Sabudana Wada

This one takes the record for being in the drafts for the longest time - almost a year! We must have had Sabudana Wadas at least 10-12 times after this was drafted. Every time I made them, I would sit with the laptop determined to publish it and everytime something or the other would happen (e.g not fitting in with the ongoing events!) and it would be pushed back. But now here it is finally!

Sabudana or sago is the major reason, I don't mind fasting once in a while! I am a huge fan of the khichdi and absolutely love the wadas. But I have almost never liked the Sabudana wadas I have had at the restaurants or food joints. They are either too chewy or too hard & crispy. Home made it is for me, where I can make them as per my liking.

The soaking time totally depends on the type of Sabudana, you have. The minute homoeopathy-medicine-like sabudana needs hardly 20 min of soaking whereas the normal medium sized seeds may need anywhere between 4-6 hours.

Sabudana Wada

Makes about 10 medium sized wadas

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sabudana
• 4-5 Green Chilies (or as per taste)
• 1/2 cup Peanuts
• 2 medium-small sized Potatoes, boiled & mashed
• Salt
• Oil for frying

Method:

Soak the Sabudana as per the type of Sabudana for 1/2 an hour or 4-6 hours to make them soft & fluffy.

Dry roast the peanuts and then remove the skin by rubbing them between your palms. Grind them coarsely, there should be some whole or halved peanuts remaining.

Chop the green chillies and make a coarse paste preferably using the pestle & mortar.

Combine in a bowl, the soaked Sabudana, mashed potatoes, ground peanut, green chillies and add salt. Mix together and divide into equal portions.

Shape these portions as desired (round, flat etc). Check that the mixture holds its shape and is neither too loose nor very dry. This is very important since if the mixture is crumbly, the wada will disintegrate in the hot oil, whereas if it is too wet, the resulting wada will not be crispy & cooked properly.

If the mixture turns very loose add some more mashed potatoes and make sure that it binds well. Also I prefer the flat shape to the round ones. The flat shape ensures that the inside of the wada gets cooked thoroughly when fried. With the round ones, the surface gets crisp but the insides sometimes remain undercooked.

While you are shaping the wadas, heat oil in a kadai. To check if the temperature is optimum, drop a pinch of the mixture in the hot oil, it should instantly come to surface floating and the sabudana in the mixture should puff up.

Reduce the flame to medium and drop the wadas. Turn the wada using a slotted spoon to fry uniformly. Once the surface is crispy & brown, remove on a kitchen towel to drain the excess oil.

Serve hot with Coconut chutney.

The coconut chutney served with Sabudana wadas is usually made with peanuts in it. For this grind together 1 cup grated coconut, 1/2 cup peanuts, 2-3 green chillies, salt & 1 tsp sugar with a little water to the desired consistency.

On another note, Trupti of Recipe Center has passed on the following awards to me:

Thanks a lot for your appreciation Trupti!