Ekadashi or Ekadasi is an auspicious day for Hindus. it comes twice in the Hindu calender month and falls on 11th day of each moon cycle (on dark and bright lunar phase). Thus there are around 24 Ekadashi in a year and each has its own significance. E.g. Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Nirjala Ekadashi, Vijaya Ekadashi are some of the popular ekadashi. Ashadi Ekadashi is the most important Ekadasi in the state of Maharashtra.
Fasting food is meant to be light and easy to digest. so that it does not pull you down energetically and you can easily devote your mind to the spiritual practices like mantra chanting, reading spiritual books or remembering the name of god or practicing meditation or your spiritual sadhana. E.g. “Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya” – is a powerful mantra that you can chant on this day.
If you eat heavy food which is difficult to digest then all the energy of the body goes in digesting the food and it also makes you sleepy. So during fasting one should eat light and the kind of food which is easy to digest. So that all the energies can move towards god or towards your sadhana or towards the higher chakras. Ekadashi is a very powerful day to make progress in spirituality.
During fasting days rice, whole wheat flour, pulses, cereal grains, onion, garlic etc are not eaten. Fruits, sabudana, makhana, milk and flours like singhare ka atta, kuttu ka atta, rajgira ka atta are consumed. On fasting days we use sendha namak (rock salt) instead of regular salt. Strictly avoid eating rice on this day.
I have shared a detailed post on Navratri vrat rules which explains what food can be eaten on fasting days and what should not be eaten. So do check this post – Navratri vrat rules and vrat ka khana. There is one more fasting recipes post on the blog for your easy reference.
Disclaimer: Ekadashi fasting rules can vary from community to community. So always follow the rule which is observed in your family, community or sect. E.g. Some people do not eat anything on Ekadashi. However some people keep partial fast and only eat fruits on this day, some eat light food once a day and some have two meals a day.
Thus the procedure of Ekadasi vrat can vary from person to person. But the main thing is that your energies should focus on the higher goal of life which is to attain the divine.
So follow the fasting rules as per your age, health constitution and other family duties and responsibilities. But make sure that you can direct your mind easily towards Bhagwan Vishnu or your chosen deity on this day.
In this post, I am sharing a collection of recipes that can be made during Ekadashi. Also remember to drink a lot of water and fruit juices while keeping the fast.
Collection of 11 Ekadashi fasting recipes
1. Sabudana khichdi – It Is one of the most popular fasting recipe. This dish is made with sabudana pearls, boiled potatoes, roasted peanuts and a few spices.
Sabudana khichdi is an easy snack and is a good recipe to be made during fasting days like Ekadasi, Navratri etc. There are many sabudana recipes that you can make for fasting days like:
2. Rajgira paratha – These are healthy gluten free flatbreads made with amaranth flour or rajgira flour, mashed potatoes and seasonings. I add mashed potatoes to the paratha dough as it helps to roll the paratha easily.
Rajgira is one of the commonly used ingredients for religious fasting. Apart from these parathas the other recipes that can be made with rajgira are:
3. Sama rice khichdi – simple, easy and healthy khichdi made with sama ke chawal also known as barnyard millet. Sama ke chawal are regularly used during fasting days and are very healthy. You can make a variety of recipes with them like:
4. Aloo tamatar curry – this is a delicious potato tomato curry made without onion-garlic and heavy ingredients or spices. This is very easy and simple aloo tamatar sabzi which you can make for fasting days. You can serve the aloo tamatar curry with Vrat ki roti or Rajgira paratha or Rajgire ki poori or kuttu ki poori.
5. Kuttu ki khichdi – This is an easy to prepare khichdi variety made with buckwheat groats (sabut kuttu), potatoes and peanuts for fasting. Wholesome super food that taste good as well. You can serve buckwheat khichdi with a bowl of Yogurt (curd or dahi) or with Vrat ki kadhi. you can also check this recipe of Kuttu ki poori.
6. Vrat wale aloo – Easy and tasty crumbled potato recipe for fasting made without onion-garlic. This recipe is light and not heavily spiced. You can make many vrat recipes with aloo like:
- Aloo chaat
- Aloo makhana
- Vrat ke dahi aloo
- Aloo tuk – Sindhi snack of crispy, fried and spiced potato slices.
- French fries.
7. Khatta meetha kaddu recipe – mildly spiced sweet and sour pumpkin dry curry. apart from this dish, you can also make Kaddu ka halwa or kaddu ke pakoras for fasting. You can serve the khatta meetha kaddu with Kuttu ki roti, amaranth pooris or singhare ki poori. Few more sabzi or curry recipes which you can make during fasting are:
8. Vrat ka chawal ka pulao – samvat pulao recipe is a simple and easy pulao. this sama rice pulao is made during Navratri fasting or Ekadashi fasting. sama rice are good health option during fasting days and also makes a good gluten free grain. You can have them plain or with Vrat ki kadhi.
These are not a kind of rice variety or even associated with rice. Basically they are from the millet family. The english name for Sama ke chawal is Barnyard millet. the other Indian names for barnyard millet is vari, varai, sanwa, samwa and swang.
9. Singhare ki poori – Delicious poori variety made with water chestnut flour, mashed potatoes, edible rock salt and a few spices. You will definitely get to taste a slight flavor of singhara or water chestnut in these pooris but that does not matter much, as these pooris taste as good as regular pooris made from whole wheat flour.
You can serve these singhare ki pooris With Vrat ka kadhi or Arbi masala or Khatta meetha kaddu or Aloo palak sabzi or pumpkin sabzi.
10. Farali patties – crisp potato patties stuffed with a sweet-tangy coconut-dry fruits stuffing. A popular Gujarati snack that is made during fasting. Few more snacks which you can make during fasting are Farali batata vada, Raw banana kofta, Vrat ke pakore, Roasted makhana, Fruit chaat and Sweet potato tikki.
11. Makhane ki kheer – this is a delicious North Indian dessert made from healthy foxnuts or phool makhana. This is also called as phool makhane ki kheer.
There are many sweets recipes which you can make for fasting days like:
- Paneer kheer
- Vrat ka halwa
- Lauki kheer
- Dry fruits ladoo
- Shakarkandi halwa
- Ash gourd halwa
- Shrikhand recipe.
This Ekadashi Recipes from the blog archives first published in April 2017 has been republished and updated on 4 Jun 2022.
Ur recipes r great.i m ur big fan.THANX FOR UR PAGE.
thanks a lot anju. most welcome.