India is filled with many diverse festivals whether it be the festival of lights Diwali or the festival of colours Holi, it is always fun filled and flavourful with loads of food. With time, people have adapted different kinds of lifestyle through their food habits like switching to a more vegan friendly diet or going gluten-free, there’s a ton of diet options for everyone out there trying to follow a lifestyle that is suitable for them and a lifestyle that they find healthy. If you have made a life choice to stick to vegan and gluten-free food and are finding it challenging to find the right recipe especially for festivals, then this article is for you.
1.Baingan Bharta
This is a perfect dish to add some spice to your festival. The main ingredient of this dish is an eggplant that is mashed up along with other ingredients such as garlic, ginger, spices, and tomatoes. This is an effortless and tasty vegan, gluten-free dish to add to your festive occasions.
2.Besan Laddoo
Besan laddoo is gluten-free as it is made with chickpea flour (gram flour), garbanzo beans, replacing ghee with cocoa butter and refined sugar with coconut sugar and the other ingredients are saffron, coconut milk, cardamom, and nutmeg, making this a perfect non-guilty pleasure during festive occasions.
3.Thandai
Thandai is a refreshingly cold and sweet drink made with nuts, spices and milk and usually made for Holi. Regular milk can be replaced with almond or cashew milk to make it vegan-friendly and add a few nuts. It is also gluten-free, so you can have a refreshing Holi with this drink.
4.Fruit Chaat
Are you craving for some chaat but want to stay healthy? Then fruit chaat is the best option for you. You can add in any fruits of your choice and add some chaat masala that you’ve either bought, or you can make some at home. It is effortless to make and an ideal dish for kids.
5.Coconut Barfi
Coconut barfi is made vegan and gluten-free with grated coconut, coconut milk, jaggery, cardamom powder, and some nuts. It is pretty easy to make and you can also store it for a week or more. You can make this for yourself and your family or share it with friends and relatives for any festive occasion.
6.Modak
Modak is steamed dumplings that are made usually on the account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Modaks are vegan and gluten-free as they contain shredded coconut, coconut yoghurt, vanilla essence, and maple syrup. This is a perfect recipe to make during Ganesh Chaturthi and enjoy with your family.
7.Kaju Katli
Kaju Katli is a classic sweet that is gluten-free and vegan. Some recipes may add ghee or milk powder but this recipe does not require any of those ingredients. The main ingredients are cashews, sugar, and water, you can also add a bit of almonds but that’s completely optional. When it’s a festive season, and you want to have some popular sweets, this is a great option.
8.Vegetable Pakora
To make these delicious pakoras, you can add vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and much more but choose sturdy vegetable. The main ingredients are flour, desired vegetables, hot curry powder, baking powder, and cilantro. If you want some spicy and crunchy pakoras during festivals, then this recipe is for you.
9.Gujiya
Gujiya is a crescent-shaped, sweet, fried dumpling stuffed with nuts, sugar and mawa. To make this vegan and gluten-free the main ingredients used are flour, baking soda, and olive oil and for the mawa filling you can use coconut milk, melon seeds, and cardamom powder. This is a perfect sweet for multiple festive occasions.
10.Dahi Vada
Dahi Vada is a protein-rich, vegan, and gluten-free recipe. Vadas generally are cooked with a lot of oil but this recipe reduces the oil content. It has multiple benefits and can be stored for a reasonable amount of time. The main ingredients required are urad gota, mung dal, green chilli pepper, ginger, golden raisins, and cumin seeds. This is an apt recipe for vada lovers.
11.Kuttu Ke Pakore
Kuttu Ke Pakore is a delicious deep-fried snack that is specially made for vrat (Hindu fasting) days on Indian fasting days like Navratri, Shivratri, and Ekadashi. The main ingredients to make this tasty dish are kuttu atta, rajgira atta, boiled potatoes, and green chilies. This is an exceptional dish to intake during fasting.
12.Gajrela
This recipe is not just vegan and gluten-free but also sugar-free. The ingredients used to make this appetizing dish are cinnamon, flax seeds, and carrots. You can use nuts for some flavour but you can make it nut-free as well. This is entirely made out of carrots and comes with various health benefits that are found in carrots.
13.Puran Poli
Puran Poli is not traditionally gluten-free, but this recipe is perfect for Puran Poli lovers who don’t want to give up on it if they go gluten-free. The main ingredients are sorghum (jowar) flour, Bengal gram (chana dal), jaggery powder, and cardamom. This is a delicious dish and perfect for many festive occasions.
14.Aloo Gobi
Aloo Gobi is a vegetarian food recipe that contains potatoes and cauliflower cooked with a lot of flavourful spices. The main ingredients are spiced cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. The spices used for this dish are turmeric, cumin, coriander, and garam masala. This is perfect during the festive season for anyone who loves gobi.
15.Jalebi
Jalebis are popular crispy deep-fried Indian funnel cakes that are soaked in sweet syrup. It can be made gluten-free with just a few ingredients like oil, almond flour, arrowroot flour, full-fat coconut milk, coconut sugar, water, and probiotics to help the batter ferment. This is an excellent recipe for people looking for something grain-free and paleo-friendly.
16.Ragi Millet Ladoo
Ragi Millet ladoo are not just vegan and gluten-free but they also come with so many benefits like boosting your immunity as they are rich in calcium and iron. It is also refined sugar-free and made with ingredients such as ragi flour, almonds or cashews, roasted peanuts, powdered jaggery, and cardamom pods. This is perfect if you don’t want to spend much time on sweets as it only takes 15 minutes to make it.
17.Singhara Halwa
Singhara Halwa is gluten-free and low-fat, and it is rich in nutrients like potassium, iron, and fiber. It is made with few ingredients, such as singhara flour, ghee, water, cardamom powder, chopped nuts, and stevia powder. This is an excellent good option for people trying to reduce their weight.
18.Sweet Potato Kheer
Sweet potato kheer is delicious, vegan, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and nut-free kheer. It is made from simple ingredients like sweet potatoes, water, jaggery, ground cardamom, and coconut milk. You can serve this kheer either hot or cold and this can be stored for about 2 days making it a perfect dish during festive occasions.
19.Samosa
Nothing can go wrong with the classic Samosa. To make this vegan gluten-free Samosa, the ingredients used are flour, psyllium husk powder, salt, olive oil, cider vinegar or lemon juice, and cold water. With this recipe, you don’t have to worry much about eating unhealthy food during festive seasons.
20.Jowar Chakli
Chakli is a spiral-shaped crunchy snack very popular snack of South India. The ingredients used to make this vegan gluten-free Jowar Chakli are jowar flour, fried gram, hing, cumin seeds, red chilli powder, and sesame seeds. You may need a chakli press with a chakli disc to make this snack. This is an excellent snack during festivals.
