure cook the potatoes on Manual Pressure cook for 12 minutes on high Pressure.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, do a quick pressure release.
- Open the lid carefully. Pierce a fork to check the potatoes are well done.
- Take them out carefully in a bowl, using a pair of tongs.
How To Make This Rassedar Vrat Wale Aloo ki Sabzi
1. Add ghee to a frying pan. Once hot, add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
2. To this add cilantro stemps, freshly pounded ginger and green chilies, and 5-6 curry leaves.
3. Saute it for a minute.
4. Add the pureed tomatoes and let it cook on a low flame until the ghee separates.
5. Crush the boil potatoes with your hands. I like to leave them as medium sized chunks. Add them to the cooked tomato gravy.
6. Add 1 cup of water. Let the rassedar aloo cook on a medium low flame, until thickens until desired consistency.
7. Serve this aloo ki sabzi with Kuttu puris or Rajgira bhakris.
Tips and Variations To Make This Recipe
- I like to prep the ingredients ahead of time, to make sure cooking doesn't take a lot of time. So I first boil the potatoes, and leave them for cooling down, until I am ready to cook the curry. You want the potatoes to completely cool down, before adding them to the curry. Otherwise, they tend to cook more and become watery.
- Freshly pounded green chilies and ginger taste the best. You want to mince them and add, as it doesn't burn while tempering. If you add paste, then it will burn in the tempering.
- I like to add curry leaves, as it adds a beautiful herby aroma, and flavor to the recipe.
- I use Campari tomatoes to make this recipe. They are juicy, tangy and beautifully red.
- You can add whisked yogurt to make this curry, instead of tomatoes to make this recipe, without tomatoes.
- I like to add black pepper powder to add spice in the curry, but you can add other spices that your family eats during fasting.
- I make the same curry with paneer, instead of potatoes to make it vrat friendly and to amp up the protein.
Serving Suggestion
I like to serve these vrat wale aloo with my favorite Rajgira Bhakri or Kuttu ki Puri. And I highly recommend you add fasting-friendly sabudana chakri or sabudana khichya with it. I also like to serve, raita or chaas with it, to make a full meal.
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Vrat Wale Aloo Ki Sabzi
These nutrional values are automatically generated. Use them for estimation only.
Ingredients
- 3 Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes Boiled and hand crushed into large to medium sized chunks.
- 3 Tomatoes Pureed
- 1 inch Ginger
- 2 Thai Green Chilies
- 1 Tablespoon Ghee
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 5-6 Curry Leaves
- 1 teaspoon Sendha Namak We use sendha namak for fasting
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
- ½ Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Cilantro Finely chopped leaves and stems
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes and let them cool completely. Allow the potatoes to cool completely. Peel the skin, and crush them into large and medium chunks. Try not to crush them very small. The large chunky potatoes taste delicious in this recipe.
- Freshly pound 1inch ginger and 2 Thai green chilies using a mortar pastel. Keep it aside.
- Cut 3 tomatoes into halves. Add it to a blender jar and blitz them until pureed. Keep it aside.
- Chop finely cilantro stems and leaves. We will use cilantro stemps in the tempering.
- Now that the preparation for the curry is ready. We will start to cook the vrat wale aloo ki sabzi.
- In a heavy bottom pot, add 1 tablespoon ghee. To this add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, and let them splutter.
- Once the cumin seeds start to splutter, add freshly minced ginger and green chilies, and 5-6 curry leaves, along with 1 tablespoon cilantro stems. Saute this for 45 seconds.
- Add the pureed tomatoes, half a teapoon each of black pepper powder and sugar, and 1 teaspoon sendha namak. Mix well.
- On a medium low flame, let the tomato puree cook, until ghee separates.
- To this add hand crushed potatoes.
- Add 1 cup of water. And let the curry simmer on a medium flame.
- Let it thicken until desired consistency.
- Turn off the flame and, add ½ tablespoon lemon juice along with freshly chopped cilantro leaves.
- Serve with Rajgira bhakri, or kuttu ki Puri
Notes
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- I like to prep the ingredients ahead of time, to make sure cooking doesn't take a lot of time. So I first boil the potatoes, and leave them for cooling down, until I am ready to cook the curry. You want the potatoes to completely cool down, before adding them to the curry. Otherwise, they tend to cook more and become watery.
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- Freshly pounded green chilies and ginger taste the best. You want to mince them and add, as it doesn't burn while tempering. If you add paste, then it will burn in the tempering.
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- I like to add curry leaves, as it adds a beautiful herby aroma, and flavor to the recipe.
-
- I use Campari tomatoes to make this recipe. They are juicy, tangy and beautifully red.
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