The Navratri Sabudana Vada consists of 5 basic ingredients:
Sabudana or Sago – It’s important to soak the sabudana for a few hours before you make the vada. On soaking, these will puff and rehydrate. You will know that it’s ready when you can crush the pearls by pressing between the fingers. Potatoes – Mashed Potatoes act as the binding element in the dish, and it also adds the soft texture in the process. Green Chili – Few finely chopped green chili not only add flavor but also the heat that we Indians love in fritters. If you don’t like the heat of green chili, you can remove the seeds and finely chop the flesh. Or, just avoid it completely. Roasted Peanuts – Nut and Sabudana goes very well together. Coarsely crushed roasted peanuts give a lovely taste and crunch to the vada. Fresh Cilantro Leaves – Finely chopped cilantro leaves gives a vibrant, refreshing flavor.
FEW KEY TIPS:
Do not over soak the sabudana. I have seen in the past that depending on the variety, it sometimes takes 4 hours to rehydrate these pearl and sometimes, it takes overnight. You want these pearl to be soft but retain shape.When you mash the boil potatoes, it is advised to use a grater. Grating the boiled potatoes gives a delicate, airy texture.When you are mixing everything, do it gently without squishing the pearls into a mush.When you are shaping the dumplings, and it starts to get sticky, just rub a little oil on your hand, and it will get easy.
Here is the VIDEO
Tips on FRYING:
Fry the vada in medium hot oil. If you drop them in hot oil, it would brown up quickly, leaving the inside raw and tasteless. Give time and fry these slowly in medium hot oil. Do not over-crowd the pan when frying.
Have you tried AIR FRYER
Air Fryer is my current favorite option as it happens very quickly and the texture turns out just like the deep fried. Crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. In the above photo, one stack is deep fried and the other stack is air fried. I doubt you can make any difference. This is the Air Fryer I use and quite happy with it!
Tips on BAKING the Sabudana Vada:
You have to add a little bit of oil in the mixture before you make the dumpling. Then, sear it on a cast iron pan on the stove top for the golden brown crust. After that, bake it in the oven. I have tried baking the vada in the oven without searing on the stove top, and it didn’t work great. While it gets cooked and turned out fluffy, the golden brown color was missing.
Re-heating the Sabudana Vada:
Do not microwave the vada. Just layer the left over fried vada in a cookie wire rack over a cookie sheet. Bake it for 5 minutes at 375 F. It will crisp up once again. Or reheat in Air Fryer. We both are extremely fond of this snack, and I often try to give my own little twist to it. I like to add some non-Indian spice mixes like jerk spice mix or pukka spice mix while making these fritters/vadas. Occasionally, I also like to add fresh greens, like fenugreek leaves or spinach. Here is a recipe of Sadunana Vada with Methi that I had shared a few years back. I added fresh fenugreek leaves that gave it a beautiful flavor.
