Crispy, Crunchy and delicious Sabudana Tikkis – Tapioca/Sago Fritters
Crispy on the outside and soft in the inside Sabudana Vada are the perfect snack.
We often make them during religious fasting festival. They are so addictive; you cannot stop at one. These fritters or vadas as we call them, are made with sabudana also known as sago or tapioca pearls. They need very few ingredients to make them, but the flavors are so delicious.
Some people pair these with chai and chutney as a snack but my mom always made them as dinner lol. There were other dishes too along with vadas.
The flavors are amazing with just few ingredients like green chilies (barely makes it spicy) but gives you slight kick, ginger and cumin seeds are some other ingredients. Roasted peanuts add some nice crunchy to them. Boiled potatoes help them in binding.
I recently made them after such a long time, ohh they are so delicious. If you own an air-fryer, then these would be so prefect any time without much guilt.
Ingredients 
Shaped Tikkis
Did I tell you; they are gluten-free and vegan?
Few months ago, I shared this sabudana khichdi with almost same ingredients and kudos to the person who decided they should be fried.
Some tips if you are trying this for first time
Make sure to soak the sabudana well in advance to get them to soak and soften up. I remember in India my mom would soak them for long hours, but somehow the quality of sabudana here in USA is different and it needs almost less time. I usually soak them only for 1-2 hours max. So, it will depend on the sabudana how much time is required.
Use enough water while soaking them. They should be submerged in water as they soak up all the water. If you add less water, the some of them will turn out to be soft and some will remain hard. So, a good ratio is 1:2 or 1:1.5 cups of water to the sabudana. They way to find out if they have softened up or not, is to make sure when you press them with your fingers, they mush up or you can feel they are soft.
Roast the peanuts before grinding them. Coarsely process them, as they add nice texture in the vadas.
If you have trouble while binding the vadas into balls or patties, I recommend add rice flour or cornstarch. On one occasion, I have also used potato starch as I had some leftover from gluten-free baking. Normally, potatoes do a good job of binding all the ingredients together.
Fry them on medium heat. Do not overcrowd the pot of oil. Fry few at time.
Sabudana Tikkis – Tapioca/ Sago Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 cup sabudana/ sago/ tapioca pearls
- 2 medium boiled potatoes
- 1/3 cup roasted coarsely ground peanuts
- 1 tsp ginger grated
- 1-2 green chilies chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp cilantro leaves chopped
Instructions
- Rinse sabudana in water and drain the water. Take new water and soak them for about 4 hours or until they swell and double in size. When pressed with your fingers, they should feel soft. Drain out the water if there is any left.
- In a mixing bowl, take sabudana/tapioca pearls, boiled mashed potato, ground peanuts, grated ginger, chopped green chilies, cumin seeds, salt, sugar and lemon juice along with finely chopped cilantro.
- Mix everything well using your hands. You should be able to make patties or balls out of the mix. If it feels dry by chance, add a tbsp of water.
- Divide the mixture into equal portions and form flat patties or round golf ball sized.
- Pre- heat the oil for frying in a pot or kadhai.
- Once the oil is hot, add the sabudana tikkis/patties to the oil and fry them until they are golden on both sides. Do not overcrowd the oil. Fry few at a time so that they do not stick to each other.
- Remove them on an absorbent paper.
- Once you are done frying them all, serve them with chutney of your choice or with some yogurt.
- I like to flavor yogurt with some salt, roasted cumin seeds, chaat masala and tiny pinch of red chili powder.
Notes
XO, Devangi