Sabudana Vada
The BEST, perfectly fried and crispy sabudana vada recipe ever! These are the perfect snack for vrat (Hindu fasting).
- Prep time
- 8 hr
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 5 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- ¾ cup Sabudana (Sago or Tapioca pearls)
- ¾ cup Water (for soaking)
- 2 medium or 1 ½ cups Potatoes (boiled, peeled and mashed)
- ½ cup Peanuts (roasted & crushed)
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoon Ginger paste or freshly grated or crushed
- 5-6 Green chilies (chopped finely)
- 3 tablespoons Cilantro or coriander leaves (chopped finely)
- 2 teaspoons Lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- Rock salt (sendha namak) (to taste)
- Oil (for deep frying)
Instructions
- 1
Take sabudana in a colander and wash under running cold water till water runs clear. Make sure to get rid of all the starch otherwise, vada mixture will become sticky.
- 2
Then soak in the water for 3-4 hours or overnight (depending on the type of your sabudana). The one we get here in the USA always requires overnight soaking. After the soaking time, they swell up almost all the water and they become double in size.
- 3
Transfer them into the colander, rest for 15-20 minutes and let the excess water drain out. You must get rid of most of the moisture otherwise, the vada mixture will become loose and sticky.
- 4
when you press between your fingers it should mash easily. That’s how you know that your sabudana is soaked perfectly.
- 5
While sabudana is draining, dry roast peanuts in a pan on medium-low heat until they get light brown.
- 6
Let them cool down and then coarsely crush them using mortar and pestle.
- 7
Take all the ingredients (soaked sabudana, mashed potatoes, crushed peanuts, ginger paste, green chili, cumin seeds, rock salt, sugar, lime juice, cilantro) in a bowl.
- 8
Mix them well and make a dough-like ball. This dough mixture should be stiff so you can form the vada easily. It should not be loose or sticky. If it is loose then you can add a couple of tablespoons of rajgira atta or singhare ka atta.
- 9
Now heat the oil in a pan on medium heat for deep frying. Meanwhile, grease your palms with little oil. And make round and flat vadas like tikki or patty and keep aside.
- 10
Oil should be hot enough (more hot than usual all frying). How to check the oil is hot enough or not? Drop a small portion of vada mixture into the oil and if it comes on top of steadily then the oil is ready for frying. If it sits at the bottom for longer then the oil is not hot enough.
- 11
Slide vadas gently into the hot oil. Do not disturb them for a minute otherwise, they will break in the oil. After a minute or so you can flip it. Fry 3-4 vadas at a time. Do not overcrowd vadas.
- 12
Deep fry on both sides until golden brown and crispy. Remove it using a slotted spatula and keep on a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat the frying for the rest of the vadas.