Celebs share their Navratri recipes!

TV stars Tanushree Dutta and Debina Bonnerjee share their festive plans -- and special recipes!

First up we have Tanushree Dutta, who says:

I have grown up watching Durga Puja celebrations in Jamshedpur. Like any other Bengali, it's an important festival for me as well. Due to my work and travelling, I hardly get to visit any pandals now but I make it a point to visit at least on two days with my family.

On these days, I break my fast only after I offer anjali and the pujo. But it was not the same when we were in school and college. I would fast on all the days and break it only after the pujo. I have fun and frolic memories of Durga Puja in our locality. I used to be active in organising the programmes and involved in the puja. As kids we would participate in lots of competitions, plus there was the different excitement of wearing new clothes and attending the puja.

Mumbai has the best pandals and I mostly visit the one closest to my place, that is Abhijeet Bhatacharaya's pandal in Lokhandwala, Andheri. We mostly reconnect with our relatives, family friends and hang around.

The Khichuri (bhog) which they serve during puja is to die for. Khichuri sounds boring, but this one is divine. I lap it up like it's the last food left on earth! They prepare it on charcoal and maybe with Ma's blessing, the flavour is awesome. I am always ready to lap up the entire handi.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice
• 2 tbsps ghee
• 1/2 cup moong dal (split green gram)
• 1/4 cup green peas (optional)
• A handful of string beans and cauliflower
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 cardamom pod
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp red chilly powder
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 green chilly
• 2 tomatoes
• Salt
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 tsp turmeric powder

Method:

• Dry-roast the moong dal till it emits a nice aroma and set it aside.
• In a pan, pour some ghee -- add cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves and stir a bit.
• Next, add green chilly, ginger paste and cumin powder, red chilly powder, salt, turmeric and stir.
• Add peas, chopped beans, cauliflower and tomatoes and stir again.
• Add the washed rice and moong dal to the vegetables, pour sufficient water and let cook till the rice and lentils become soft.
• The Khichuri should be of a porridge-like consistency. Serve hot.

And here, Debina Bonerjee weighs in with her plans and Mutton Korma preparation:

I do miss my hometown Kolkata a lot, but last year my husband Gurmeet (Chaudhary) and I visited Kolkata during Durga Puja, so this year we are going to celebrate here in Mumbai. I am planning to wear new clothes on all the four days. There are different pandals all over the city and we are planning do pandal hopping. Most of these pandals have stalls of all the famous Bengali sweets and restaurants. Puri with Mutton Korma is the best dish available in the stalls.

Back home in Kolkata, the city transforms into a city of light, smells, looks and feels different. It's an official holiday from cooking on all four days.

For me as a child, the four days of Durga Puja meant eating outside in different restaurants and food stalls. Most of what I ate was junk food, but during those four days, everything was permitted.

Golgappa and omelette are a must -- it's incomplete if you don't eat these. These are the tastiest foods because they are cooked most unhygienically and that adds to the taste.

My house in Kolkata is located in an area called Kumartuli, where all the idols are made. So for me, the first memory of a puja is that of hundreds of thousands of idols being made and then being transported to the various puja pandals.

Whe I was very young, I remember once I was waiting for my mom to come back from shopping and give me my new dress. She had locked the cupboard and gone. I was waiting desperately because it was time for me to wear new clothes and go down to eat golgappa. I was so impatient; I wore another not-so-old dress just to eat. As a kid, it was just about wearing new clothes and eating. Finally my mom came and with a lot of drama I changed to a new one!

Debina's Mutton Korma

Ingredients:

• 500 gms mutton
• 3-4 potatoes, peeled and halved
• 1/2 cup whisked curd
• 1 tbsp onion paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tbsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp ginger paste
• 1/2 tbsp red chilly powder
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• 2 whole cardamoms
• 1/2 inch cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Marinate the mutton in curd, chilly, ginger, garlic paste, tomato paste, sugar, salt, coriander and cumin powder for 1-2 hours.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the whole crushed spices and bay leaves and the onion paste and saute until they become brown.
• Add the mutton and cook without water on a low flame.
• Add salt and stir well. Add the potatoes and cook for another half-hour until the mutton is cooked well.
• Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve.