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Sabudana (Sago) Idli
By
DK
on Mar 05, 2012
Those days are still fresh in my mind. The days of "transition", of new beginnings, of venturing into realms unsought before. Like cooking for example- my mom is still shocked at this culinary enthusiasm of mine. But the funny part is - so am I :). We all dream of our future, don't we? Well, cooking for sure was not on mine. There were umpteenth things - but never ever in the wildest of dreams, cooking formed part of it. Let's just say, I did not hate cooking, instead, only not too interested in it :).
But it happened when the marriage happened. New place and new situation found me "jobless" - both figuratively and literally. Life was so much easier in the new place and I hardly had anything to do to keep me occupied 24X7. Having been extremely busy with my job before marriage, this sudden state of idleness simply made me even more restless. I started doing and exploring stuff that I never did before - which included cooking. Once I started reading up more and experimenting, the interest seeped in abundantly.
But it happened when the marriage happened. New place and new situation found me "jobless" - both figuratively and literally. Life was so much easier in the new place and I hardly had anything to do to keep me occupied 24X7. Having been extremely busy with my job before marriage, this sudden state of idleness simply made me even more restless. I started doing and exploring stuff that I never did before - which included cooking. Once I started reading up more and experimenting, the interest seeped in abundantly.
Idli, is one of the most loved South Indian breakfast items. Due to the cold weather, during those days, my idli(s) were almost always a disaster and hence, I started trying out other varieties. This was one of them and that time, amidst the famine of good idlis, it was such a life savor. Instead of regular rice (both raw and par boiled rice) and Black Gram Lentil (Urad), this one uses Sago pearls (also knows as Sabudana in Hindi, Jevvarisi in Tamil, Sabakki in Kannada) along with Idli rava (Cream of rice). What I love about this is the addition of yogurt. While normally sour yogurt is used, I tend to use fat free Greek yogurt for its high protein-low fat content. We especially love it when its paired with spicy chutney or sambar since the Sabudana idli by itself, like the regular idli, is bordering bland if no vegetables are added. It is little dense than regular idlis but not too dense that you find it hard to eat. If you think your idlis fall in that category, then please refer the Tips section (point 4)
Those were the days when the thought of noting down the source of the recipes did not naturally arise in my mind, as writing it down on a scrap of paper did. So now, I am left with my original source (the scrap of paper) but no clue to how and where this original comes from. The thing is, I don't even recall if this is a recipe that I tinkered with as a result of my experiments. But, I make these judiciously at least once a month with minor variations for our breakfasts.
References
from my kitchen notes
Basic Information
Prep Time: 8 hours to 1 day
Cook Time: Under 30 min
Serves: 4 people
Yield: Half the batter makes 16 idlis (whole batter makes 32-35 idlis), depending on the size of your idli mould
Ingredients
- For the Batter
- 2 cups Idli Rava (Cream of Rice)
- 1 cup Sabudana (Sago pearls/Jevvarisi/Sabakki)
- 2 cups fat free Greek Yogurt + 2 cups water (see Tips)
- 1/2 cup grated coconut (frozen works too)
- little salt to taste (see Tips)
- Tempering/Seasoning for half the batter
- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
- handful of roasted cashews (see Tips)
- 1-2 green chillies, thinly sliced, as per taste (optional)
- few curry leaves, torn
- few cilantro sprigs, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda (see Tips)
- 1 tsp Ghee (or oil)
Tips
1. Yogurt Use any sour plain yogurt you have on hand. You would need 4 cups of yogurt. Since I use Greek yogurt and its very thick, I tend to add 2 cups of yogurt mixed with 2 cups water to make 4 cups.2.Cashews: I personally use 16 - one for each idli that half the batter makes. But there is no hard fast rule for this. Use as much or as little you like - whole or broken.
3. Salt: Since Sago has a salty taste, I personally find that adding a little less salt than what you would normally add for regular idlis works best for this recipe. But its my personal opinion and taste. If you think usual amount of salt works better for you, please feel free to do so.
4.Baking Soda: More often than not, I find the given amount perfect. But there are occasions when may be cos of weather or quality of ingredients, a little more works better. Start with 1/4 tsp and if you feel that the idlis are very dense, add a pinch more next time.
Method
1
In a large bowl, mix idli rava and sabudana together.
2
Add yogurt to it. See the thickness of Greek Yogurt?
3
That's why the additional 2 cups of water. Refer my Tips section for more details.
4
Mix well along with salt until blended.
5
Cover and set aside for around 10 hours. I do this the previous night (hence the bad yellow light!)
6
This batter does not double like normal idlis.
7
Give it a good mix.
Important Note: At times I find that the batter is at the perfect consistency in the morning while at few other times I am in need of additional cup or so of water to bring it to regular idli batter consistency. In both cases, the idlis turn out fine. So feel free to add little bit of water if required.
8
Add the coconut and give it a good mix.
9
I usually at this point take half the batter and store the remaining in the fridge.
10
In a pan, heat some ghee - 1 tsp. or so. Add mustard seeds and when it starts popping, add it to the batter along with roasted cashews, baking soda and cilantro (or any vegetable you care to add). If you want to use the whole batter, simply double the ingredients in the "Tempering" section.
11
Mix it well and when blended, drop ladleful of the batter to your Idli moulds.
12
Steam them for around 20 minutes,
13
or until the knife/stick/spoon inserted in the middle comes out clean.
14
Cool it for few minutes
15
and then remove from the mould. Can you see the glistening sago pearls in there?
Serve immediately along with any chutney of your liking. I served it with Eggplant sambar and Idli Chutney powder
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15 Responses to “Sabudana (Sago) Idli”
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this is one of the superhit idlis in our family , n friends .thank you so much Chef in for this lovely recipe
I made this but with normal rava.It turned out good. Also have a little left over batter which i shallow fried like Punugulu. My easier version of Sabudana vada
Perfect Receipe. Thanks.
Hi Dk,
Thank you 4 ur reply.S the knife was clear.
may be i think the sago i used is different which is something get powder when we press hard. Next time i will try with some different sago. can you tell me what u used?
aah that could be it. I think I used the large pearled variety of Sabudana. Or at least the one that takes a lot of time to soak than just 2-3 hours variety. I think it will probably be 2-3mm – its sure not the smallest one. –DK
Very helpful recipe for me. Yesterday i made this idly, when i saw ur photo it looks spongy, but mine the taste was good but it was sticky i dnt knw why.
Did you steam them enough? Was your knife clear when you did the “doneness” test? –DK
I thought those were cookies at first! The cookie sandwich is a specialty of ours – I wonder if that concept would translate to your delicious recipe!?
The idlis came out just awesome….thanx so much for the recipe…I ate it with red bell pepper chutney.
Have soaked the stuff for 2maro morNing. Hope it comes out well. Will let u know.
hai,
will try this recipe soon, any alternative for sour yogurt? can it be replaced by normal yogurt
Yes –DK
i didnt have rawa so i used suji(semolina) … it turned out superb….
Hi DK, This recipe is very new to me. I dont have idli rava with me. Can we use regular rava or wheat rava? Should we grind the rava and sago or just a stir is enough?
I make this all the time. But instead of Idli rava I use raw rice rava. This way it does not come out dense. Also if I run out of raw rice rawa I just soak the sabudana overnight and add regular rava (roasted) along with tempering. Comes out even better. Just like rava idli with sago pearls.
That’s a good idea. Will try it the next time around Chaitra. Thank you for the tip
–DK
Perfect idli. Very new to me. Thanks for sharing
Living where I do (in central Europe), finding sour yogurt is a challenge. I have finally learned to make yogurt at home, but letting it stay at room temperature makes it not sour but sort of unpleasant bitter. I have no clue how to get sour yogurt. I have not seen fat free greek yogurt here. Most of it has 10% fat, almost prohibitive for me. I will try with normal yogurt and post the results.
I woke up this morning with a hankering for idli. I was thinking of browsing rava idli recipes because they are almost instant and thought this would be too. I too love idlis a lot and will try this recipe soon.
When to add the baking soda???
Please refer Step 10 Jaya. –:) DK