
‘Sabudana Vada‘ is popular Indian snack prepared using potatoes and sabudana (sago pearls). It is firm, crispy from outside while soft inside. Sabudana or sago, also known as tapioca are small white pearls which comes from tropical palm trees. This sabudana is hard in texture and needs to soaked in enough water before using for any recipe. In Indian cuisine, sabudana is used to make variety of recipes and one of them is Sabudana Vada.
A simple dough mixture is prepared with soaked sabudana and boiled potatoes along with seasoning ingredients. This dough then divided into small balls and deep fried to make sabudana vada’s. Crispy – crunchy and lightly spiced vada’s tastes super amazing. It has light sweetness from potatoes and sago; cumin adds earthy flavours with nutty taste from peanuts. You can relish these crispy vada’s for breakfast or evening snacks; serve with ketchup or chutney and hot cup of tea.
Typically, sabudana vada is a deep fried recipe but I generally like to make it in appe pan. Appe pan is a type of frying pan with multiple round cavities (Refer below images, It is generally used to prepare famous south Indian recipe -appe or paniyaram). You can make wonderful crispy vada’s in this pan with less oil and deep frying can be avoided (incase you wish to do so 😉). This method results into equally tasty sabudana vada with minimum oil.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sabudana
1/2 cup peanuts
3 small boiled potatoes
2-3 green chillies
1 & 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Salt for taste
Oil for frying
Method:
Start with soaking sabudana in water at room temperature.
Add water just up to the level of sabudana pearls. Do not add too much water else sabudana will turn soggy.
(I am using mini sabudana pearls here; thus 30 -45 min of soaking is enough. If bigger pearls are used, then soak them for at least 4-5 hours.)
Meanwhile; dry roast peanuts over medium-high heat until dry and crispy. Roughly ground roasted peanuts.
Take boiled potatoes and roughly mash them.
Add soaked sabudana and peanuts to mashed potatoes along with finely chopped green chillies and cumin seeds.
Season with salt and combine everything well. Our dough mixture for sabudana vada’s is ready.
Make small balls to fit into cavities of Appe pan using this dough mixture.






Take appe pan over a high heat. Once pan is hot, add little oil in each cavity.
Transfer dough balls into each cavity and fry them over medium-high heat.
Add some more oil over the top (if required).
Keep turning these balls until golden brown from all sides.





Once they are cooked remove from the pan and transfer over paper towel.
Sabudana Vada or Appe are ready to serve. Serve them with chutney or ketchup; they even goes well with some sweet curd.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and would love to try sometime. If there are any suggestions, feedback or questions then I am all ears.
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Recipe

How to make Sabudana Vada in Appe pan
Equipment
- 1 Appe Pan generally used to prepare famous south indian sanck – appe or paniyaram
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sabudana pearls any variety – small, medium or large
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- 3 nos boiled potatoes small size
- 2-3 nos green chillies
- 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
- salt as per taste
- oil for frying vegetable
Instructions
- Start with soaking sabudana in water at room temperature.
- Add water just up to the level of sabudana pearls. Do not add too much water else sabudana will turn soggy.
- (I am using mini sabudana pearls here; thus 30 -45 min of soaking is enough. If bigger pearls are used, then soak them for at least 4-5 hours.)
- Meanwhile; dry roast peanuts over medium-high heat until dry and crispy. Roughly ground roasted peanuts.
- Take boiled potatoes and roughly mash them.
- Add soaked sabudana and peanuts to mashed potatoes along with finely chopped green chillies and cumin seeds.
- Season with salt and combine everything well. Our dough mixture for sabudana vada's is ready.
- Make small balls to fit into cavities of Appe pan using this dough mixture.
- Take appe pan over a high heat. Once pan is hot, add little oil in each cavity.
- Transfer dough balls into each cavity and fry them over medium-high heat.
- Add some more oil over the top (if required).
- Keep turning these balls until golden brown from all sides.
- Once they are cooked remove from the pan and transfer over paper towel.
- Sabudana Vada or Appe are ready to serve.
Notes
- Soaking of sabudana is really important here. Many times sabudana turns soggy if soaked in excess water. To avoid this, use water just up to the levele of sabudana pearls while soaking.
- These days different sizes of sabudana pearls available in the market. This recipe works with any available variety.
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