Sabudana Vada – Air fried healthy cousin of the deep-fried version

 Sabudana vada, a very popular Maharastrian dish, is one of our favorite snacks.

They are instant energy boosters, high in carbs and glucose; made with tapioca pearls (sabudana), mashed potatoes, roasted peanuts, and herbs; crispy from outside and soft, light, and chewy from inside. Also, as it is mostly prepared during fasting, the recipe does not contain onions, garlic, wheat products, lentils, or pulses.

I first tasted it in Delhi when one of my colleagues brought it for lunch during Navaratri fasting. As it is, she was fasting, so I finished half of her lunch box 😊😊, it was really yummy. The next time, I tasted it in a very popular Maharastrian restaurant in Bangalore when we went out for an office lunch, I couldn’t resist myself from taking the second serving.😋

You can understand how much I liked it, so it was high time that I learn the recipe and prepare it myself. The only thing that was bothering me was the deep-frying part, traditionally it is made by deep-frying ☹. So, I had to give the recipe a twist, I tried Air frying them and the result was absolutely delicious, a healthy version without compromising the taste 😊😊, and the brownie point was both my picky eaters, Daddy S and Baby S liked it.

I have also tried preparing them in appe pan and baking them in microwaves, the results were more or less the same every time.

You can serve them hot with some green chutney or sauce as a teatime snack also.

How to prepare Sabudana Vada

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sabudana or tapioca pearls, medium-sized, soaked overnight or for a minimum of 5 hours
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled and mashed
• ½ cup peanuts, roasted, deskinned, and crushed
• ½ tsp ginger paste
• ½ tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 1 green chili, finely chopped, you can adjust the amount as per your taste
• 4 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves
• ½ tsp rock salt or sendha namak if preparing during fasting
• 1 tsp chat masala (optional)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Oil as needed for deep frying, (I used only for greasing the Air fryer basket or appe pan and my hands while preparing the patties)

Method:

• In a large bowl take the sabudana, wash them once under running water, then soak in enough water. I generally wrap them in a kitchen towel, soak them and leave overnight
• The next day, Sabudana will soak all the water, swell up and become soft
• If there is excess water drain them out completely and keep the sabudana aside
• Wash the potatoes very well and boil them with skin, make sure not to make them mushy
• Once boiled, let them cool down, then peel off the skin and mash them. Keep them aside
• Heat a kadhai and dry roast the peanuts till the skin peels off
• Remove the skin and coarsely grind them
• Now put all the ingredients except oil, in a large container and mix them well, you can grease your hands with a little oil as the starch from sabudana starts getting sticky
• I added a little bit of chat masala also, you can skip this if you are preparing for fasting
• Mixing well helps to bind the sabudana vada well and prevents breaking. You can use little rice flour or cornflour also for binding if you are not fasting. If you are fasting, you can use kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour)
• Prepare medium sized balls from the mixture and flatten them between your palms to give the desired shape to the vadas
• Preheat the Air Fryer for 5 minutes at 160 degrees, then put the vadas in the Air Fryer basket and fry for 10 minutes, once done, flip and cook from the other side as well for another 10 minutes
• If you are preparing in appe pan, grease the grooves of the appe pan lightly with oil and place the vadas and fry till golden brown from one side, once done flip and cook from the other side as well

Sabudana Vadas are now ready to be served hot with green chutney or curd or sauce!!!😋

If you don't have an Air fryer, don't worry, you can still prepare these healthy and yummy snacks, simply grease a non-stick frying pan and shallow fry the sabudana vadas. Just make the vadas a little thin so that it can cook nicely from inside. 

My other favorite fasting recipes are Sabudana Khichdi and Sabudana kheer, boiled veggies with a pinch of rock salt, sauteed cubed paneer with a pinch of rock salt, and the best is a banana milkshake, the easiest one 😀

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