Sabudana vada recipe (baked) with step-by-step pictures. These crispy sabudana vadas are a delicious treat, baked instead of deep-frying, making it an almost guilt-free treat!
Sabudana vada or sago vada is a sumptuous and delicious, deep fried snack popular in Maharashtra, India. These vadas are crispy, crunchy, and a little spicy everything you’d want in a snack. Sabudana vada is mostly consumed for fasts (vrat), however, they are an excellent any time snack as well. These sabudana vadas are one of the most popular sabudana breakfast recipes.
I tried sabudana vada for the first time in my office canteen for breakfast. It is prepared often on Thursday’s since it a day of abstinence from meat/seafood for Maharashtrians. I fell in love with these vadas that were crunchy on the outside and melt in the mouth on the inside. Sweetened yogurt and green chutney make for a great accompaniment to these vadas! So sometimes there would be vadas or else plain khichdi.
Also, my Maharashtrian colleague’s would get this for lunch sometimes, half of which I would end up eating 😀 I absolutely love both, the vadas and the khichdi and make it at least once a week for breakfast. It is quite filling and keeps your tummy and soul both sorted and satisfied until lunch!
If you have read my earlier posts, you know how much I dislike deep frying anything, although I enjoy having them outside 😀 I still try to avoid it at home wherever I can simply by baking, like these baked veg Manchurians. Baking always takes more time but so much healthier with no compromise in taste and texture. That is pretty satisfying, don’t you think? When you can enjoy all your favorite things without all the guilt?
Table of Contents
Ingredients needed to make these sabudana cutlets
You will need;
- Sabudana known as tapioca pearls in English
- Boiled and mashed potatoes,
- Coarsely crushed roasted peanuts
- Cumin seeds
- Ginger
- Green chillies
- Salt, and sugar
- Lime or lemon juice
- Cilantro
- And some oil or oil spray
Baked sabudana tikki
It is super easy to make sabudana vada at home. Simply mix soaked and drained sabudana with mashed potatoes, coarsely crushed peanuts, and some seasonings.
Mix and shape as patties. Now, traditionally, these are then deep-fried. But, I’ve found that baking these vadas gives results that are on par with the fried ones. They do take a tad bit of time to bake, but I don’t think that is such a big deal! Plus baking also makes these sabudana vadas less oily.
How to soak sabudana?
I follow a simple norm to soak sabudana, which always gives me perfectly soaked and drained sabudana, not too hard nor mushy. I use the same measuring cup to measure out the sabudana and use the same cup to soak it. So, if I measure out 1/2 cup of sabudana, I use 1/2 cup of water to soak it. Always, turns out perfect!
You will have the perfect, non-sticky sabudana khichdi that way too! Sabudana soaking time ranges anywhere from 3 hours to overnight. You can soak it in the night, leave it in the refrigerator and use it in the recipe the next morning.
If you enjoyed these sabudana patties, you may also like these Indian breakfast recipes
- Hariyali sabudana khichadi, a twist to your regular khichdi
- Aloo Paratha
- Soft idli with sambar and coconut chutney
How to make sabudana vada (baked & in the air-fryer) – Step by step instructions
Step 1: Soak tapioca pearls
Wash 1/2 cup of sabudana well under running water. Add approx 1/2 cup of water, just about enough to soak the sabudana. Let it soak for 3 hours or until all the pearls have swelled up and are soft when you try to mash with your fingers.
Soaking time will vary depending upon the quality of the sabudana. I usually leave it overnight in the refrigerator. By morning the sabudana has soaked up well, retains its shape whilst still being soft.
If there is any extra water left after the soaking time, drain it. If the sabudana is still hard, sprinkle some more water and let it soak for a few more hours.
Step 2: Roast peanuts
Dry roast 1/2 cup of raw peanuts in a skillet, remove the skin and transfer to the blender and make a coarse powder.
Step 3: Mixture for sabudana tikki
Add two mashed potatoes, soaked sabudana, coarse peanut powder, 2-3 chopped green chilies, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1/2-inch peeled and minced ginger root, juice of half a lime, 1 teaspoon sugar, a pinch of salt, 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro in a mixing bowl.
Mix it well to form a dough. Adjust spices as per your preference. I do not add a lot of chillies, as my son enjoys this, so the spice levels are low.
Step 4: Make sabudana patties
Preheat the oven to 425° F. Grease your palms and make the vada’s/patties, transfer them to a baking tray lined with greased parchment paper/aluminum foil. Brush each vada with oil or oil spray.
Step 5: Bake
Oven:
Bake at 425° F. Flip the vada gently with the help of a spatula or fork after about 30-35 mins when it turns golden brown on top, brush with more oil if required and let the other side turn golden brown too. That will take another 20-25 minutes.
So it will take about a total of an hour approx, depending on the thickness of your vada. Keep checking at frequent intervals during the baking process. Serve hot with sweetened yogurt and green chutney.
Air-fryer:
I’ve also tried baking sabudana vada in my air fryer, and it works beautifully, plus takes half the time that it takes in the oven, except if you are making 2 batches. To fry these vadas in the air fryer, preheat the air fryer at 350° F for 5 minutes. Brush vadas with oil or oil spray and place in the air fryer basket. Air-fry at 350° F for about 20 minutes, flipping once midway. Air fry for another 2 minutes for a darker color.
So that’s how I made these healthy baked sabudana vada’s. They were warm & crunchy even after the 20 minutes it took me to take all the pictures.
★ If you try this easy sabudana vada recipe, I would love to hear from you! I’d appreciate it if you could rate and leave a review below in the comments. Your reviews help others know the recipe better too. Thanks so much 🙂
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Sabudana Vada Recipe (Baked) | How To Make Sabudana Vada
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sabudana (tapioca pearls), after soaking it will be about 1 & 1/2 cup
- 2 medium boiled potatoes, about 1 & 3/4 cup of mashed potatoes
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- 2-3 green chillies, as per desired heat
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
- Juice of half a lime
- 1 tsp sugar, adjust as per desired sweetness
- salt to taste
- 3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
- Oil, as required
Instructions
- Wash the sabudana well under running water. Add approx 1/2 cup of water, just about enough to soak the sabudana. Let it soak for 3 hours or until all the pearls have swelled up and are soft when you try to mash with your fingers. Soaking time will vary depending upon the quality of the sabudana. I usually leave it overnight in the refrigerator. By morning the sabudana has soaked up well, retains its shape whilst still being soft. If there is any extra water left after the soaking time, drain it. If the sabudana is still hard, sprinkle some more water and let it soak for few more hours.
- Dry roast the peanuts in a skillet, remove the skin and transfer to the blender and make a coarse powder.
- Transfer the mashed potatoes, soaked sabudana, coarse peanut powder and all the remaining ingredients except the oil in a mixing bowl. Mix it well to form a dough. Adjust spices as per your preference. I do not add a lot of chillies, as my son enjoys this, so the spice levels are low.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Grease your palms and make the vada's/ patties, transfer them to a baking tray lined with greased parchment paper/aluminum foil. Brush each vada with oil or oil spray.
- Oven: Bake at 425° F. Flip the vada gently with the help of a spatula or fork after about 30-35 mins when it turns golden brown on top, brush with more oil if required and let the other side turn golden brown too. That will take another 20-25 minutes. So it will take about a total of an hour approx, depending on the thickness of your vada. Keep checking at frequent intervals during the baking process.
- Air-fryer: I've also tried baking sabudana vada in my air fryer, and it works beautifully, plus takes half the time that it takes in the oven, except if you are making 2 batches. To fry these vadas in the air fryer, preheat the air fryer at 350° F for 5 minutes. Brush vadas with oil or oil spray and place in the air fryer basket. Air-fry at 350° F for about 20 minutes, flipping once midway. Air fry for another 2 minutes for a darker color.
- Serve hot with sweetened yogurt and green chutney.
Notes
Agness of Run Agness Run says
Seems very challenging to me! This ingredients are new for me, I would love to taste this dish!
Freda Dias says
It’s quite simple actually once you make it. As tapioca has no flavor of it’s own, it takes on the flavor of anything, texture wise it is a bit chewy.
Rajani says
Is there a good substitute for peanuts in this recipe? My son is allergic to nuts so looking for alternative
Freda Dias says
I usually use peanuts, haven’t tried a substitute, you can probably just skip it.
Rasakama says
Although vada is a snack that is popular in Sri Lanka, this is the first time I am seeing it made it in this way. Very very interesting and looks so delicious. I want to taste one with a plain tea.
Freda Dias says
Thanks so much! I guess there are a lot of similarities between Sri Lankan and Indian cuisine 🙂
Loretta says
Wow, I can see each little pearl in your pictures. Just gorgeous! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of sabudana, but it sure looks interesting. Love all the ingredients and the fact that they were baked.
Freda Dias says
That’s the best part, Loretta! The baking definitely makes this healthier:) Thanks so much!
Lynz Real Cooking says
So lovely Freda! Wonderful photos and recipe
Freda Dias says
Thanks dear Lynn 🙂
momsrecipediary says
These look beautiful Freda!!! Low fat, Less oil & More healthy!
Freda Dias says
Thanks a lot dear 🙂
Shivali says
love this recipe and the photography!! so nice to find your blog! I am at vedicvegan.com, feel free to stop by!
Freda Dias says
Hi Shivali! Thanks a lot 🙂 Heading over to your blog 🙂