Sabudana Vada Recipe with step by step photos. These Super Delicious Sabudana Vadas are crispy from outside with a soft and light texture from inside. This is a proper authentic maharashtrian recipe of making sabudana vadas which taste too good and is exactly the way they are served in maharashtra.

Sabudana vada is one of those recipes that is made during religious fasting (vrat or upvas). Both Sabudana Vada and Sabudana Khichdi are two recipes that i make during fasting days.

In the Indian tradition the shravan month, ekadashi and the navaratra or navaratri period are times when many devout hindus fast. The food that is taken during the fast do not contain onions, garlic, wheat products, lentils or pulses. To know more you can check this compiled list of ingredients for navratri fasting.

Sago or Sabudana is a common ingredient that is used in some recipes made during the fasting period. Few of the sabudana recipes on blog which can be made for fasting are:

1. Sabudana thalipeeth
2. Sabudana Kheer
3. Sabudana Tikki
4. Sabudana pakora

This Sabudana Vada snack can also be made during other times. Its crispy and delicious and can be made as a morning or evening snack. Sabudana Vada is served with sweet curd (yogurt) in Maharashtra and this combination tastes great. To make the sweet curd, you will just need to add some sugar to the curd and mix it.

This Sabudana Vada recipe comes from Maharashtra. In Mumbai, one will find many mithai shops selling sabudana vadas. In fact it is a street food in Mumbai as well Maharashtra and many vendors sell these.

If you are looking for more fasting recipes then do check:

• jeera aloo recipe
• aloo tamatar ki sabzi
• kaddu ki sabzi

4.34 from 21 votes

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Sabudana Vada Recipe

Sabudana Vada are crisp fried patties made with tapioca pearls, peanuts and mashed potatoes. They are slightly sweet and spiced to taste.

course breakfasts, snacks

cuisine maharashtrian

prep time 5 hours

cook time 30 minutes

total time 5 hours 30 minutes

servings 18 vadas

rough calories per serving 120 kcal

author dassana amit

ingredients (1 cup = 250 ml)

• 1 cup sabudana (tapioca pearls)
• 4 medium sized potatoes (aloo)
• ½ cup peanuts (moongphali)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) - optional
• 1 to 2 green chillies, finely chopped (hari mirch)
• 1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped (adrak)
• 2 teaspoons lime juice (optional)
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves, (dhania patta) - OPTIONAL
• 1.5 teaspoon sugar or as required
• 1 to 2 tablespoons kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour) or amaranth flour - OPTIONAL
• rock salt or sendha namak - a kind of salt used food made during fasts. you could use regular salt if the recipe is not being made during the fasting period.
• oil for frying

how to make Sabudana Vada Recipe

Soaking Sabudana

1. Soak the sabudana or sago in water for 5 hours at least or overnight. I soaked the sago overnight and in the morning they had become soft.

2. Drain of all the water completely very well from the soaked sabudana.

Making Sabudana Vada Mixture

1. Add the sabudana in a mixing bowl. 

2. Boil the potatoes. Peel and then mash them. Mix the mashed potatoes and sabudana together.

3. On a skillet or in a shallow pan, roast the groundnuts/peanuts till they become crisp and crunchy. Cool and then coarsely powder in a mortar-pestle or in a dry grinder.

4. Add the peanuts, rock salt, cumin seeds, sugar, ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves and lemon juice to the sabudana . Mix the entire mixture very well.

5. Now take some portion of the mixture in your hands and shape them into flat round vadas or patties. 

6. Do this till all the mixture is utilized.

Making Sabudana Vada

1. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai. Add a tiny ball made from the mixture.

2. Fry it on medium flame. If this ball does not break while frying, then you are good to go. 

3. If it breaks, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons of rajgira atta (or amaranth flour) again to the mixture and mix well.

4. Now gently place the sabudana vadas in the oil. Keep the flame to medium while frying. If the oil is cold, sabudana vadas will absorb lot of oil and become soggy.

5. Add sabudana vadas for frying depending on the size of the kadai. Do not crowd the kadai or pan.

6. When one side gets golden, then only flip the sabudana vadas. Otherwise don't even touch as they might break if not cooked.

7. Turn over a couple of times so as to fry the sabudana vadas evenly.

8. Fry the sago vadas till they are crisp and golden

9. Remove the sabudana vada with a slotted spoon. Place on kitchen paper towels to absorb excess oil. Prepare sabudana vadas with the remaining mixture this way.

10. Serve sabudana vada with sweet curd/yoghurt or green chutney. You could also serve sabudana vadas with tomato sauce.

recipe video

recipe notes

Few tips for making sabudana vada

1. The Sabudana (Sago) has to be really soaked well. Not even a little hardness should be left in the sago.
2. The water needs to be drained well. Use a seive 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 vadas and they will become soggy from inside.
3. The oil has to be neither too hot nor warm. If its hot, the sabudana vadas will burn from outside leaving the inside portion uncooked. If warm, the vadas will absorb oil, making the sabudana vadas loaded with oil.
4. If you want the sabudana vada to be crisp from outside, you need to brown them a little more.
5. You could use roasted groundnuts/peanuts. Only if the peanuts are not roasted, then you need to roast them. If they are skinned, then on roasting the skin becomes flaky and you can remove the skin easily from the peanuts with your fingers.
6. If the sabudana vada breaks or bursts while frying, then add some flour (buckwheat, amaranth,water chestnut flour) in the vada mixture. If not fasting, then you can add rice flour. 

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Preparation for Sabudana Vada

Soaking sabudana

1. Soak 1 cup sabudana or tapioca pearls in water for 5 hours at least or overnight. I soaked the sago overnight and in the morning they had become soft. Sabudana can also be soaked for 2 hours. I get a hard quality of sabudana and soaking for 2 hours does not help. So i soak sabudana overnight. So depending on the quality of sabudana you can even soak for 2 to 3 hours or more.

2. Drain of all the water from the soaked sabudana. Drain the water very well. When properly soaked, the sabudana pearl, should get mashed when pressed. If you feel some hardness in the center, then soak for some more time.

3. Take the sabudana pearls in a mixing bowl and keep aside.

Cooking Potatoes

4. Rinse 4 medium sized potatoes well in water first. Then place the potatoes in the cooker. Add water which just about covers the potatoes.

5. Pressure cook potatoes for 4 to 5 whistles on medium flame.

6. When the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid and check the potatoes. Pass a knife through the center of the potatoes and it should slid easily without any resistance. Let the potatoes become warm. Then chop them or crumble them. You can even mash them.

Roasting Peanuts

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

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

9. Roast the peanuts till you see some black spots on their husks. They should be crunchy and well roasted with no rawness from the center.

10. Let the roasted peanuts cool down. 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.

11. Grind to a coarse powder. Keep the peanut powder aside.

Making Sabudana Vada Mixture

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, 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger and 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves. You can also skip coriander leaves.

14. Squeeze 2 teaspoons lemon juice or as per taste.

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

16. Mix the entire sabudana vada mixture very well.

17. Now take some portion of the mixture in your hands and shape them into flat round vadas or patties. Do this till all the sabudana vada mixture is utilized.

Frying Sabudana Vada

18. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai. Check a small portion of the sabudana vada. It should come up steadily and gradually in the oil. In case the sabudana vada breaks, then there is more moisture in it. So you can add some kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour), singhare ka atta (water chestnut flour), ragjira atta (amaranth flour) or some more boiled potatoes. If not fasting, then you can add some rice flour in the vada mixture. Mix again and shape in patties. Ideally do this step  before you fry the sabudana vadas.

19. Gently place the sabudana vadas in hot oil. Fry them at medium flame. Do not overcrowd while frying.

20. When one side is light golden, turn them over with a slotted spoon.

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

22. Continue to fry turning over a couple of tines till the sabudana vadas are uniformly golden and crisp.

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

24. Place sabudana vadas on kitchen towels to remove excess oil. Fry all sabudana vadas this way.

25. Serve Sabudana Vada hot with sweet curd/yoghurt or phalahari chutney or coconut vrat chutney. You could also serve sabudana vada with homemade tomato sauce.

dassana amit

Founder, Designer, Recipe Developer, Food Photographer || MORE ABOUT US

i started vegrecipesofindia.com in feb 2009. it is a pure vegetarian blog and shares recipes with step by step photos that will help you to make delicious and tasty vegetarian food easily.

i am passionate about cooking from childhood and learnt cooking from my elders. having a home science degree surely enhanced my cooking & baking skills which i now share as fool proof recipes on the blog. i am trained both in mainstream indian as well as international cuisines.