Vrat Ke Aloo - Navratri Fasting Recipe

Vrat Ke Aloo is a simple fasting sabji made with potatoes and tomatoes.This aloo sabji is made without onion or garlic and is eaten during Hindu fasting days like Navratri, ekadashi vrat, pradosh, Maha Shivratri etc. We call it rasedaar aloo tamatar and it takes barely 20 minutes or so to make. Serve with kuttu ki poori.

My grandma use to cook a lot of satvic vrat recipes from for Navratri fasting. I sometimes fast and sometimes don't, but whenever its navratri time, I love to prepare a few dishes and relive the food memories 🙂

More vrat recipes to try - sabudana khichdi, sabudana tikki, sama chawal pulao, kuttu ke pakode, sweet potato peda.

Vrat Wale Aloo

There are many ways to make vrat ke aloo, I make both dry or rasedaar (with gravy). I am sharing the latter in this post today. This simple aalu sabji was always on the menu at my grandma's. The gravy has a pronounced sour taste from the tomatoes with a sharp hint of black pepper, its is very delicious.

Whether you are fasting or not, you can make it anytime and serve it with poori or paratha.

Ingredients

You need 10 ingredients for this recipe. Please adjust ingredients as per your fasting preferences.

• Potatoes - I like using yellow or gold potatoes, you can use any kind of potatoes you like.
• Green Chilies- We don't use red chili powder in this recipe so the heat in this sabji is solely from green chilies. I buy from indian store and the heat level is similar to thai bird chilies.
• Sendha Namak -We consume sendha namak (indian rock salt) during fasting.
• Ghee- Adds the most wonderful taste and aroma to this aalu sabzi.
• Cilantro Stems :- Are super flavorful and they add a great fresh flavor to the gravy. Since we are using minimal spices, we build flavor using herbs.

How To Make Vrat Wale Aloo

• Start by boiling the potatoes. You can boil them in pressure cooker or instant pot. Add potatoes to the cooker and add enough water to cover the potatoes. Close the lid and cook for 3-5 whistles on medium heat. Peel the cooled potatoes. Using your hands, crumble the potatoes such that there are big and small chunks.
• Using mortar & pestle, pound the ginger and green chilli.
• Crush the tomatoes using a blender. Dont puree the tomatoes.

• Temper the ghee with cumin and minced ginger & chili. Once crisp, add the tomatoes and saute on low medium heat for 3-4 minutes. We dont want to dry out the tomatoes. Just cook so that the raw taste goes away.

• Add the salt, black pepper and boiled potatoes. Fry everything on low medium heat for 3-4 minutes to allow the potatoes to absorb flavor.
• Next, add hot water, cilantro stems. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 8-10 minutes.

• Finish with lemon juice and chopped cilantro.

Few Tips & Variations

• Completely cool down the potatoes before using them to make the sabji. Else the potatoes tend to overcook or get super soft.
• Dont crumble the potatoes very small. This sabji tastes good with big chunks of potatoes.
• You may add any extra spices as per your liking or if they are eaten in your family during fasting.
• I mostly use campari tomatoes for my curries, they are sour so I dont need to add a lot of lemon juice. Please adjust lemon juice in the recipe depending on how tangy the tomatoes that you are using are.
• If you want to make aloo sabji without tomatoes, simply add ⅓ cup whisked yogurt to make the gravy.
• You can add some paneer cubes to the sabjii.