Sabudana/Tapioca Pudding

Yes, I have finally come back to Blogosphere, I was gone missing for long :-)

We had been to California all of last week (almost 10 days trip) and we had a terrific time with a bunch of friends. It was so exciting to see them all after almost 4 or 6 years. We were wondering how our old friends would be now after all these years but we picked up where we left and we felt that the gap was not much. We all had similar thoughts as before and similar mode of enjoyment. Overall, it was a great trip and such overwhelming response definitely needs to be celebrated with some sweet.

Also today happens to be our friend Sreedhar's birthday, so wishing him happiness and joy for the coming year ahead. Now that he is married and has a wife beside him, I am sure the celebration would bring him extra fun.

This Sago pudding I made is very easy to make. Soak some half cup Sabudana in water for half hour. Remove and leave them for 2-3 hours. Heat 2 cups milk in microwave, add 1/2 cup condensed milk, 1/2 cup evaporated milk,little ghee and little sugar (according to your taste buds) and heat again for 2 mins. Add Sago and keep heating in microwave (in intervals of 1 minute or 30 seconds) until the pudding thickens a bit. Fry dry fruits in ghee and add to the pudding. Enjoy it hot or cold.

Finally, a birthday card for Sreedhar!

Tapioca/Sabudana Kichidi

Though it was a holiday for me, I had to get up early to pack lunch for Ravi. After that I started organizing kitchen a bit when I found this Tapioca/Pearl Sabudana that I got from the Indian store last week. Thought why not soak it up and make something out of it. You know you can do a lot with this food; you can either make Kichidi, Pudding or Vada.

Gujaratis claim this as their traditional dish and so do Maharastrians, but to whatever region this belongs to, it tastes awesome in any cooked form. North Indians use this most commonly in fasting dishes, whereas South Indians make Papads from it. And sabudana papads are a craze among children in South India.

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Ingredients
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2 cups Sabudana/Tapioca
½ cup Peanut Powder
1 Potato
2 big Green Chillies
2 tsps Cumin seeds
Curry leaves (optional)
Small piece Ginger (optional)
Salt to taste
2 tbsp ghee or oil
A pinch of Hing
Coconut and Coriander for Garnishing

1. Soak sabudana in water for only for 30 mins. Drain the water completely after 30 mins. This step is very important. If you soak it more, those pearls will be dissolved in water. After that drain the water and keep it aside for 6-8 hours.
2. Cut potato into small cubes and boil them. Keep aside.
3. Heat ghee in a cooking dish; add a pinch of hing, followed by cumin seeds. After they splutter, add curry leaves, ginger (I add ginger in all my dishes, so this part is optional), green chillies and cook them for two minutes.
4. Add boiled Potato and keep stirring the whole mixture until potatoes become tender and soft.
5. Mix sabudana with peanut powder first and then put the whole mixture in the above seasoning mix. This will separate sabudana pearls otherwise they get sticky at some point.
6. Add Salt. Keep stirring the whole mixture and don’t cover it with lid. This step is important too as you can avoid them sticking (I have seen my friend making this kichidi one day and it came out like a sticky ball as we were busy chatting and didn’t notice the dish on the stove).
7. After a while white sabudana starts to turn opaque and your cooking is complete. Mix in lemon juice for that extra tangy taste.
8. Garnish the dish with Cilantro and Coconut! And serve hot.
   

Very easy to make, the whole process takes less than 15 mins.