How to Make the Perfect Sabudana Khichdi

Last Updated on July 5, 2020 by Babita

Sabudana Khichdi is a very popular breakfast food from the state of Maharashtra in India. It is also popular among other Western States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The main ingredient in this recipe is sabudana, which is the hindi name for pearl tapioca. It is a comfort food that women eat during their fasting days or festivals such as Shivratri, Navrati etc.

 

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What is Sabudana?

Sabudana is tapioca pearls in English. Sabudana/tapioca pearls are made from the starch that is extracted from tapioca root. You can read more about it here

Now you must be wondering what fasting days are. Well, to please their personal gods/goddesses, and pray for long-lives of their husbands, as well as the welfare of their families, many Hindu women generally fast on particular days of the week. Their day of fasting begins with a hearty breakfast of sabudana khichdi which sustains them throughout the day as they skip lunch and dinner.

My mom is not the fasting kind, so she never made this particular recipe. I however, used to eat it my neigbhor’s house and fell in love with it. After I came to the States, it was my husband who taught me how to make sabudana khichdi. So basically this is his recipe which is a fool proof recipe. I say fool proof because it is very easy to mess this dish up.

 

 

How to Soak Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls)

To make this recipe it is very important to understand how to soak the sabudana/pearl tapioca. If you use a lot of water the pearl tapioca can end up sticky and gooey. That is not the texture you want. This is where a lot of people mess up. Anyway I have a very easy process to figure out how much water is needed for soaking. I have recently made a video in which I show you how to soak the sabudana and how much water you have to use to soak it. Please see the video in the recipe card below.

Recipe for Maharashtrian Style Non-Sticky Sabudana Khichdi

Ingredients:

3 cups of sabudana (pearl tapioca)
2 medium potatoes (sliced thinly)
1 cup peanut
1 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds
5 tbsp butter or ghee (clarified butter)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 small green chilies
salt as per taste

Preparations:

• Rinse sabudana/pearl tapioca under running water until the water is clear. Depending on the nature (old v/s new) of the Sabudana you may have to soak it anywhere from 2 to 6 hours or (for soaking instructions watch video below) until the pearls have absorbed all the water.
• In the oven or frying pan roast a cup of whole peanuts. De-skin them and grind them into a coarse powder.
• After the sabudana/pearls are done with their soaking mix in the peanut powder and set aside.
• In a pan heat butter/ghee.
• Add cumin seeds and green chilis. Saute for few seconds.
• Next add all the sliced potatoes. Allow it to cook (usually takes around 5 minutes).
• Add the sabudana/pearls (mixed with peanut powder), turmeric and salt. Cook it on slow flame for 10 to 15 mins, stirring it every couple of minutes until the pearls turn translucent and bind with each other.
• Serve hot with some garlic chutney or yogurt on the side.

Useful Suggestions:

• The trick to soaking sabudana is to use water just until it covers them. Before cooking all of the water has to be absorbed. (See video)
• Do not add any kind of liquid while cooking sabudana. That includes lemon juice. It will become very sticky, gooey and sometimes inedible.
• You can add more green chilies if you like it hot or spicy.
• Do not add any sugar. It will completely change the taste of this recipe.

Where can we buy Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls) from?

Sabudana is available in most Indian stores. If you can’t find in Indian Stores then check out Amazon.

If you liked this recipe, please let me know in the comments below