Sabudana thalipeeth and Sabudana Kheer

Sabudana (Sago) is a popular item used in Maharashtrian cooking, especially during "upaas/vrat". I decided to use this to make one savory and one sweet dish for Nupur's Blog Bites - Iron Chef event.

The first dish is called Sabudana Thalipeeth. To me, this dish has all the good flavor of Sabudana Vadas, without the excess fat. The ingredients are pretty much the same, but the vadas are ofcourse deep fried whereas these thalipeeth are made flat and shallow-fried. I roast them on a non-stick pan with just a few drops of oil/ghee (clarified butter). These thalipeeth make for a good breakfast or snack item, in addition to being suitable for "upaas".

I pretty much followed Nupur's recipe for Sabudana Thalipeeth. The only change I made was to use red chilli powder instead of green chillies, so my daughter wouldn't bite into a chilli while eating it.

Here's how I made these Sabudana Thalipeeth:

1/2 cup sabudana - rinse in cold water 2/3 times, drain and keep aside for 1/2 hr

1 large russet potato - boiled, peeled and mashed

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp crushed peanuts (unsalted)

1/4 tsp red chilli pwd or to taste

1 tsp salt or to taste

1/2 tsp sugar or to taste

Chopped cilantro

Mix all the ingredients well. Divide into about 8 large lemon sized balls. Flatten each on a plastic bag with your finger tips till you get a disc shape. Make a hope in the center. Transfer gently to a medium hot non-stick pan and roast with a few drops of oil or ghee till golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Coming to the sweet dish, I made Sabudana Kheer from this recipe from Aarti's Corner. I associate this dish with my mom's cooking, I have a memory of her standing over the stove stirring this kheer. This is the first time I made Sabudana kheer. The one change I made from Aarti's recipe was to use sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar, I like the consistency this gives to kheer and also I had some on hand that needed to be used up soon.

Here's how I made my Sabudana Kheer:

1 cup sabudana - rinse in cold water 2/3 times, drain and set aside for 1/2 hr

1 cup milk

3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

few strands of saffron

big pinch of cardamon pwd

very small pinch of nutmeg pwd

chopped nuts to garnish - pistachios, almonds, cashews - roasted in the microwave for abt 2 mins.

Mix the milk and swwetened condensed milk in a heavy bottomed pan and heat in medium to a gentle boil. Add the sabudana and cook on medium low till they become transcluscent and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cardamon pwd, saffron strands, nutmeg pwd and heat another few minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the roasted nuts.

I like to eat this Sabudana Kheer quite hot, but it tastes good cold too. The kheer will thicken as it cools, so add a few tbsp warm milk later if desired.

This Sabudana Thalipeeth and Sabudana Kheer go to the Blog Bites Iron Chef event at One Hot Stove.