It is customary to offer Navaratri Naivedyam to the Mother Goddess on each of the 9 days of Navaratri, and for the Pooja to be carried out twice a day, i.e. in the morning and evening. This post brings you Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes that you can easily make. The rice based dishes or variety rice can do double duty as both naiveydam and as lunch or for tiffin boxes, after you have first lit the lamp and offered it to the Goddess. For the South Indian festival of Kolu, Sundal Naivedyam is usually prepared in the evenings and is the prasadam for visitors for the kolu.
With our busy schedules and with many of us coping with the morning rush to pack lunch boxes and school tiffin boxes, it can be a hassle to prepare different varieties of Naivedyam for Navaratri Pooja each day. At the same time, this is a festival that we enjoy and would like to make tasty offerings, and naivedyam is even more important if Bomma Kolu or Golu has been kept at home.
This is the second post in my series on Navaratri: Fasting and Feasting and Everything In-between, and is focussed on Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes for Golu and Navaratri Pooja in South India. I will be writing about Naivedyam and also on Fasting in North India, in another post.
Link to Part 1 of the Series, on how the Kolu steps should be arranged, what is the order of keeping the Golu Bommai or Dolls, How and when to keep the Kalasam, etc: Navaratri Golu and How To Keep It
In this post there are some Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes from my food blogger friends and from my blog, and I will keep adding to this in the next few days. I must say a big Thank you to Sundari Giri (Ladles And Spoons), Paluk Khanna (Kitchen Fables) and Sujitha T Nair (Suji's Cooking) who readily offered their well written and easy to make recipes for this post. The link to each recipe is given along with the respective image below. We have included some interesting Payasams, do have a look!
The Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes for Navaratri Pooja differs from region to region and as per community and family customs. I am not immediately able to give you an authentic list of what is to be offered on each day for the deity worshipped on that day, and will do that at the earliest from reliable sources. Onion and garlic are traditionally not added to the naivedyam preparations. One or two of the recipes below may include onion or garlic, please omit the same while making for naivedyam.
What are the Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes that can be made for Pooja?
In South India, specially in Tamil Nadu, these are some of the traditional Navaratri Naivedyam:
Sweet Pongal or Sakkarai Pongal / Chakkara Pongal
Tamarind Rice or Puliyodharai/ Puliyogare made from Pulikachal
Venn Pongal - Savoury Rice with Moong dal Lentils
Curd Rice or Daddojanam/ Tayir Sadam
Coconut Rice or Thengai Sadam
Lemon Rice or Elumicham Rice
Arisi Vellam Puttu or Rice Jagery Puttu
Milk Rice or Paal Sadam or Ksheerannam
Sweet Rice: Rice and Jaggery or Vella Sadam
Payasam/ Kheer
Medu Vadai or Vadai made from Lentils
Sweet Boondhi
Ravaa Kesari or Halwa
Panakkam or Panagam - jaggery drink
Appam - sweet fried fritters from rice flour and jaggery
The Sundal Naivedyam for Navaratri Pooja:
This is usually offered as prasadam in the evenings when visitors come to see the Golu, but can of course be made for the morning pooja instead. Sundal or Guggillu is high in protein and a nutritious item on the menu, as the lentils are boiled and then either stir fried or else just has tadka or tempering added to it. Most of them need to be soaked overnight, so look up the recipe well ahead of time!
The most popular order (I have yet to find the authentic sampradayam or convention) of making the sundal naivedyam is:
Navaratri Day 1: Pasi Paruppu/ Moong dal / Green Gram Sundal
Navaratri Day 2: Sweet Pacha Payaru Sundal or Sweet Red bean/ Rajma Sundal or Puttu or savoury version of any of these
Navaratri Day 3: Verkadalai Sundal/ Peanut Sundal
Navaratri Day 4: Chickpeas Sundal/ Kabuli Chana Sundal
Navaratri Day 5: Split Chana dal/ Bengal Gram/ kadala paruppu
Navaratri Day 6: Karamani Sundal/ Black Eyed Beans/ Lobia Beans Sundal
Navaratri Day 7: Pattani /Green Peas Sundal
Navaratri Day 8: Mocchai Kotta/ Mocchai Payaru Sundal
Navaratri Day 9: Kadala Sundal/ Kala Channa Sundal (the small black skinned channa)
Other Sundal varieties:
Whole Black Urad Sundal/ Ulundu Sundal
Kollu Sundal/ Horse Gram Sundal
Corn Sundal
I. Traditional Naivedyam Recipes:
1. Puliyodharai
2. Ven Pongal
3. Curd Rice or Daddojanam or Tayir Sadam
An easy and refreshing favourite, can be made with just curd mixed with rice, seasoned with mustard seeds, chilies and curry leaves, or can be enhanced with grated carrots and cucumber.
For the Link to the Recipe on Suji's Cooking: Click Here
Curd Rice from PepperOnPizza (this blog):
4. Coconut Rice or Thengai Sadam
An evergreen naivedyam item with seasoned grated coconut mixed with rice.
(omit the Onion in the recipe please, if using for Navaratri naivedyam)
For the Link to the Recipe on Suji's Cooking: Click Here
5. Lemon Rice or Ellumicham Rice
Refreshing, easy, flavourful- ticks all the boxes. While this recipe recommends Gondhoroj Lebu, the amazing tangy King Lime from West Bengal, the regular Lemon is very tasty too.
6. Mangai Sadam or Mango Rice
As tangy and full of flavour as lemon rice, this mango rice is easy to put together with raw mango and basic spices.
6. Panakam/ Panagam - Jaggery drink
Fit for the Gods, this simple jaggery and water is flavoured with dried ginger, cardomom and tulsi leaves.
7. Rava Kesari or Kesari Bhaat
The favourite sweet naivedyam of suji/ rava with sugar and ghee, topped with fried raisins and cashewnuts.
For the Link to the Recipe on Kitchen Fables: Click Here
8. Kalkandu Sakkarai Pongal
Made from a recipe for naivedyam at the Chidambaram Natarajar Temple at Tamil Nadu, this is a delectable sweet pongal made from rice and moong dal cooked with kalkandu/ crystal/rock sugar, flavoured with aromatic saffron.
II. Payasam Recipes for Naivedyam:
9. Elaneer Payasam / Tender Coconut Payasam:
A perfect offering for Navaratri or any other festival, try this recipe for payasam made of tender coconut.
For the Link to the Recipe on Kitchen Fables: Click Here
10. Black Rice Payasam.
A special offering to the Mother Goddess, this kheer is made from Black Rice cooked in milk and with apricots and a dash of vanilla.
11. Oats Carrot Payasam:
You just have to try this kheer made with oats and carrots! Truly delectable.
For the Link to the Recipe on Suji's Cooking: Click Here
III. Sundal Naivedyam:
And now for the Navaratri Sundals, for what is Golu without Sundal?
12. Konda Kadalai / Black Chickpea Sundal:
Easy and quick to make, this sundal uses black chickpeas.
Link to the Recipe on Kitchen Fables: Click Here
13. Mochai Sundal/Double Beans - 3 Flavours
Yes, you read it right. This double beans/ mochai sundal recipe gives you the option to make sundal in 3 different flavours!
14. Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal
Chennai's popular Marina Beach Sundal can be easily made at home for naivedyam too!
15. Black eyed Peas Sundal / Karamani Sundal
A traditional recipe for Navaratri sundal from karamani or black eyed peas, garnished with grated coconut.
SaveSavAre there any other specific Navaratri Naivedyam recipes you are interested in? Let us know in comments and we will try and get them up for you here!
Paluk says
This a complete guide to the Naivedyam !! lovely write up !!
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Paluk! Glad you liked it!
kruthika manoharan says
This sums up all the to-dos and don'ts of navararthri! Would skip the google search for navararthri doubts and directly refer your link ma'am. Thank you for this write up, helps amateurs like us to know things.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Kruthika for the appreciation. Would love your feedback on anything more I could add to the post or to the rest of the Navaratri series
Sujitha says
Great post Sujata.Thank you verymuch for adding my recipe.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you for sharing them, Sujitha! The Oats Carrot Payasam is my all time favourite
Ramya Ramamurthy says
Very informative and comprehensive. Great for someone like me to refer to for festivals.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Ramya, I'm glad you like it. I'm planning to do this in a detailed way, the research is pretty interesting!