Recipe: Sabudana (Sago Pearl or Tapioca) Khichdi

A popular Maharashtrian comfort food and a typical dish made during fasting (vrat), sabudana khichdi is easy, quick and simple to make (quick, except the overnight part!).

I sometimes make sabudana khichdi as a one of the meals of the day even if I am not fasting, and even though it looks little - it does get quite filling.  Wiki says that is because of sago’s carbohydrate & peanuts’ protein & other contents that makes the sabudana khichadi filling, have high energy content, and a complete dish.

how to make sabudana khichdi at home - sabudana khichdi recipe

Everyone has their own style of cooking sabudana ki khichdi, and below is one that I follow, inspired from madhura's recipe.

Keep it as a plain white khichdi, or make a brown khichdi using red chili powder and peanuts, or have a bright yellow sabudana khichdi with addition of turmeric powder – the choice is yours.  You may also add other stuff, such as green peas, as on manjula's kitchen.

The first step to making sabudana khichdi:

How to soak Sago Pearl / Tapioca / Sabudana:

1 cup raw & dry (unsoaked, basically) sago pearl/tapioca (sabudana) should be good for 3-4 persons.  The pearls double in size after soaking.

BEFORE - AFTER:
tapioca/sago/sabudana

Step 1.  Rinse tapioca couple of times & discard water each time, then soak it in water for 30 minutes.

Step 2.  After 30 minutes, drain the water out, cover the sago in the container & keep it overnight... or about 5-6 hours in the daytime.  You don’t need sabudana immersed in water all night.

Step 3.  After overnight or 6 hours - sprinkle some water on the tapioca, fluff it, cover it & keep it another hour.  No soaking again; just sprinkle.

Step 4.  After an hour, drain any remaining water & you are ready to cook sabudana khichadi.

What you’ll need to make sabudana khichdi:

ingredients for sabudana ki khichdi

For the 1 cup of pre-soaked sago you need:

3 tsp oil/ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

Few curry leaves (karipatta)

1 potato, par-boiled & chopped

Color determination*

Salt & sugar to taste [I put 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar]

½ cup roasted &/shelled peanuts

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

2 Tbsp coconut, fresh or dry, desiccated or grated

1 Tbsp Lemon juice [or to taste]

* Color determination indicates that if you want …

- White Khichdi:  use 2 green chilies, chopped [or to taste]

-  Brown Khichdi:  use ½ tsp red chili powder [or to taste]

-  Yellow Khichdi:  use 1/8 tsp turmeric powder [or as per color strength]

Let’s Begin!

1.  Heat oil/ghee in pan on medium; add cumin seeds, let pop, add curry leaves + potato & sauté until potato appears just about cooked (or starts changing color).

how to cook sabudana ki khichadi

2.  Add color determination* + soaked sabudana & mix well for couple of minutes until sago gets a bit translucent.  Then add roasted peanuts {for brown khichdi: add roasted peanut powder if you have it handy, OR use roasted peanuts, or both} + cilantro + coconut + salt + sugar; mix everything well along with sabudana, cover & let it cook on low flame for just couple of minutes.  Avoid sprinkling water during cooking.

3.  Switch off heat, add lemon juice at the end & give it a last good quick mix.  Serve hot, accompanied with curd or as is.

brown sabudana khichdi using red chili and peanut powder

white sabudana khichadi with potatoes and peanuts

yellow sabudana khichdi using haldi

                                        Sabudana Khichadi Blunder Alert and FAQ                                        

Q:  When I make this, my sabudana sticks to each other.  How to avoid sabudana khichdi to get soggy while cooking?

A:  If you left sabudana immersed in water too long, or you did not drain water before cooking it, or if you sprinkled water while cooking - the sabudana would stick to each other and get soggy.  Avoid all those.

Q:  Khichdi is kind of stiff, not soft & easy to chew.

A:  Either you didn’t soak it properly so tapioca didn’t expand well, or you kept cooking & mixing for long time.  Sabudana khichdi gets cooked within 10 minutes!

Q:  Khichdi became dry after it cooled down.

A:  Happens, sprinkle little water, heat up & have it again..

Q:  How to make sabudana khichdi without soaking? How to make sabudana khichdi if it is not soaked?  Don't have time to soak.

A:  Not possible, unless the sabudana you have is some special type.  At least try soaking sago/tapioca pearls for 4 hours.  Otherwise soak for 1 hour and made sabudana vada instead of khichdi...

... and now after the white, brown & yellow khichadi, I am wondering what color to make next - blue?  ;-)
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