Sabudana (Tapioca) Sago pearl kichdi with peanuts

I love Sabodana kichdi maybe coz' I make it only twice a month or so. Think Sabudana and I remember my grandma’s fasting days. But I prepare my own kind of Sabudana with onions ( my Jain grandma didn't use it). The secret ingredients in this delicious veggie dish is the coarsely ground peanuts with lemon juice, that indispensable spoon of sugar to make it a tad sweet and tangy and ghee. The dish can be dry if you don’t use oil and ghee generously. One reason I do not cook sabudana kichdi often.

I avoid using asafeotida in this dish. I love to sprinkle grated coconut and keep it as an option as my husband tries to avoid coconut wherever he can (something to do with cholestorol or that it causes more acidity)?

I came across so many discussions about making this interesting dish (the soaking part) on the blogs and I was surprised that I’ve never had difficulty about soaking the sago pearls at all. This dish never lets me down. Always remember to eat some fruits like bananas and drink either milk or majjige (buttermilk - see my recipe elsewhere for majjige) with this kichidi.

Time to share my recipe.

Ingredients

4 tbspns oil
1 tbspn ghee
1 and half cup sabudana / sago pearls (before soaking)
1tspn mustard and jeera seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1 large onion (chopped)
½ russet potato (chopped in small bits – easy to fry)
8 Indian green chillies – chopped medium size
½ lemon (extract juice)
½ cup peanuts – coarsely ground
½ tspn turmeric
salt to taste
1 tspn sugar or1 packet of splenda
¼ cup - cilantro – chopped
grated coconut for garnish

Method

Soak sabudana in water 3 hours prior to cooking. Make sure the water is about 5-6 inches above the pearls. Drain after 3 hours and set aside. You can store the drained sago in ziploc bags in the refrigerator overnight and use it next day.

In skillet heat oil and season with mustard jeera seeds, add green chillies, fry for 10 seconds, add curry leaves and onions, fry till onions are well done, add chopped potato, turmeric powder, half the ghee, fry and close the lid for a minute so that it cooks in the steam, don’t burn it though!

After potato is well cooked, lower the heat totally and add the sabudana, peanuts, salt, lemon juice, sugar, chopped cilantro, rest of the ghee and stir it well for about 2- 3minutes. Check the photo above to see if the dish looks like this! Garnish with grated coconut and serve.