Sabudana Papad (Tapioca Pearl or Sago Fritters or Crunchies)

By Sofia Chand

Summer is around the corner. Many of us are lucky enough to have terraces or balconies that can absorb the sun in its full glory. And for the others, there are the building rooftops. So don't miss out on this tasty homemade sabudana papad recipe. And all it takes is just 40 mins of your time (and of course a couple of days of waiting time). But I can guarantee you will never be able to eat the store-bought one once you have had these.

This recipe is very close to my heart. It is my mom's recipe and I have some wonderful memories of helping mom dole out these papads. We used to have them in different colors, green, red, orange, yellow and white of course. Once all papads were done she had to leave some of the masala in the vessel so we sisters could lick it up. It's that tasty!

What's more, for old times sake, I called my sister over to make this round of papads. Goes without saying it was a super fun weekend! 

So without much ado, here goes!

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 Minutes

Frying Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients:

Sabudana (Tapioca Pearl or Sago) medium size: 700 gms

Water: 10.5 cups (So basically 1.5 cups for every 100 gms of Sabudana)

Ginger-Garlic-Green Chilli Paste: 1.5 tablespoons

Salt: To Taste

Food Colouring - 2 drops (Optional)

Preparation:

Lay down a cotton cloth or a plastic sheet of 1 by 2 meters in the place where you plan to put the papad to dry. You will need this ready before you start cooking as you won't have much time afterward. Make sure you hold it down with some weights.

Make the ginger garlic chili paste. You just need to grind the three items together in equal proportion. Make so much so you have 1.5 tablespoons of paste ready. 

Recipe:

Step 1 - Take a large vessel and bring the water to a boil.

Step 2 - Add the Sabudana, Ginger-Garlic-Green Chilli Paste, and salt. 

Step 3 - Keep stirring to make sure it doesn't stick to the base.

Step 4 - The sabudana will start turning translucent. This should take anywhere between 15 - 20 minutes. There will be no harm if you keep it on a little longer if you feel it's not done yet.

Step 5 - If you want to make papads in different colors then this is where you separate half the quantity and add food coloring. If you want to make more colors then divide them into equal portions. It's totally optional. I made red and white papads.

Step 6 - Take the vessel out onto your terrace, balcony, or roof, wherever you have laid down the cloth or plastic, and start laying out the papad. You could just make them round or get as creative as you want with the shapes. Make sure they are not too thick or not too thin, about 1 mm in size. If it's too thick it won't fry well, if it's too thin it will crack by the time it's dried up. It should be as thin as a chapati. 

Step 7 - For now it's all done! Now sit back and relax, let the sun do its job! 

Step 8 - After about 2-3 hours turn the papads.

Step 9 - Once the papads have fully dried, time to test them out!. Heat oil in a kadhai.

Step 10 - Deep fry the papad. Make sure you hold the papad lightly in the beginning.

And you are done! Enjoy the papad!

Tips:

• The water to sabudana ratio is 1.5 cups of water for every 100 gms of Sabudana
• You can modify this spice as per your taste. The quantity given here is to make it medium spicy.
  
  
• In the Ginger-Garlic-Green Chilly paste, all three are to be taken in equal proportion. You can even make more and store it for use in daily cooking. Just add a little salt to it to preserve it. And if you add salt to it then make sure you adjust the salt quantity in the papad accordingly.
  
  
• If you are a newbie and don't know what salt to taste would mean here, then I used 1.25 teaspoons of Himalayan pink salt which is usually lighter in taste. So normal salt 0.75 to 1 teaspoon should be good.
  
  
• The Sabudana will increase in size as it's cooking, so make sure you take the right size. I used a 5-litre vessel. 
• Keep stirring the mixture, it will stick easily to the base otherwise and will be a pain to clean.
  
  
• A helping hand to lay out the papads will be good, as once you take off the gas, it thickens up very fast. Make small proportions if you don't have someone helping you with so much quantity.
  
  
• The papads will need to be out in the sun for at least 2-3 days. Make sure they don't stay wet otherwise they will catch fungus.
  
  
• Try to do the papad laying in the morning once the sun is reasonably up ( between 8:30 to 10:30 am). This will help it to get a full day of sun on the first day itself.
  
  
• You can turn the papads as many times as you like and no problem if you don't too. But turning once on the same day is definitely important.
  
  
• The oil to fry the papad must be appropriately hot. It won't fry well if it is not hot enough or if it is too hot. And be careful, there will be some splattering.

I hope you try this recipe out. Please do let me know in the comments if you tried it. Would love to hear how it turned out for you guys.

Click a picture of the recipe if you tried it and mention @girlsbuzzindia or tag #girlsbuzzindia us on Instagram .

Enjoy!

FAQs

Where can I find Sabudana Papad recipe in Hindi?

Ans. You can check out the Sabudana Papad recipe in Hindi here - साबूदाना पापड़