Sabudana Vada / Sago Vada

Sabudana vada / Sago Vada – a sumptuous deep fried fritter made with sabudana / tapioca pearls that is popular in the state of Maharashtra in India. This Maharashtrian delicacy is prepared by mixing the soaked sabudana, boiled potatoes, roasted peanuts, green chillies and fresh herbs. The mashed dough is then flattened into small portions and are deep fried in oil to golden crisp. This Sabudana vada can be served as an evening snack or as an appetizer along with with green chutney.

Preparation time: 6 hours

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serving: 4 ( yields 15 to 20 vadas )

Ingredients:

Sabudana / Sago	1 cup
Potato (medium size)	2
Green chilli	2
Ginger	1 inch piece
Cumin seeds / Jeera	1 teaspoon
Peanuts	1/4 cup
Coriander leaves	handful
Lemon juice (optional)	1 tablespoon
Salt	to taste
Oil	to deep fry

Instructions:

• Place 1 cup sabudana / Sago in a bowl. Add 1/2 to 3/4 th cup water and soak this for about 6 hours. Soaking makes the sabudana soft. To check if the sabudana is well soaked, take some pearls and press it between two fingers. It should get completely mashed. Drain the water using a colander. Leave it for sometime for all the water to drain out. Make sure there is no moisture since this will make the vadas to absorb more oil. Now take a handful of the soaked sabudana and keep it separately. Mash the rest of the sabudana with hand or with a masher. Now add the whole sabudana to the bowl and keep it aside.
• Take 2 medium size potatoes. Peel the skin and boil it until they are soft but not mushy. Drain the water completely. Mash the potatoes using your hand or with a masher.
• In a pan, dry roast 1/4 th cup peanuts until they are golden brown colour. You can discard the skin or retain it as per your preference. Allow it to cool. Grind it to a coarse powder.

• Finely chop the coriander leaves. Mash the green chillies and ginger using mortar and pestle.
• To the bowl containing sabudana, add the mashed potatoes, peanut powder, finely chopped coriander leaves, crushed green chilli-ginger paste, 1 teaspoon jeera. Add salt and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Adding lemon juice is optional.
• Using hands mix everything well. Grease your palms lightly with oil and mix and mash all the contents in the bowl. Mashing the contents thoroughly will help in binding the contents together.
• Making of sabudana vada – Grease your palm once again. Take a small round portion of the dough and make a small ball. Place the ball on the left palm and gently pat it with your right fingers to flatten it. Make the rest of the dough in a similar way. This recipe will yield 15 to 20 medium size sabudana vada.
• Take a kadai / pan and pour enough oil to deep fry. When the oil is warm enough, drop a small piece of the dough. The dough should rise to the top immediately. This is the right temperature to make vada.
• Gently drop just one flattened vada into the oil. If the vada breaks up, then add 2 to 3 teaspoon of rice flour the batter and mix and mash well. Make the flattened shaped vadas. Gently drop 4 or more vadas into oil and deep fry them in medium heat. When you see light golden edges, flip them so that both sides are evenly fried. When they turn golden brown, take them out and drain it on tissue paper.

• Serve the sabudana vada with green chutney.

Check out my other snacks / starter varieties:

• Rajma Cutlet / Red Kidney bean Patties
• Chilli Paneer
• Masala Vada / Channa dhal Vada
• Goli Baje / Mangalore Bajji
• Aval Pori & Nuts Mixture / Puffed Rice & Nuts Chivda
• Crispy Honey Chilli Cauliflower/Gobi
• Hara Bhara Kebab
• Medu Vadai / Urad dhal Vadai