Sanya's Recipe Explorer: Sabudana kichdi

Namaste

Namaste and a warm welcome to all.

As you can see my blog is about food and recipes. I love eating and trying out new recipes all the time.

Very often we mum's think of healthy and interesting food options that we can make for our kids especially when they are back from school knowing that their lunch boxes never come back home empty. Hence I always feel its important to give them a healthy and wholesome snack once they are home. When my kid comes home from school I always try and give him some source of carbohydrate combined with proteins along with this, a fruit and milk, or puddings made from milk. Kids normally can't eat too much at one time, so the portions can be small but giving them a little from each of these food group ensures a balanced meal.

I have some interesting ideas that I'd like to share with you all. You might find some of my recipes very basic but I am hoping that my blog is helpful not only for Indians but for people all around the world! Indian food is quite popular and enjoyed by most, so hopefully you can attempt recipes from here and make it yourself now, in your kitchen. Please do go through my recipes and give it a shot at trying them. Let me know how things turned out and if you enjoyed your experience of cooking.... Feel free to get in touch, share your experience, leave a comment or ask any questions you may have. Thank you for stopping by and taking a look! I do hope its helpful.

Happy cooking!

Sunday 3 June 2012

Sabudana kichdi

Sabudana (sago) & Kichdi (the word "Kichdi" is derived from Sanskrit. It is a mix of daal (pulses) and rice, boiled together with spices and some more ingredients which may vary) is a popular Indian breakfast dish. It can also be served as an evening snack with tea or coffee. Although this dish is not a mix of pulses and rice it is still called a kichdi (probably because it is a mix of 2 different types of food items-potato and sago). It's one of my favorite dishes. The sago tends to get very lumpy and sticky when you cook it. If you add some coarsely ground peanut and then cook the sago, every grain comes out separate and will not be lumpy. What we need to achieve is the separated texture and not the sticky one. Follow the recipe and you will get the perfect sabudana kichdi. Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup of sago (available in all Indian stores).

3-4 tbsp of coarsely ground peanuts.

1 big potato or 3/4th cup diced potatoes(diced into squares).

Fresh coriander for garnishing.

2-3 tsp of lemon juice (optional).
1-2 green chillies.
2 tsp of cumin (jeera).
6-8 curry leaves.
Salt as per taste.
1 tbsp of oil(for frying the potatoes).
2 tbsp of oil for cooking the sago.

Method:
Heat oil. Once the oil becomes hot, add diced potatoes.

Add salt, stir and cook on a medium flame.

Lower the flame and allow to cook. If you like you can cover with a lid and cook, however open and stir to check in between after every 2-4 minutes.

The potatoes have cooked now. Keep them aside.

Wash the sago well. Drain out all excess water and keep aside for 1 hour. This will allow the sago to soak up all the water that was retained.

After about an hour they will look bigger since the water would have been soaked up.

Run a knife through to break any lumps that may have formed.

If you feel it is very dry, you can also sprinkle some water on top using your hand.

Add salt and stir well.

Coarsely grind the peanuts and add into the sago.

Stir well.

Heat oil. Once the oil becomes hot, add cumin.

Add green chillies (do not cut them or else it will make you cough when added in hot oil, if you have to chop them then add them when you add the sago).

Add curry leaves. Let them all sizzle a bit and then add sago.

Stir well and cook on a medium to low flame.

The stirring is almost continuos. You can stop just in between for a few seconds to take a break from the continuos stirring. You might also want to adjust the flame from low to medium and then low again.

Add the cooked potatoes now and stir.

If the sago has cooked it should look transparent or translucent. When you taste, it should be soft in the center and not hard. If it is hard you need to cook more. Total cooking time may be around 8-10 minutes for the sago to be cooked from the inside.