Kaddu-Bhaat is the ritually pure meal that opens the four days of Chhath, eaten on Nahay-Khay after the devotee has bathed in the river. It is the simplest of food and the most exacting in its purity: rice, chana dal and a sabzi of lauki (bottle gourd) — cooked with rock salt rather than ordinary salt, in a bronze or earthen vessel, traditionally over a fire of mango wood, untouched by onion or garlic.
That austerity is the point. The first day’s kaddu-bhaat sets the tone of cleanliness and restraint that the whole festival demands of the vrati, before the fast deepens into the long, foodless rigour of the days that follow.