Method:

Soak 1 cup sabudana or tapioca pearls in water for 5 hours at least or overnight. I soaked the sago overnight and in the morning they had become soft. Sabudana can also be soaked for 2 hours. I get a hard quality of sabudana and soaking for 2 hours does not help. So I soak sabudana overnight. So depending on the quality of sabudana you can even soak for 2 to 3 hours or more.

Drain off all the water completely very well from the soaked sabudana.

Boil the potatoes. Peel and then mash them.

Cool and then coarsely powder in a mortar pestle or in a dry grinder. You can even make a fine powder.

Cool and then coarsely powder in a mortar pestle or in a dry grinder. You can even make a fine powder.

Now take some portion of the mixture in your hands and shape them into flat round vada or patty.

Heat oil for deep frying in a Kadai. Add a tiny ball made from the mixture. Fry it on medium flame. If this ball does not break while frying, then you are good to go. Now gently place the vada in the oil. Keep the flame to medium while frying. If the oil is cold, sabudana vada will absorb a lot of oil and become soggy.

Add the vada for frying depending on the size of the Kadai. Do not crowd the Kadai or pan. When one side gets golden, then only flip the vada. Otherwise, don’t even touch as they might break if not cooked. Turn over a couple of times so as to fry the sabudana vada evenly. Fry till they are crisp and golden.

Remove them with a slotted spoon. Place on kitchen paper towels to absorb excess oil. Prepare vada with the remaining mixture this way.

Serve sabudana vada with sweet curd/yogurt or green chutney. You could also serve them with tomato sauce.