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July 7, 2007

Sabudana Khichdi


This is the dish that took me years to master. I think I came close to perfecting the art this time. The day I made it, I actually ate it 4 times. For breakfast, as a midmorning snack, for lunch and an evening snack.

My entire extended family knows that this is a favourite. I once went to Bombay with a friend and over the two weeks that we were there, we got invited to all my relatives' places for all meals. Whenever it was a lunch or dinner, my aunts served us Avrya Bendi and at snack time we got Batat Phow and sabudana khichdi. I joke that my friend must have believed these to be the entire universe of amchi cooking. But there are some items that I truly never tire of eating.


I once soaked the sago overnight and I got a glue of some sort the next morning instead of a khichdi. I tried soaking for an hour and then making it, it turned out to be too hard on our teeth. Finally, I soaked the sago for 2-3 hours, drained the water and then left it overnight. That seemed to do the trick. And the more oil you use, the better the dish turns out. At these times I always hear my Amma saying, "haath ghatti kornaka, chikke chadavat tael tup sollari, randap chang zatta" (Don't hold your fist too tight, if you use a little extra oil or ghee, your food will turn out tastier.) I did use a little more oil than I normally would and the dish did turn out the way I'd expected it would.

Ingredients:

1 cup Sago (Sabudana)
2 tbsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
1/4 cup Roasted Peanut (coarsely powdered)
Salt to taste

Soak the sago for 2-3 hours, drain, and keep aside overnight. (If making in the morning, that is). When you are ready to make the dish, mix the peanut powder with the sago.

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the green chilli and ginger pastes and the curry leaves. Fry for a minute or two. Add the sago-peanut mixture and salt. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Remove the lid and allow portions of this to crispen. Those will be the tastiest bits of this dish. Fasting or no fasting, this is one dish I absolutely dig.

5 comments:

Arundathi said...

Mmmm...I love sabudana kichdi too. i have a great recipe for it as well - will try and post it. maybe even make it - i havent been cooking anything different...

bha said...

This is my all time fav....i use red chillies though.
Grest recipe.

Prema Sundar said...

Hey thanks for the detailed note on how to get the sabudhanas soaked. good one.

Raaga said...

@Arundathi: waiting to see yours.

@Bhags: I will try with red chillies next time.

@Prema: I have tried this so many times over the years and perfected it only now. Thought I should spare all of you the trouble :-)

Sharmista Nagarkatti said...

That’s an awesome tip on how to soak. I never get mine right, so will definitely try this.