Sabudana Khichdi
Tapioca pearls soaked just enough to hydrate but not enough to dissolve, tossed with crushed peanuts, potato and green chilli.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- 15m
- Waiting
- 6h
- Total
- 6h 30m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 3 tbsp | Fry the potato with cumin and chilli until the cubes crisp at the corners 10m Get real colour on the potato. It is the only browned thing in the dish. | Fold everything together, cover and steam 3 minutes, then finish with lemon 6m Fold with a spatula from underneath. Stirring bursts the pearls and it goes gluey. | ||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 12 | ||||
| 1 | ||||
| 1 1/2 cups | Soak the sabudana in barely enough water for 6 hours 6h Rinse first, then water level just to the surface of the pearls. Drowned sabudana turns to paste. | Drain the soaked pearls and toss them with the peanut powder 5m Coating them in peanut powder before they meet the pan is what keeps them separate. | ||
| about 1 cup | ||||
| 3/4 cup | Roast the peanuts and crush them coarse 8m Coarse, so some pieces stay crunchy. | |||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| a handful | ||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
-
Fry the potato with cumin and chilli until the cubes crisp at the corners
10m- ghee 3 tbsp
- cumin seeds 1 tsp
- green chillies 3
- curry leaves (optional) 12
- potato 1
Get real colour on the potato. It is the only browned thing in the dish.
-
Soak the sabudana in barely enough water for 6 hours
6h- sabudana 1 1/2 cups
- water about 1 cup
Rinse first, then water level just to the surface of the pearls. Drowned sabudana turns to paste.
-
Roast the peanuts and crush them coarse
8m- raw peanuts 3/4 cup
Coarse, so some pieces stay crunchy.
-
Drain the soaked pearls and toss them with the peanut powder
5m- from 2 Soak the sabudana in barely enough water for 6 hours
- from 3 Roast the peanuts and crush them coarse
- caster sugar 2 tsp
- rock salt 1 tsp
Coating them in peanut powder before they meet the pan is what keeps them separate.
-
Fold everything together, cover and steam 3 minutes, then finish with lemon
6m- from 1 Fry the potato with cumin and chilli until the cubes crisp at the corners
- from 4 Drain the soaked pearls and toss them with the peanut powder
- lemon juice 2 tbsp
- coriander leaves a handful
- fresh coconut (optional) 2 tbsp
Fold with a spatula from underneath. Stirring bursts the pearls and it goes gluey.
The soak decides everything
Tapioca is almost pure starch. Given plenty of water it swells, the granules rupture and you get glue; given only just enough, each pearl absorbs what it needs and stops, staying separate and slightly chewy. The test is simple — press a pearl between finger and thumb and it should crush with no hard white dot in the middle. Peanut powder helps too, coating each pearl with fat and protein so the surface starch has less chance to fuse in the pan.
Notes
- Six hours or overnight, but drain thoroughly and leave the pearls to air in the colander for ten minutes before cooking.
- Keep the heat moderate. Sabudana turns rubbery if it is cooked hard.
- If it does clump, more crushed peanut and a fork will rescue it.