Sabudana Vada

Today I am going to share the recipe of one of the most popular dish eaten during Navratras fasts (Hindu Fasting) – “Sabudana Vada”. Sabudana is also known as Tapioca Pearls. These can be made otherwise also as evening snack and enjoyed with a hot cup of masala tea.

 “Navratra” fasts are incomplete without this delicacy. It is liked by almost every person who keeps these fasts. When I made them for the first time, I still remember how  Sabudana Vada got stuck at the bottom of the vessel. The oil was boiling, I could smell something burning, in the panic mode I tried to separate the tikki from the base and it broke into pieces. It was a complete disaster but after few more attempts now I can proudly say I know how to make “Sabudane Vada” 😀

• The oil should be sufficiently hot when you are dropping ‘vadas’ into it. 
• Fry the ‘vadas’ on medium flame giving them sufficient time to cook. Too high temperature will burn it from outside without cooking it from inside. 
• If the oil is cold or not sufficiently warm, the ‘vada’ will stick to the bottom. Also, when you are dropping the it into the frying pan (or kadhai), give it few seconds to cook. Once the sabudana is cooked, the vada will automatically come on the surface.
• In case, your vada still breaks, add some Kuttu flour or Water-chestnut(‘Singhada’) flour for additional binding.

List Of Ingredients: (Makes 12 pieces)

• Sabudana (or Sago)-1/2 cup
• Chopped Green Chillies-2
• Medium Sized Potatoes-3
• Coarsely Grounded Roasted Peanuts-3 tbsp
• Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
• Chopped Coriander-4 tbsp
• Rock Salt-2 tsp ( or to taste)
• Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
• Oil- For deep frying

Steps To Prepare:

Step1:
Fill the water little above the level of sabudana and keep it aside for 20 minutes.

Step2:
To the soaked sabudana, add boiled potatoes, rock salt, red chilli powder, ground peanuts, green chillies and coriander. Mix them well to form potato and sabudana mash.

Potatoes and Sabudana Mash

Step3:
Grease you palms with a little bit of oil. Take a spoonful of mash and form round balls out of it. Gently press it from the top. Repeat the process with the entire quantity of mash.

Step4:
Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil becomes hot, carefully slide the vadas in it. Fry these on Medium-High flame. Th oil should neither be too hot nor cool. We want to give tapioca pearls enough time to cook and puff up.
Leave it for few seconds untouched. Once it is cooked, it will automatically rise to the surface.

Crunchy yummy Sabudana Vadas are ready. Serve them hot with fresh coriander chutney or tamarind chutney.