Sabudana Wada

Here's a recipe for Sabudana wadas (little Indian patties made from sago seeds) that I've recently adapted from what I remember of the recipe my grandma used when I was a child.

Ingredients:

Medium Sago seeds - 3 cups

Potatoes - 4 medium-sized (floury ones such as those used for mash)

Handful of fresh coriander

Small green chillies - 3 (or to taste)

Peanuts - 50 g (or more if you like it to taste more nutty)

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Vegetable / sunflower oil - for shallow frying

How to do it:

Take about 3 cups of medium sago seeds (smaller seeds tend to crumble quickly into a paste). Put them in a bowl and cover the sago with the minimum amount of water such that the water does not rise above the level of the seeds in the bowl.

Let them soak for about 6 hours or until the sago seeds are soft enough that if you squeezed one between two fingers, it would crumble / be mashed.

Boil 4 medium potatoes (plus a few extra) until the potatoes are fully cooked. Mash the potatoes with a small amount of salt and a few chopped green chillies (if you can't get Indian green chillies use Thai bird's eye chillies) and some chopped fresh coriander. Mix the potato mixture with the soaked sago seeds. The potatoes help bind the sago seeds together so we can form them into little patties later, so don't hesitate to add / remove a few potatoes depending on how floury your potatoes are. Add half a teaspoon of salt (or to taste) and mix.

Pound a good handful of peanuts in your pestle and mortar. Empty the crushed peanuts into the dish containing the sago seeds and mix. Make small flat-ish dumplings from the sago-potato-peanut mix. The dumplings should be of about 5 cms diameter and about 3 cms thickness.

Heat a wok with vegetable / sunflower oil; the oil should be about 4 cms in depth from the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot (test by dropping a small portion of the sago-potato mix into the pan; if the oil is hot enough the sago will rise to the surface), place a few dumplings in the hot oil. Make sure that the dumplings are atleast 1 cm apart from each other

Turn the heat down to a medium flame and allow the dumplings to turn golden brown on either side by turning the dumplings over as you cook them.

Drain the dumplings on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Dont hesitate to vary the spices and salt to suit your palate.