Sabudana Vada is India’s favorite snack and vrat recipe. It is also called ‘sabu vada’, is a traditional deep-fried snack from Maharashtra, India. It is often served with spicy green chutney and along with hot chai. These fried vadas are made with sabudana (sago), potatoes, and peanuts. It is a nutritious snack that is served usually during religious festivals and during fast/vrat/upvaas.
Sabudana vada is crispy from outside with a soft and light texture from inside. These crisp patties are slightly sweet and spiced to taste. They are also vegan and gluten-free. It is a spicy, fried, and crispy snack. Sago is a common ingredient that is used in some recipes made during the fasting period. Thus sabudana vada is one of those dishes that is made during fasting. It is easy to make with few ingredients.
It is crispy and delicious and thus tastes great with simple coconut chutney and even sweetened curd (yogurt). To make the sweetened curd, you will just need to add some sugar to the curd and mix it. If short of time, you can even serve with sweet tamarind chutney or homemade tomato ketchup. You can also serve it with homemade mint chutney which gives the refreshing flavor to the vadas.
Sabudana vada is made with simple ingredients. Sago is the key ingredient of the dish. It has potato for binding and peanuts to give the crunch with some basic spices. Peanut gives a nice texture to enhance the flavor I have used green chilis and ginger which gives the spicy flavor to the fritters.
Read More : Sabudana Khichadi : A Fasting Food
Tips To Make Sabudana Vada
- Make sure to soak the sabudana well in advance. I prefer overnight but 4 to 6 hours will also do.
- Use 1:1 sabudana to water ratio to soak the sabudana, just like we do in the khichdi.
- Roast the peanuts in a pan on low-medium heat, they remove the skin and crush them to give crunch to the vada.
- Use a proper proportion of sago and potatoes if it’s not perfect it will become soggy or broken patties. If you have used proper proportion then can easily shape them.
- Don’t fry them in high heat they will get brown from outside quickly but will remain uncooked from inside.
- Make sure that your oil is properly heated if the oil is cold, they will adsorb a lot of oil and become very oily.
- Don’t overcrowd the vadas in the kadai/wok while frying them. Give them enough space to fry well from all sides.
- In case, your vadas are breaking in the oil, you may add some kuttu flour (buckwheat flour) or regular flour or cornstarch to bind them.
Sabudana Vada Recipe
Ingredients
- Sabudana (sago) 1/2 cup
- Boiled potato 2
- Roasted peanuts 1/4 cup (skin remove and then crushed)
- Green chilies 2
- Ginger 1 inch
- Coriander leaves 2 tbsp
- Salt as taste (use sendha namak if making these for fast)
- Peanut oil for frying
Method
- Rinse sabudana well until the water turns clear. Soak it in 1/2 cup water overnight (or 4 to 6 hours depending on the quality of sabudana).
- In the morning, the sabudana would have absorbed all water. It should be soft, press with a finger to check, it should crush easily. Drain sabudana in a colander, most likely there will be no water but still, drain.
- Then transfer the saubdana to a large bowl along with boiled potatoes, roasted peanuts, cilantro, ginger, green chilies.
- Mix everything together.
- Divide the mixture into 10 equal parts, flatten them a bit and make them a round shape.
- Heat oil on medium heat in a kadai. Add vadas to the oil one by one, don’t overcrowd the kadai. Maintain the oil temperature to medium heat.
- Fry vadas on medium heat until golden brown and crispy from both sides. Drain on paper towel.
- Serve sabudana vada with chutney, ketchup, or curd.
