Sabudana Vada Recipe (For Fasting)

Sabudana Vada, one of our favorite fasting snacks is a crispy, soft, savory and mildly sweet patty featuring softened tapioca pearls (sago), mashed potatoes, crunchy peanuts, fragrant spices and fresh herbs. It is naturally gluten-free and vegan. This foolproof Maharashtrian style Sabudana Vada recipe gives you a super delicious, crispy vada with a soft and light interior and can be made as a fasting or vrat snack.

About Sabudana Vada

Sabudana, also called sago or tapioca pearls, are small white balls made from the roots of the cassava plant (tapioca, yuca). They are widely used during Hindu fasting periods.

The word sabudana is a common Hindi term, used mainly in North, Central and Western India. In South Indian languages, it is known as javvarisi (Tamil), sabbakki (Kannada), chowari (Malayalam) and sagubiyyam (Telugu).

Sabudana is pure starch and high in carbs, which is why it keeps you full for longer. It is a popular fasting ingredient during Shravan, Ekadashi , Mahashivratri and Navratri, when food restrictions exclude onions, garlic, wheat, lentils and pulses.

Common dishes made with sabudana include Sabudana Vada and Sabudana Khichdi.

Sabudana Vada are deep-fried patties with a crisp outside and soft inside. They are made with soaked tapioca pearls, potatoes, roasted peanuts, herbs, spices, lemon juice, sugar and salt.

The pearls are soaked for a few hours to soften. Potatoes are cooked and mashed or grated, then mixed with the sabudana, crushed peanuts and spices. The mixture is shaped into patties and deep-fried.

Potatoes provide starch that helps bind the mixture, peanuts add crunch, and herbs give flavor.

About My Recipe

This sabudana vada recipe is an authentic Maharashtrian version I learned in cooking school years ago. It is a satvik recipe, so there are no onions, garlic or heavy spices.

The balance of potatoes and sabudana makes it easy to bind and shape the patties without adding flour. Roasted peanuts add nuttiness, sweetness and some protein.

The sabudana vada turn out crisp and golden on the outside, soft inside, and never soggy or broken. They are enjoyed as a snack or brunch and are also sold in sweet shops and by street vendors across Mumbai and Maharashtra.

Sabudana is a versatile ingredient. Apart from khichdi and vada, it is also used to make sweet Sabudana Kheer, crispy Sabudana Thalipeeth, Sabudana Pakora, Sabudana Tikki, and Sabudana Papad.

How to make Sabudana Vada

Follow these steps to prepare crisp and soft sabudana vada at home. We’ll begin with soaking the sabudana.

Soak Sabudana

1. You need to plan ahead and soak the sago pearls. It is very important to soak the sago really well. Well soaked sabudana make for a soft, light and fluffy vada.

Important: Please refrain from using un-soaked or under-soaked sabudana to avoid scalding or burns as they will burst and shatter in oil when frying.

First, using a colander or mesh strainer rinse 1 cup sabudana lightly twice or thrice draining all the water. Then soak the rinsed pearls in 2 to 2.5 cups water for 5 hours at least or overnight.

I always soak them overnight and by morning they become nicely soft. Some varieties of sabudana can also be soaked for 2 to 3 hours. I get a really hard textured sabudana and soaking them for 2 to 3 hours does not help.

So depending on the quality of your sabudana, soak for 2 to 3 hours or more. To test that they have soaked and softened really well, follow the points mentioned in the second step below.

Check Soaked Sago

2. When properly soaked, the sabudana pearls will be tender without any hard center. When you press the pearls between your forefinger and thumb, they would get mashed easily with a floury texture on your fingers.

If you feel some hardness in the center, then soak for some more time. When they are softened well, drain all the water from the soaked sabudana.

Note: Remember not to use the sabudana pearls if they are not soaked well or have a hard center. These under-soaked sabudana will splatter or burst in the hot oil when frying.

Keep in mind that there should not be any water logged in the soaked pearls. Water will definitely make the patties moist and sticky.

Hence these waterlogged patties will soak up a good amount of oil while frying making them loaded with oil. Also a lot of water in the patties may cause them to shatter or fall apart in the oil during deep frying.

So drain the water really well. You can opt to gently and lightly press the soaked pearls in the strainer with a spoon or spatula. Or set aside the pearls in a strainer (keeping a bowl beneath) for some 20 to 30 minutes dripping of any extra water.

Use this time to prep your other ingredients. This is what I do. I let the soaked pearls sit in the strainer and begin to cook the potatoes and prep the other vada ingredients.

Handy Tip: If in case you find the soaked sabudana has too much of moisture even after straining well, add some flour to the patty mixture like – buckwheat flour, amaranth flour, water chestnut flour. These flours will help absorb the excess moisture from the sago pearls.

Cook Potatoes

3. Scrub and rinse 4 medium-sized potatoes thoroughly in water first. Then place the potatoes in a 3 litre cooker. Add water which just about covers the potatoes.

Note that you can choose to cook potatoes in a pan or in an Instant Pot.

1. If cooking in a pan, take water and add peeled and chopped potatoes. The water should cover the potatoes. Add a 2 to 3 pinches of salt if preferred. Cover and simmer potatoes until fork tender. Later drain the water really well and set the cooked potatoes aside.

2. For Instant Pot cooking, place a trivet in the inner steel insert of your Instant Pot. Add 1.5 cups water. Place the rinsed potatoes on the trivet. Seal with the lid and position the valve to sealing. Press the manual/pressure cook button and set the time to 10 or 12 minutes with high pressure option.

4. For the stove-top pressure cooker, boil potatoes for 10 to 12 minutes or 4 to 5 whistles on medium-heat.

Check Doneness & Mash Potatoes Later

5. No matter how you have cooked the potatoes, you need to check if they are tender and softened.

1. For the stove-top pressure cooker, when the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, then only open the lid and check the potatoes. Pass a knife or fork through the center of the potatoes and it should slide easily without any resistance.

2. For Instant pot, after you hear the beep when the pressure cooking is complete, wait for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release. Carefully, remove the potatoes with tongs and place them in a plate or tray. Check the potatoes to see if they are cooked tender with a fork or knife.

3. For pan, check the cooked potatoes with a fork or knife. Then using a strainer, drain all the water.

Whether you have cooked your potatoes on a stove-top or in the Instant Pot, you have to drain the water really well. Ensure that you do not have water logged in the cooked potatoes.

Let the potatoes become warm. Later peel and then chop them or crumble them. You can even mash them.

Remember to crumble or mash them really well. There must not be any potato chunks in the patty mixture.

Roast & Crush Peanuts

6. When the potatoes are cooking, you can roast the peanuts. Heat a pan or kadai and add ½ cup peanuts in it.

If you have pre-made roasted peanuts, then skip these steps on roasting peanuts.

7. On a low to medium heat, stirring often roast the peanuts. Use a heavy pan, so that the peanuts do not get burnt.

8. Roast the peanuts until you see a few black chars or spots on their husks. They should be crunchy and well roasted with no rawness or hardness in the center.

9. Transfer the peanuts to a plate and let them cool at room temperature. Once they are cooled, add them in a dry grinder or spice grinder. I have removed the husks. If you want you can keep them.

How to remove the peanut husks? Take the cooled peanuts in your palms and rub them with your palms over your kitchen sink, so that the thin husks fall in the sink and not fly all around in your kitchen.

You can also take them in a cotton kitchen towel. Bring the edges of the napkin in the center making a bundle and then rub the peanuts in the bundle with your palms.

11. Grind to a semi-coarse powder. Keep the peanut powder aside. You can even make a fine powder if you like.

Make Sago Mixture

3. When the sabudana pearls are drained really well of any extra water, take the pearls in a mixing bowl.

12. Add the mashed potatoes and coarsely roasted groundnuts to the sabudana in the mixing bowl.

13. Next add 1 to 2 chopped green chilies (about ½ to 1 teaspoon), 1 teaspoon peeled & finely chopped ginger and 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves.

You can skip coriander leaves if you do not have them.

14. Squeeze 2 teaspoons lemon juice or add according to your taste.

15. Now add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1.5 teaspoons sugar and salt as per your taste. You can add less or more sugar as you like.

Mix and Shape into Patties

16. Combine and mix thoroughly with your hands or with a spoon. Check the taste and add more salt, sugar and lemon juice if needed.

17. Now take some portion of the mixture in your hands and shape them into a flat round patty which is neither thin or thick. This way use up all of the sabudana dough mixture. Set the patties aside.

Tip: You can rub a bit of oil in your palms while forming the patties, so that the mixture does not stick to your palms.

Make Sabudana Vada

18. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai (wok) or a pan. Keep the heat to medium. When you see the oil shimmering, add a small patty. It should come up steadily and gradually in the oil.

Tip 1: If the small patty breaks while frying, the mixture has excess moisture. Add more mashed potatoes (if you have it) or 2 to 3 tablespoons of buckwheat, water chestnut, or amaranth flour. For non-fasting days, use rice flour. Mix well, reshape, and then fry.

Tip 2: Make sure to use a well-seasoned pan for frying so that the vada does not stick to it.

19. Gently place the patties in hot oil. Fry them at medium heat. Do not overcrowd the pan while frying.

20. When one side is light golden, then only turn them over with a slotted spoon. Do not be in a hurry to turn them as the raw, under-cooked vada will fall apart in the oil.

When the sabudana vada looks crispy, light golden, then only gently turn them over.

21. Turn over again when the second side is golden.

22. Continue to fry turning over a couple of times until the sabudana vada is evenly golden and crisp.

23. Remove the fried sabudana vada with a slotted spoon draining the extra oil in the pan.

24. Place the fried sabudana vada on kitchen towels to absorb excess oil. Fry all the sago patties this way. Fry the remaining batches of the prepared vada in this manner.

Serving Suggestions

Sabudana Vada can be made for Hindu fasting days or an evening snack. It is crispy, delicious and tastes great with a simple Coconut Chutney and even sweetened Curd (Yogurt).

To make the sweetened curd, 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 enjoy it with Coriander Chutney.

Serve Sabudana Vada hot or warm. In the photos, I served them with a sweet tamarind and red chilli chutney. I had made these as an evening snack.

Although they taste great while hot or warm, you could also opt to serve them at room temperature. A well made sabudana vada will remain soft even after it cools.

Make Ahead Options

To make ahead, boil, peel, mash and store the potatoes in your refrigerator a day prior. Roast peanuts and powder them. Refrigerate them for 1 to 2 days.

You can soak the sabudana a day earlier and keep it in the refrigerator after draining the water. Any leftover dough mixture stays well in the fridge for 1 to 2 days.

Dassana’s Notes

1. Soaking Sabudana

The sabudana (sago) has to be really soaked well. Not even a little hardness should be left in the sago as these will shatter or burst in the oil when frying.

The water needs to be drained well. Use a sieve or a colander to drain the water. If there is moisture in the mixture, then you won’t get a proper shape of the sabudana vada and they will get soggy. As a result they will soak up a lot of oil and can even fall apart or burst in the hot oil.

2. Type of Potatoes

The starch in the potatoes help to bind these sago patties. Be sure to use potatoes which have a high to medium starch content.

Avoid the type of potatoes like new potatoes or baby potatoes that have a low starch content; as it will not be easy to bind the patty mixture and the sabudana vada may fall apart or shatter in the oil while frying.

3. Roasted Peanuts

You could use roasted peanuts which are unsalted. Only if the peanuts are not roasted, then you need to roast them. You can make ahead the roasted peanuts, powder them and refrigerate for 1 to 2 days.

If they are roasted, then on roasting the skin becomes flaky and you can remove the skin easily from the peanuts with your fingers or with the methods I have described in the step-by-step guide above.

4. About Frying and Oil Temperature

Ideally, the oil should be 180 to 190°C (360 to 375°F). Use a deep-fry thermometer to check, or test by dropping a small sabudana vada in the oil.

If it rises gradually with steady bubbles, the oil is ready. If it stays at the bottom, the oil is too cold; if it shoots up too fast, the oil is too hot.

Cold oil makes vadas greasy, while very hot oil burns the outside and leaves the inside raw. For extra crispness, fry a few minutes longer until golden.

If patties break while frying, mix in a little fasting flour (buckwheat, amaranth, water chestnut) or rice flour if not fasting.

Ingredients Swaps & Variations

1. With Sweet Potato: Swap potatoes with sweet potatoes and make a sweet tasting sago vada. Boil or steam the sweet potatoes first in enough water. Once tender and softened, let them cool. Later peel and mash before mixing it with the other ingredients.
2. With Onions: Normally onions and garlic and never added in the traditional sabudana vada recipe. If you are willing to experiment, you can add onions or garlic to the vada dough mixture.
3. Nuts: An authentic and traditional sabudana vada recipe always features peanuts. If you do not have peanuts, make the vada without them or swap with cashews. Some fresh grated coconut (about 2 tablespoons) can be added to the vada mixture.
4. Herbs: Feel free to omit coriander leaves in this sago vada recipe. You can replace coriander with about 1 tablespoon of mint leaves or add about 1 tablespoon of chopped curry leaves. Note that the taste and flavor will change with either mint or curry leaves.
5. Spices: The only spice that gives some heat and pungency in the sabudana vada recipe are green chillies. Opt to add some crushed black pepper (about ½ teaspoon) instead of green chillies. For a spicy taste and when not making for the fasting time, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder or cayenne pepper.
6. Scaling: According to your needs, you can easily halve, double or triple this sabudana vada recipe.

Questions Readers Ask

Sabudana Vada recipe from the blog archives was first published on September 2009.