Sabudana Vada Recipe | Sago Vada

Sabudana vada recipe: Indian snack & finger food served with chutney, aloo rasedar, cup of chai.

5 from 8 votes

Sabudana Vada Recipe | Sago Vada

Sabudana Vada is a crispy and addictive popular Indian snack or finger food prepared using sago, potatoes, and a few spices. These fried vadas are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Sabudana Vada is specially made during fasting, vrat, and upvas days like Navratri, Ekadashi, etc.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Soaking time2

Total Time2 30

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Servings: Vadas

Calories: 45kcal

Author: Kushi

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup Sabudana tapioca pearls or sago
1 Potato large or two medium, boiled, peeled and mashed
¼ cup Peanuts or Cashewnuts roasted and crushed
1 inch Ginger grated,
2 to 3 Green chilies finely chopped
1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 to 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves chopped
½ teaspoon Salt to taste sendha namak for fasting
2 tablespoon Flour kuttu ka atta for fasting, optional
2 teaspoon Lemon juice
Oil for frying

Instructions

Sabudana vada mixture

Wash the sabudana in water 2 to 3 times until the water runs clear. This is done to remove the excess starch. Soak sabudana or tapioca pearls in 1 cup water for 4 to 5 hours or overnight.
1 cup Sabudana
When done, take a few pearls between your thumb and forefingers. Press them to see if they are softened and easily mashed.
Unsoaked sabudana will burst in oil. If it's still hard, soak them for some more time.
Drain sabudana completely to remove any excess water. Add the soaked sabudana to a bowl. Add the potato, peanut, ginger, green chilies, cumin seeds, coriander leaves, salt to taste, and lemon juice, and mix well. Add flour if needed and mix well. This will help bind and prevent the vada from breaking while frying.
1 Potato, ¼ cup Peanuts or Cashewnuts, 1 inch Ginger, 2 to 3 Green chilies, 1 tsp Cumin seeds, 1 to 2 tbsp Coriander leaves, ½ tsp Salt to taste, 2 tbsp Flour, 2 tsp Lemon juice

Deep fry crispy sabudana vada

Heat oil for frying. See that atleast 40 % of the pan is covered with oil.
Oil for frying
Make small balls from the mixture and flatten them to form vada or patties. Keep it aside.
Once the oil is hot, add the vadas; do not overcrowd the pan. Fry these flattened vadas or patties on medium flame until they become crispy and golden brown on both sides. Do not disturb them as soon as you drop them in oil, as they may break. Once they firm up and become golden in color, flip and cook on the other side.
The vadas will puff like the one shown in the picture, be crispy on the outside, and chewy inside.
Transfer it to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Repeat the process for the remaining mixture.
Serve hot with Aloo rasedar, mint chutney, or ketchup, and enjoy!

Sabudana vada in air fryer

Preheat the air fryer to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F.
Place parchment paper or lightly grease aluminum foil in a basket or tray or grease mesh.
Place the vadas a few inches apart on a single layer and brush the top of it with some oil.
Air fry for 10 minutes. Remove the vadas, flip them, apply oil, and air fry again for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

Baked sabudana vada

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the fries on greased parchment paper and bake them for 25 to 35 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Brush the baked sabudana vada with oil if desired, flipping it halfway through.

Video

Notes

Sabudana should be soaked correctly in water. Do a smash test to know if your sabudana is ready for cooking. Press one or two soaked sabudana between your finger and thumb. It should smash easily.
To avoid soggy sabudana vada, completely drain water from the soaked sabudana.
Vary the amount of spices as per your taste.
Oil should not be too hot or cold. If it's hot, the vada will soon become dark; if it's cold, it will absorb excess oil. In both cases, your vadas will become soggy and may break. The best practice is to fry by switching the flame between medium and medium-high.
To check if the oil is hot, add a drop of mixture and see if it sizzles and rises.
Flour is added mainly to make your vadas crispier. If you prepare this on Navratri or a fasting day, substitute rice flour with corn or buckwheat flour.
To avoid sabudana from breaking in oil, once the dough is ready, drop a small piece of dough in hot oil to see if it separates and breaks. If it does, then add additional flour, around 1 to 2 tbsp, to the mixture, make vadas, and fry.
Do not overcrowd the pan while frying sabudana vadas.

Nutrition