Saggubiyam Vadiayalu (Sago Crisps)

Most summers across Andhra Pradesh, you will find terraces filled with plastic sheets spread out and held down with stones, and various shapes and sizes of crisps drying out in the sun. In fact, this is mostly done in the first half of summer (March – April). So whenever We made a trip back home for the holidays, The crisps would be ready for us to consume! 🙂

Ready to fry!

There are various kinds of crisps or vadiyalu as they are traditionally called. They are made with various dals or rice, sometimes even mixed proportions of all! 🙂

Since my marriage, my mother-in-law has been making for us. This year, since she was with us during early summer, I took the opportunity to note some of her recipes down. So here are the saggubiyam vadiyalu. 🙂

NOTE: Most of the measurements/amounts  were shown by hand and not with any measuring cup; I have given approximations based on my personal understanding. This is the traditional way of working in most families. Recipes, and amounts, differ on this basis. And that also accounts why one person’s cooking may taste better than another’s even though they made it the same way with the very same ingredients! 😀

 Ingredients:

• Nylon sago – 1/2 kg
• Green chillies – 1/4 kg
• Salt – 1.5 tsp
• Water – 6 ltrs
• Black hing (asafoetida) – 1 tsp (approximation as these are broken pieces)
• Juice from 2 lemons
• Large plastic sheet ( 4ft x 6 ft)

Procedure:

• Boil water in a large vessel (approx 8-9 ltrs size)
• Simultaneously grind the chillies and black hing. Add a little water to ensure it grinds properly to a very fine paste.
• Once the water boils, add the chilli paste and salt to the water and mix well

The water and chilli paste boiling away

• Wash the sago and set aside.
• When the chilli water boils, gently add the sago while constantly stirring
• Keep stirring until it thickens, and the sago has become completely transparent and fluffy to look at. Turn off the flame.

Note the color change after the sago is added

The texture is thick, and ready for spreading out

• Spread out the plastic sheet at a place where you will get a lot of direct sunshine and hold down the corners.
• Take a tea spoon and pour out approximately 3/4th spoon amount of the batter onto the sheet.

freshly spread out…

.. and beginning to dry out. See how the sheet is pulled by the drying vadiyalu

• Keep a litre of water handy. Be sure that the batter is liquid enough to spread a bit and not stick to the spoon, but not runny.
• Once they dry out completely the vadiyalu will come off the sheet by themselves. However, they will need about 2-3 days of good sunshine to dry properly
• Store in an airtight container.

all ready to be stored / fried up!

Couple of points to be kept in mind are:

• It’s a good idea to complete the process before8-9am in the morning. This is for 2 reasons:
  • You can take full advantage of the sun during the day
  • Your feet won’t burn on the hot terrace while spreading out on the sheet! 😉
• Do not make in the 2nd half of summer (May-June). By this time the winds will start carrying dust, as well as the unpredictable pre-monsoon showers can play havoc with the process of drying the vadiyalu.

This vadiyalu will last in storage for about a year. Actually, I’ve never tested that out: the vadiyalu never really last the year! 😉

At any time you can deep fry them in hot oil, without a worry! It can be served with hot rice and sambhar, pulusu, pulusu-kura or even pindimiriyam!

Sabudana Khichidi

As a kid growing up in Maharshtra, I always had sabudana khichidi.In Maharashtra, most hotels serve it only on thursdays, as that is the day for fasting. And during fasts in Maharashtra, sabudana khichidi is an acceptable breakfast. In Andhra, this is just a breakfast snack, and not restricted to fasts.

Sabudana is basically tapioca pearls used for cooking. These are about 2mm in diameter, or even somewhat larger. They are used for making khichidi or payasam.

I normally make sabudana khichidi as a breakfast item at least once a week. It is a quick and light snack, and quite filling too. The original snack is quite oily, so I make it with less oil. The same taste, without the oil. 🙂

Ingredients:
1 cup sabudana
3 green chillies
1 medium-sized potato
1/2 inch piece of ginger
coriander leaves, chopped
juice from 1 lemon
handful of groundnut, crushed to small peices
1 tsp jeera
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

• Soak the sabudana in water, till the water level just covers the sabudana. Let it soak for about an hour.
• Peel and chop the potatoe into small-sized cubes
• In a wok, heat 1 tsp oil and add jeera
• Once the jeera starts popping and changing colour, add the potato peices and fry till lightly brown
• Add the groundnut and fry
• Once the groundbut started turning brown, and the potato is also done, add the chillies and ginger
• Fry for a a moment for that the flavours of the chillies and ginger are released.
• The sabudana which has soaked will be dry to touch and opaque to look at. Add the salt and suger and mix well.
• Add the sabudana and a bit of the coriander.
• Keep stirring till the sabudana turns transparent. You may add a bit of water to help with the stirring.
• You may also add a bit of dessicated coconut for added flavour.
• Once the sabudana is completely cooked, take off the flame and add the lemon juice.
• Mix thoroughly and garnish with the remaining coriander.
• Serve hot.

In Maharashtra, this is served with some sour curds mixed with a couple of spices, salt and sugar. The acidic tastes forms a nice backdrop of the slightly sweet taste of the khichidi.