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Whether you are fasting in Sawan or any other month/ day of the year, sabudana is the ultimate superfood to consider. From vada to khichdi, tapioca pearls can be used to create a variety of lip-smacking dishes. While you can eat these delicacies throughout the year, consuming them while you are fasting is quite popular among Hindus.
Video Credit: Chef Ranveer Brar/ Instagram
The only downside to cooking sabudana vada, khichdi, kheer, and more is that working with tapioca pearls is tricky. They are loaded with starch and can be sticky making it difficult for the dish to pan out the way you have expected. Here are some kitchen tips and tricks that will help you flourish.
Soak! Soak! Soak!
Ask seasoned chefs or culinary experts and they won’t be able to stress enough on the soaking. First, you start with thorough rinsing so that you can get rid of extra starch and ensure to clean tapioca pearls with cold or tap water. The water-to-sabudana ratio should be enough to cover them. If you add too much, the edible pearls will be sticky. If you are wondering about the soaking period, 6 hours or more for large pearls and 3-4 hours for smaller ones.
Test For Readiness
To see if the pearls are done with the soaking, you should test their readiness. The best idea is to pick up a pearl and press it. If it breaks without a hard centre, sabudana is ready to be cooked. If the pearl does not break, you need to soak the batch for some more time. Once ready, use a colander to drain the excess water and rinse again to remove the starch deposit. This step is crucial to prevent sabudana from getting sticky.
Add Peanuts Or Potatoes
Ask any home chef, your mother, or your grandmother, and they will tell you this handy trick. Always use potatoes or peanuts to absorb extra moisture. It can reduce stickiness and enhance the texture and flavour of the recipe. Even for sabudana vada and khichdi, people use potatoes because the vegetable helps with the binding and adds roasted peanuts for extra absorption of moisture.
Avoid Overcooking
How you cook sabudana will make all the difference in the texture and flavour of the dish. For example, even though the pearls break easily after soaking, they need time to cook. Hence, you should also keep the flame either low or medium. This will also prevent the ingredients from getting mushy. The ultimate sign to look for whether you have overcooked sabudana is stickiness. If the pearls become translucent, they are done.
Also Read: 6 Do's & Don'ts To Clean And Cook Mushrooms
Use Less Amount Of Water
Since you add potatoes and peanuts to absorb the moisture, it is better to use a minimal amount of water while cooking sabudana. Usually, moisture from the soaked sabudana is enough for the preparation. You should also note that tapioca pearls have no flavour, they are bland. Therefore, adding rock salt, black pepper, green chillies, and red chilli powder can help you amplify the flavours of the delicacy.
Reheat On Low Flame
One crucial cooking tip to note is to reheat the pearls at a low flame. You can sprinkle some water on the top to loosen the ingredients, but make sure not to go overboard with it. This will ruin the leftovers. In most Indian households, people avoid refrigerating sabudana-based dishes. However, if you have to, let the dish sit outside at room temperature before you go ahead and reheat it.
