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Tapioca Pearl Fritters or sabudana/ sago vada is an amazing Indian fasting recipes. Crunchy, crispy from outside with flavourful soft fritters from inside.
This recipe is one of the very famous recipe among Indians for fasting during Navratri fasts or other fasts like Mahashivratri and Krishna Janamashtmi.
During these fasts people eat only falahari food and these Tapioca pearls come under that category and can be eaten on fasting days.

Tapioca Pearls
Tapioca pearls are made from a starchy underground vegetable known as Cassava. The starch from cassava roots is used to make tapioca pearls. Tapioca pearls are small white colored balls and have to be soaked for making any dish from it.
In India it is mainly grown in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. As mentioned above also tapioca pearls are famously used for making food dishes on fasting days. In India we know it by the name of sagu/sago or sabudana.
Some yummy dishes made with tapioca are Sago Khichdi, Sago Kheer/ porridge, Sago thalipeeth etc. You may find a few recipes of tapioca or sago on my blog and YouTube channel too.

Important Points for Tapioca Pearl Fritters
Tapioca pearl are little tricky to handle and cook. They have to be soaked for making any dish. Once you soak them they turn sticky very easily.
But in this blog, I am going to share some very important tips and tricks for making a perfect tapioca pearl fritters. So read on …
1.Tapioca Pearls – For making tapioca pearl fritters, first we need to prepare the tapioca pearls. For that proper washing and soaking trick of tapioca is important. Read in method section how it is done correctly to make perfect and crunchy tapioca pearls fritters.
2.Groundnut – Groundnuts/ peanuts are an important ingredient which can not be substituted. Roasting them well and then grinding to a perfect texture is an important aspect of this recipe. Check out below how it is to be done.
3.Binding ingredient – To make tapioca fritters we will need some binding ingredient too. Potato can be eaten during fasts so it is a perfect binding ingredient in this recipe but how much of it is to be added is the key to make this perfect Indian fasting fritters.
4. Spices – Other than these three important ingredients, some basic spices are added in this dish to make them delicious and perfect.

Some other recipes from my blog and YouTube channel;
- Mix Veg Sweet Sour Pickle
- Hara Bhara Kabab / Indian Snacks
- Pan Pizza Recipe/ Instant Pizza
- Gobi Manchurian/ Cauliflower fritters
- Restaurant Style Kadai Paneer/ Indian Cottage Cheese Curry
- Nepali Chutney/ Gorkhali Chutney
Video of Tapioca Pearl Fritters Recipe
I have made a quick video of this tapioca pearl fritters recipe for a better understanding of its process. You can take a look and check all the important steps in just few minutes. Do Subscribe to my YouTube channel “flavourhome by Sutiksha” and press the BELL icon too, so that you get instant recipe updates, as soon as I upload them and also to support my efforts. If you like these videos, kindly like and share them with your family and friends and COMMENT under the video or in blog to let me know how you made this dish.
Ingredients
- Tapioca Pearls/ Sabudana – 1cup
- Groundnuts – 1/2 cup
- Potato – 3, small and boiled
- Fresh Coriander Leaves – 3 tbsp, finely chopped
- Ginger – 1 tbsp, finely chopped
- Green chillies – 1 , finely chopped
- Salt – as per taste
- Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
- Red chilli flakes – 1 tsp
- Oil for frying
Method
1.Wash tapioca pearls/ sabudana 3-4 times. Then soak it in enough water for 30-45 minutes. After saoking, discard the water, cover the bowl and leave tapioca pearls over night or for 8-10 hours for complete soaking. In the morning you will get non-sticky and nicely soaked tapioca pearls.

2. Dry roast groundnuts till fragrant and very lightly colored. Once cool remove their skin. Now dry grind them to a coarse powder.

3. Now to the bowl of soaked tapioca pearls add groundnut powder, chopped coriander leaves, chopped ginger, chopper green chilli, salt, black pepper powder and red chilli flakes. Mix everything and combine well.

4. Add boiled and mashed potatoes. Mix nicely. Take a lemon sized mixture in your hands and press them tightly. Then shape the tapioca pearl fritters into small roundels. Likewise prepare all and keep aside for frying.

5.Heat enough cooking oil in a pan for deep frying the fritters. Heat oil and then bring the heat to medium. Add prepared fritters one by one. Add only as much as your pan can accommodate. Fry them on medium heat only else the fritters will brown quickly from outside and will remain uncooked from inside. You may lower the heat and increase it as per the requirement. generally it takes 8-10 minutes for the fritters to be properly cooked on medium to medium low heat.

6.Once the fritters turn golden brown in color, take them out. Serve hot with sauce or dips of your choice.

I would love to hear from you if you try out this tapioca pearl fritters recipe. Do mention about it in my comments section how you liked it or if you added more ingredients to it. If you make this dish and share its pics on social networking sites, do remember to add #flavourhomebysutiksha and tag me there so that even I can appreciate your efforts. I would love to see how it turned out.
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