Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls)

Sabudana is pearl tapioca — starch from cassava roots, a crop that reached India only in the colonial era, yet within a few generations became the fasting starch of the Deccan and the North. Sabudana khichdi, vada and kheer define Ekadashi and Navratri tables.

The technique is everything: wash, then soak just covered for hours, until a pearl squeezed between fingers gives fully without a hard core. Too little water and the centre stays stone; too much and it sludges. Cooked right, the pearls turn glassy and separate.