If you’re an Indian, especially a Gujarati – you’ve grown up eating Sabudana Khichdi all your life. For those of you who are clueless about this particular savory dish, let me explain. Sabudana (or Tapioca seeds) are these tiny little white balls that look like bubbles. I always thought they were aptly named since Sabudana literally translates as Sabu = Soap and Dana = pieces/bits (though they had nothing else in common with soap thank goodness!).
Growing up, we always had this on Saturdays or specific religious days. It was this tradition that I always looked forward to every week – piling up my plate with sabudana khichdi and smothering it with Mom’s fresh, homemade yogurt. Mmmmmmmmmm!
Sabudana Khichdi is usually made with potatoes, peanuts, serrano peppers and some cumin. Making it into patties is a more recent trend versus the traditional cooking it up in a pot style. Here’s my version of the patties! Hope you enjoy it!
In a large bowl, measure out 1 1/2 cups of Sabudana.
Wash it out 3-4 times so all the white filmy residue is gone. Fill the bowl with water, cover and let it soak overnight.
The next morning, drain out the rest of the water from the sabudana and set aside.
Meanwhile, boil and mash the potatoes.
Add in the Sabudana, cumin, serrano peppers, ginger and salt.
Mix until it becomes a dough-like consistency. Everything should be sticking together.
Form 2″ disks
In a non-stick skillet, add some olive oil and let it heat up. Add the patties and let them cook and crisp up for 3-5 minutes on each side. Don’t flip it constantly as that will take longer to cook them and will probably break the patties. You can tell that it’s cooked through when the color of the sabudana changes from white to translucent.
You will get approximately 16 patties out of this. Serve hot with yogurt on the side. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c uncooked Sabudana
3 med sized potatoes
1-2 serrano peppers (depending on your spice level), minced
2″ knob of ginger, grated
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste
olive oil to pan fry
Directions:
Wash and soak sabudana overnight.
Boil and mash potatoes.
In a large bowl, mix together the mashed potatoes, drained sabudana, cumin, peppers, ginger, and salt. Mix well to form a dough. Make 16 2″ disks.
In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and add the patties to pan fry. Each side will take 3-5 minutes.
Serve with yogurt and enjoy!
Thank you Katherine. I’m glad this recipe has inspired you to try tapioca. I hope you enjoy it!
I never cared for tapioca as a child and have never tried cooking with it as an adult, but your Sabudana patties look so tasty, I know I’d enjoy them with homemade yogurt. Thanks for a cool recipe and for introducing me to a dish I’d never heard of or tasted.