Sabudana Kheer | How to make Tapioca Pudding
Sabudana Kheer, or Tapioca Pudding, is a popular, creamy, and classic Indian sweet pudding dessert prepared with tapioca pearls, milk, and sugar as the main ingredients.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 205kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls or Sago)
- 1 ½ cups Water
- 1 ½ cups Milk additional ½ cup if it becomes too thick.(Use coconut or any non-dairy milk for vegan version),
- ¼ to ½ cup Sugar (adjust accordingly)
- 2 tablespoon Cashews
- 2 tablespoon Almonds or Badam
- 2 tablespoon Pistachios
- 1 tablespoon Raisins
- ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder or 1 tablespoon dried rose petals (Use food-grade)
Instructions
How to make Sabudana kheer?
- Wash sabudana and soak them in water for 2 hours (This step is optional but mainly done to reduce cooking time.)½ cup Sabudana
- Meanwhile, in a nonstick pan on medium to low flame, dry roast almonds, pistachios, and cashews until aromatic. Keep this aside. For rich flavor, add ghee or butter while roasting.2 tbsp Cashews, 2 tbsp Almonds, 2 tbsp Pistachios
- In a pan or pot on medium flame, add sabudana and 1.5 cups water and cook until the sabudana becomes semi-transparent and is 90% cooked through. Keep stirring to prevent the sabudana from burning at the bottom. You can take a few sabudana pearls and check if they have started becoming soft. Sabudana pearls should not be dense or hard.1 ½ cups Water
- Once the sabudana has almost cooked through, add milk, bring it to a boil, and cook until the sabudana becomes soft and transparent. Keep stirring during the process, as the starch from the sago and milk fats can settle at the bottom and burn.1 ½ cups Milk
- Now add sugar. Start with ¼ cup and adjust accordingly. I added ½ cup, which gave the kheer the right amount of sweetness.¼ to ½ cup Sugar
- Finally, add the roasted nuts, raisins, and rose petals (cardamom powder) and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Switch off the flame.1 tbsp Raisins, ½ tsp Cardamom powder
- Serve hot or cold, and enjoy!
Instant Pot Sabudana Kheer
- Wash sabudana and soak them for 30 minutes in 1 ½ cups of water in your Instant Pot (IP). Make sure your instant pot is switched off.
- Switch on the instant pot and simmer in saute mode for 4 to 6 minutes until the sabudana or tapioca pearls become semi-translucent. They should not be hard or dense to touch.
- Now add 1 ½ cups of milk and another ¼ to ½ cup water, stir well, and close your IP with the lid.
- Press the pressure cook button and set the pressure to low. Cook for 10 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then do a quick pressure release.
- Open the lid, set IP to saute mode, add sugar starting with ¼ cup, and adjust to taste.
- Add roasted dry fruits, nuts, and rose petals, and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Keep stirring while preparing sweets like this to avoid burning at the bottom, and always cook on medium to medium-low flame.
- I have cooked sabudana in water first and then in milk because sabudana cooks faster in water.
- You can even soak sabudana water in hot water for 30 minutes.
- Adjust the amount of sugar to taste.
- Cooking time varies depending on the pan you use and the intensity of the flame.
- Kheer thickens as it cools down. You may add water and adjust the consistency accordingly.
- Vary the amount of nuts to taste.
- Instead of dried rose petals, you can add flavorings like cardamom (elaichi) or saffron (kesar).
- I use whole milk to make a rich kheer. But for a light version you can even use low-fat milk, skim milk, half and half, etc.
- You can even make kheer using condensed milk. In this case, entirely skip the sugar or adjust its amount accordingly.
- If sabudana breaks, don’t worry. You may have overcooked, but it will only make your kheer more creamy and thick and tastes equally good.
Nutrition
Calories: 205kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 184mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 109IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 94mg | Iron: 1mg