Soaked sago pearls tossed with peanuts, potato, cumin and green chili; the great Maharashtrian fasting dish, naturally free of onion and garlic.
Breakfast · 10 min prep · 15 min cook · serves 2 Newly added
Ingredients
- 1 cup sabudana (tapioca pearls) , medium pearls, soaked 4–5 hours
- ½ cup peanuts , roasted and coarsely crushed
- 1 potato , diced small
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chili , slit
- 6 curry leaves
- to taste rock salt , sendha namak for fasting
- 1 tbsp lemon , juice
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves , chopped
- 2 tbsp coconut (fresh grated)
Preparation
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Rinse the sabudana in plenty of water, then soak with water just level to the pearls for 4–5 hours; they should squash flat between fingers with no hard core.
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Toss the drained sabudana with the crushed peanuts and salt so every pearl is dusted.
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Heat the ghee; add cumin, green chili and curry leaves, then the diced potato with a splash of water; cover and cook until tender, 5–6 minutes.
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Lower the heat, add the sabudana-peanut mix, and fold gently for 3–4 minutes until the pearls turn glassy and separate.
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Take off the heat; finish with lemon juice, coriander and coconut. Serve warm, not hot.
In the tradition
The test of a sabudana khichdi is texture: pearls translucent and separate, never a porridge. The tricks are all in this recipe, soak with minimal water, dust with peanuts so pearls slide, and fold rather than stir. On fasting days it is practically the Maharashtrian national breakfast, and because vrat cooking excludes onion and garlic by design, it arrives at the satvik table without a single adaptation.
Sources & further reading
- Family recipe notebook (recipe #15, "Sabudana Khichdi: sabudana, peanuts, potato, green chili, cumin, lemon")
Classical citations mark where a tradition is drawn on; modern books are shared as further reading, not as prescriptions.