Sabudana vada | Sabakki vada | Sago Poppers

Hi folks, what's cooking this week?

Now that Navratri is here, what are your plans? Has that gorgeous "Ghagra-Choli" come out of the wardrobe ? Did you go for Garba or Dandiya?

I'm not sure I'll ever wear a Ghagra-Choli, but dancing the Dandiya is definitely on my bucket list and I wish to cross it off soon. 

You know what I enjoy about festivals in India? The colors. I love to see people dressed up in colorful attire. Colorful flowers in markets and adorning houses. Large "Pandals" where community or sarvajanik celebrations happen. The diyas or lanterns that are lit up outside houses. Beautiful Rangolis everywhere. It sets such a festive mood, you want to celebrate. What is it about festivals that excites you?

Festivals always bring good food with them. So does Navratri. A lot of people fast during Navratri where they avoid rice, wheat, meat etc. Sabudana Vada is very popular during such "upavaas" or fasting. I don't fast, I've never done so till date and considering the foodie I am, I doubt I'll ever be able to avoid food for too long. But that does not stop me from eating all the yummy snacks like Sabudana Vada. In fact, I make them very often for breakfast or tea time snacks. They disappear quicker than I can cook them. 

Sabudana Vada is a popular Mahastrian snack made by frying balls of sabudana (sago), mashed potato and crushed peanuts. While traditionally, the vadas are deep fried, I pan fry them or shallow fry them. 

To make the Sabudana Vada, first the sabudana needs to be soaked for around half hour and then drain out the water and leave the sabudana in a box or a covered bowl for 1-2 hours until they fluff up. Then add in the mashed boiled potato, crushed peanuts, curry leaves, chopped green chilli, chopped coriander leaves and salt and mix. Take lemon sized balls of this mixture and flatten them gently and place on a hot greased pan. Spoon in 1 tsp of oil on them and cook until one side browns, then flip and cook until the next side browns. If you are in a hurry, or you don't mind deep fried snacks, then go ahead and deep fry them and enjoy the traditional taste of Sabudana Vada.

Sabudana Vada tastes awesome with chutney or ketchup. I don't bother with either, as no one in my family cares what comes with it, as I said it disappears quicker than it appears. 

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Sabudana Khichdi - Another popular Maharastrian fasting meal made with the exact same ingredients as this vada.
• Sabudana Chana Vada - Sabudana Vada where Potatoes are replaced with Chhole or Chickpeas.
• Millet Cutlets - Shallow fried cutlets made from foxtail millet and mixed vegetables.
• Curried Brown Rice and Zucchini Fritters -  Fritters or Tikkis made with mashed Brown Rice and grated Zucchini. Spiced with Garam Masala and pan fried. 

Sabudana Vada / Sabakki Vada/ Sago Poppers

Sabudana Vadas are shallow fried vadas or poppers made with Sabudana/Sago, Peanuts and mashed potatoes.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:          Indian/ Maharashtrian
Prep Time:     2 hours
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:              Makes 12-15 vadas

Ingredients:

1 cup Sabudana/Sago
2 medium sized Potato
2 finely chopped Green Chilli
8-10 Curry Leaves
0.25 cup Peanuts
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
A pinch Garam Masala (Optional)
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Optional)
4-5 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the sabudana and drain all the water. Let it rest covered for about 2 hours or until the sabudana have softened.
Boil the potato and peel it.
Roast the peanuts and grind into powder in the mixer.
Mash the potato, add the sabudana, curry leaves,coriander and green chilies. Mix well.
Add salt, red chili powder, garam masala, peanut powder and mix well.
Shape into balls and flatten them gently.
Heat a tava or frying pan and grease it.
Place the sabudana vada hot tava and spoon around 1-1.5 tsp of Oil per vada. You may need more or less oil depending on your liking and the tava you have used. I used a non stick tava.
Flip them when they brown on one side.
Remove from heat once both the sides are browned.
This can be served with chutney or ketchup.

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Sabudana Chana Vada | Sago Pearls and Chickpea Patty [Vegan & GF]

Sabudana vada is a traditional Maharastrian snack eaten during fasting / upvas. I was trying to avoid potatoes in my diet, so I replaced it with chickpeas or kabuli chana. This vada (patty) is a fusion between the traditional Sabudana Vada and the Middle Eastern Falafel. Although both the original snacks are deep fried, I shallow fried. 

Deep frying definitely makes them tastier, but then, doesn't it always do it? I watched an older episode of Eat Street on TV, where they showed a truck that deep fried Cup cakes. I wonder how that tastes. 

The chickpea in the vada increases the protein content of the vada. It also adds a nuttiness to it. You can eat it just as it is or add it in a burger like I did. I used the dry chickpeas that I soaked overnight, you can replace this with canned chickpeas as well. The sabudana or the sago pearls sold in supermarket are dried. They need to be soaked to fluff up and become spongy. You can add spices to enhance the flavor.

All the work in this recipe is during the preparation stage, the cooking is actually a no brainer - grind, mix and fry. That's it! 

This vada is vegan and gluten free.

Step by Step Instructions:




1) Soak the kabuli chana or chickpeas in 3 cups of water overnight.Drain the water and keep aside.
You can use canned chickpeas as well. Skip the above steps if using canned chickpeas. Wash and drain the canned chickpeas. Use 2 cups of canned chickpeas.
2) Soak the sabudana in 2 cups of water and leave aside for 1/2 hour.Drain the water and cover and keep it aside for 2 hours.If you plan on making this for breakfast, then after draining the water, cover and keep it aside overnight.
3) Grind the peanuts into a coarse powder.
4) Grind together the chickpeas and green chillies coarsely.
5) Add the ground peanuts, sabudana, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt and mix well.
6) Shape into patties / vadas.



7) Heat around 2 Tbsp of oil in a shallow pan for shallow frying. You can decide to deep fry it too.
8) Once the oil is hot, add the vadas to the pan and cook on medium heat.
9) Flip the vadas when the first side is browned and cook it until the other side browned.
10) Serve hot with coriander chutney or ketchup.

Sabudana Chana Vada | Sago Pearls and Chickpea Patty

Pan fried patties/ vada made with sabudana (sago pearls) and kabuli chana (chickpeas). Vegan and gluten free.

Recipe Type:  Snacks /Breakfast
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     8 hours (Including soaking time) or 3 hours (If using canned chickpeas)
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              7-8 vadas

Ingredients:

1 cup dry Kabuli Chana / Chickpeas
1.5 cups of dry Sabudana / Sago Pearls
1/2 cup of roasted Peanuts
1-2 Green Chillies
7-8 Curry Leaves
2 Tbsp of chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt
Water
Oil for frying

Method:

Soak the kabuli chana or chickpeas in 3 cups of water overnight.
Drain the water and keep aside.
You can use canned chickpeas as well. Skip the above steps if using canned chickpeas. Wash and drain the canned chickpeas. Use 2 cups of canned chickpeas.
Soak the sabudana in 2 cups of water and leave aside for 1/2 hour.
Drain the water and cover and keep it aside for 2 hours.
If you plan on making this for breakfast, then after draining the water, cover and keep it aside overnight.
Grind the peanuts into a coarse powder.
Grind together the chickpeas and green chillies coarsely.
Add the ground peanuts, sabudana, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt and mix well.
Shape into patties / vadas.
Heat around 2 Tbsp of oil in a shallow pan for shallow frying. You can decide to deep fry it too.
Once the oil is hot, add the vadas to the pan and cook on medium heat.
Flip the vadas when the first side is browned and cook it until the other side browned.
Serve hot with coriander chutney or ketchup.

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Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

The moment I mention I'm making Sabudana Khichdi, I see lit up eyes at home. Sabudana Khichdi is a famous Mahashtrian Upvas (fasting) meal. It is basically a stir fry of fluffed up Sabudana or Sago Pearls with boiled potato and crushed peanuts.

For a long long time (read 18 years), I assumed Sabudana was a whole grain. The name is misleading. "Dana" means grain in Hindi, so I assumed it is a grain. Much later the internet opened my eyes to reality. It is a man made grain.

I don't know what to classify the Sabudana Khichdi as - slow food or fast food? It is super quick to make once you have fluffed up sabudana. But to get fluffed up sabudana requires some advance planning. I know the prep isn't as much, but you still need to soak the sabudana.

Everyone loves it when it is well made. There are so many ways to mess up this otherwise simple khichdi, go through the "Quick Tips" list below:

Quick Tips:

1) To get fluffy Sabudana or Sago, soak it in water for around 15-20 minutes. Then drain out the water completely. Cover and leave it to fluff for 2-3 hours.
2) If you plan to make it for breakfast, you can follow step (1) and then after draining out the water, cover and leave it in the fridge overnight.
3) If you do not remove the water completely, it tends to get sticky and becomes one big lump, so drain the water completely.
4) Do not soak for more than half hour to one hour depending on the variety of Sago / Sabudana you have, they tend to dissolve in water.
5) Don't add any water while cooking. If you need to loosen it, add oil. Water will make it sticky and gluggy.

Sabudana Khichdi or Sabakki Khichdi

A famous Maharastrian Upvas snack made with sabudana or sago pearls and peanuts.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast / Snacks
Cuisine:           Maharastrian
Prep Time:     2 hours
Cook time:     15 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Sago Pearls or Sabudana
1 Potato(boiled, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes)
8-10 Curry leaves
1-2 Green Chilli (chopped)
3-4 Tbsp Peanuts
1/2 tsp Lime juice
4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Salt to taste
A handful of fresh Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash the sabudana and leave it aside for 2-3 hours until the sabudanas are soft. In case you don't have enough time to leave it aside in the morning, wash them the previous night, drain the water and store in a box in the fridge. You can use it in the morning. Refer to the Quick Tips above for more info.
Roast the peanuts and grind them to a powder in a mixer. This can also be done the previous night and kept ready for morning. You can replace this with flax seed powder as well or roasted pumpkin seed powder.
Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, green chillis,curry leaves and potato.
Cook for around 1-2 mins. Add the sabudana and salt.
Stir on stove for around 2-3 minutes, then add the peanut powder. Mix well.
Remove from heat and add coriander and lime juice and serve hot.

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