Sabudana khichri

Coarsely ground peanuts mixed through the drained sago before anything is heated.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 300 g sabudana, tapioca pearls
• 150 g roasted peanuts
• 2 teaspoons rock salt
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons ghee
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 4 green chillies, chopped
• 2 potatoes, in 1 cm dice
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 1 lime

Method

1. COARSELY GROUND PEANUTS ARE MIXED THROUGH THE DRAINED SAGO BEFORE ANYTHING IS HEATED, and that order is the whole trick of the dish. Its article's method puts it plainly: THE SABUDANA IS SOAKED IN WATER OVERNIGHT AND THEN DRAINED. IT IS MIXED WELL WITH COARSELY GROUND PEANUTS, ROCK SALT AND SUGAR. Only then does a pan appear. The peanut powder coats every pearl in dry starch-absorbing crumb, and that is what keeps them separate instead of welding into a single lump.
2. COARSELY GROUND, NOT FINE. Pulsed, not blitzed -- a powder with grit in it. Ground to flour it turns pasty and does the opposite of what it is there for.
3. AND THE SALT IS ROCK SALT BECAUSE OF WHAT THE DISH IS FOR. Its article says it IS THE DISH OF CHOICE WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL OBSERVES A FAST DURING SHIVRATRI, NAVRATRI, OR A SIMILAR HINDU RELIGIOUS OCCASION, and rock salt rather than table salt is part of that observance.
4. SOAK THE SAGO OVERNIGHT IN JUST ENOUGH WATER TO COVER. Not swimming. In the morning a pearl should crush between your nails with no hard white centre, and the whole lot should be drained and left to sit in the sieve for twenty minutes.
5. FRY THE POTATOES SEPARATELY FIRST AND TAKE THEM OUT. Small dice, in the ghee, until gold and cooked through. Left in with the sago they steam and go soft.
6. CUMIN AND CHILLI IN THE SAME GHEE, THEN THE SAGO MIXTURE ALL AT ONCE. The article's step is that the SABUDANA-PEANUT POWDER MIXTURE IS SAUTEED IN IT ALONG WITH CUMIN SEEDS, CHOPPED GREEN CHILLIES AND CHOPPED POTATOES.
7. STIR IT AS LITTLE AS YOU CAN BEAR, AND NOT FOR LONG. The article says COOKED FOR A FEW MINUTES and means it. Four or five, turning with a spatula rather than stirring. Overcooked sago goes transparent and sticky and will not come back.
8. THE POTATOES BACK IN, THEN LIME AND CORIANDER OFF THE HEAT. Its article serves it with sweet curd, which is worth doing: the sugar in the dish and the curd beside it are both there to carry the chilli.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes