Most of us relate Sabudana (Sago) to fasting (vrat or upwaas in hindi) food. Of course it is largely enjoyed by many who observe fast, but it also acts as a great evening snack (visualise enjoying it in rainy season with hot cup of tea), and surely kids love it too (tip: try giving this as packed lunch for kids). Here is the recipe for Sabudana Vada (साबूदाना वड़ा) with step by step photos. You may also try Sabudana Kheer and Sabudana Khichdi if you like Sabudana (or observing fast)
Soaking time : 3-4 hours
Preparation time : 15 minutes
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Serving : 14-15 pieces

Ingredients
- Sabudana / Sago/Tapioca – 1 cup
- Boiled potatoes – 3 medium
- Peanuts – 1/2 cup
- Roasted Cumin Powder – 1 teaspoon
- Chopped green chillies – 2
- Grated ginger – 1 teaspoon
- Lemon juice – 2 teaspoon
- Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tablespoon
- Sugar – 1 teaspoon
- Black pepper powder – 1/5 teaspoon
- Rock salt / sendha namak – 1/2 teaspoon or as required
- Oil for frying

Recipe:
- First of all, wash and soak sabudana pearls for 3-4 hours. After that, Drain them in a colander and keep it aside for few minutes.
Sabudana for Sabudana Vada - Now dry roast the peanuts and powder them coarsely. Also mash the boil potatoes properly.
- Now in a mixing bowl, mix together soaked sabudana, mashed potatoes, crushed peanuts, chopped green chilies, chopped ginger and coriander leaves. Add Roasted cumin powder, black pepper powder, salt, sugar and lemon juice and mix well.
Mixing raw ingredients | Sabudana vada recipe - Divide the mixture into 14-15 parts and round them. Now flatten them in between your palms to make the patties or vada.
Sabudana Vada ready to be fried - Heat oil on medium flame and deep fry them until they are golden in colour.
- Take them out on a kitchen towel and serve hot with green chutney, yogurt, tea or juice.

Key Notes:
- Soak the Sabudana really well. Check the softness of sabudana by crushing a pearl in between your thumb and index finger. If it gets crushed easily, it means the sabudana is soaked properly otherwise soak for some more time. Similarly, drain the water well. There should be no water left in the soaked sabudana while adding it to make mixture.
- Always fry them on medium flame. The Oil shouldn’t be too hot.
- You can use normal salt if you don’t have rock salt.
Tried it. Everybody liked it.
That’s great to hear, Deepak. Thanks for sharing the feedback.
I tasted these delicious vadas at my friends place and need to try this out sometimes. Thanks for sharing Meenu.
Meena
Thanks Meena. Let me know how you get on with this 🙂
Sure.