Sago snack (Sabudana Khichadi)

Level of difficulty: Medium

Prep time: Couple of hours

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 4.

Many have asked me to post a Maharashtrian recipe so here's one! 






 

 

 Ingredients

 

Sago (Sabudana) - 1 full cup 

Roasted and ground peanuts - 1/2 cup

Boiled and diced potato - 1 medium
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 tbsp.

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Green chillies - 2 Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing

Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)

Oil - 4 tbsp.

Ghee - 1 tsp. Water
 

Note: You can adjust the spiciness by increasing/decreasing the amount of diced green chillies.  Some prefer to cook the sago in only ghee (not oil), but being health-conscious, I primarily use oil and add a touch of ghee at the end - totally upto you! Also, the more oil/ghee you use, the tastier it is ;)
 

Procedure
1. Soak the sago in water for 3-4 hours. Make sure that all the sago is just submerged under water.

 

 

2. Place a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and add the oil. Add the diced chillies, chopped curry leaves, and cumin seeds. After a few seconds, add the diced potatoes and the ground peanuts.

 3. After a few minutes, add the sago to the pan.  If the sago feels a bit hard, that is ok - as it cooks over heat, it will start to get translucent.  I have also heard that at this point, if you are conscious of the amount of oil in this recipe, you can put it in the microwave for a few minutes.

4.  Cook covered on low heat - the steam should cook the sago through.  You can add the ghee to the pan now and sprinkle the chopped coriander, sugar (optional) and salt to taste. Once cooked, some people like the mixture to be left as-is in the pan so the sago that is touching the pan forms a crisp crust!

 

 

 5. This is a fairly easy recipe to make but it depends on the quality of sago that you use. Through trial and error, you will eventually get an idea of how much water and oil to use in this recipe to ensure that the sago does not end up lumpy/sticky - enjoy!