Sabudhana Kichadi

I usually stop by my colleague's cubicle for a little chit chat after warming up my lunch in the kitchen. Conversations vary from how the weekend was, how the traffic was that morning, how the kids are doing and obviously how is work :-) . And definitely, we will have a conversation of what we have in our lunch boxes. That is when I came to know about this kichadi which I have never had before. She offered this kichadi once to me and I absolutely loved it. It was so puffy and light with a little crunch in between. Of course I wanted to make it for dinner that day. I did not get a chance to get the recipe from her. So I called another friend of mine on my way back from work and asked if she knows about this dish. She told me the recipe for this dish and that is when I discovered that it needs some prep work and I will not be able to make it for dinner the same day :-(. But I made it for next day's dinner and we both loved the taste.

My friend who gave the recipe also gave me her grandma's idea of adding split moong dhal to it and that tasted even better. But today I made it without the moong dhal. So please don't search for the moong dhal in the picture.

Soaking the sago is the whole trick in this dish. I did not pay proper attention to soaking the sago part once and ended up with a gooey thick ball that directly went into my trash can. So please be careful with soaking the sago with just enough water. That makes a lot of difference.

Ingredients:

1. Sago/Javarisi/Sabudhana - 1 cup

2. Roasted peanuts - 3/4 cup

3. Salt - as needed

4. Sugar - 1 tablespoon

5. Oil - 2 tablespoons

6. Cumin - 1 teaspoon

7. Curry leaves - few

8. Potato - 1 medium (cubed)

9. Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoons

10. Lemon - 1/2

11. Cilantro - to garnish

Method:

1. Wash and soak the sago at least for 8 hours or overnight. The amount of water should be just enough to immerse the sago.

2. Make the roasted peanuts into a coarse mixture just by pulsing it in the mixie/blender couple of times.

3. Mix the soaked sago with the ground peanuts, salt and sugar and keep it aside.

4. In a pan, heat the oil and let the cumin seeds splutter. Add curry leaves and potatoes, turmeric powder, salt and saute till the potatoes are cooked right.

5. Now add the sago mixture and mix it with the potato masala. reduce the flame to medium and let the sago cook completely. Stir in between. It should be cooked without lid and no water is needed since sago is already soaked.

6. Once the sago is cooked add the juice of half of a lemon and remove it from heat.

Garnish it with cilantro and enjoy!

Tip: Cooked moong dhal can be added in step 5 when u add the sago mixture. Moong dhal should not be cooked too much. It should be just right.