Sabudana is the Hindi/Marathi/Bengali/Oriya word for pearl sago. Sabudana grains look like tapioca and are small (about 2 mm diameter) dry, white balls. Sabudana is called javvu arisi in Tamil, sabbakki in Kannada and saggu biyyam in Telugu. When cooked they turn from their opaque white color to translucent, and become soft and spongy. In North and western India it is most commonly used in fasting dishes, such as sabudana khichdi (generally made using soaked sabudana, fried with potatoes, chilli and peanuts) and sabudana vada. In South India they are used to make small pappadam wafers, sabudana vada and also for making a variant of a sweet semi liquid dessert called kheer or payasam.
The word sabudana itself is made up of two words, sabut (meaning ‘whole’) + dana (meaning ‘grain’ or ‘seed’)
As mentioned earlier, this sabudana khichdi entry is from Anusuya’s Kitchen, her original method of making this versatile dish (not exactly sure why it was called the fasting dish, but can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack)
Ingredients:
Sabudana – 2 cups
Roasted peanuts (crushed) – 1/2 cup
Large green bell pepper (diced) -1
Green chilies
Medium sized red potato (cubed) – 1
Medium sized red bell pepper (chopped) -1
Oil – 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Chopped cilantro – 1/2 bunch
Chutney powder – 4tsp (This is also known as milagai podi in Tamil, commonly as chutney powder as it is eaten with idly and dosai. Made with a combination of sesame seeds, dals and red chilies, this “gun-powder” is the perfect ingredient to fire up your sabudana khichdi.)
- Wash the sabudana well. Soak it in 1 cup of water for about 5-6 hours. (You can also soak this overnight if necessary).
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed vessel or kadhai. Also make sure to coat the pan with baking spray. I would say this is an important step as it ensures the sabudana doen’t stick to each other and form clumps when you put it in the kadhai.
- Add the cumin, urad, mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the chopped green chilies.
- Now add the chopped vegetables and fry for about 5 minutes, till they are cooked.
- Add the soaked sabudana now and stir well to mix the vegetables with the sabudana and the tadka ingredients.
- Now add the chutney powder, crushed peanuts and salt to taste. Mix well.
As the final step, transfer the sabudana khichdi to a microwavable dish, and heat on high for about 3 minutes. This important step enables the sabudana to soak in the masalas evenly, to add the right amount of “kick” to the dish. Add chopped cilantro for garnish and serve hot.
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