Sabudana Kheer (Tapioca Pudding)

Sabudanna ke kheer
(Tapioca pudding)

Sabudana kheer is a delicious dessert made with sabudana (Tapioca pearls) and milk and flavored with cardamom and saffron. Sabudana kheer especially prepared during Navratri festival or during some of the fasting (vrat) days, but one does not need to be on fast to enjoy this delicious sabudana kheer. It is very simple and easy to cook and looks nice with bubble like sabudana over milk.

Sabudanna is also known as Tapioca or sago. Tapioca pearls are white and become soft and spongy when soaked in water and turn translucent after cooking.

Various dishes can be prepared from sabudana as it is easily mixes with a variety of tastes, spices and other ingredients. Sabudana khichdi, sabudana vada and Sabudana papad and crunchies are widely prepared in north India and sabudana dishes are also prepared for the people who are sick as it is easy to digest.

Ingredients:

½   Cup small sabudanna (tapioca pearls)
4    Cups of whole milk
3    Tablespoons of sugar or to your taste
1    Tablespoon of thin sliced almonds
½   Tablespoon of thin sliced pistachio nuts
      (optional)
¼   Teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
       Few string of saffron

Sabudanna (Tapioca pearls)

Soaked Tapioca pearls

Directions:

1. In a bowl, add tapioca pearls and wash. Add
     1 cup of water, cover the bowl and let the
     tapioca soak for 1hour or until tapioca
     become soft but not mushy. If the pearls are
     still hard then soak little longer. Each pearl
     should be soft to the touch then it is ready to
     use.Tapioca will soak up most of the water
     and become light and fluffy.

2. Place a stainless steel heavy bottom pan on
the stove on medium low heat and add 4 cups
of milk. Bring the milk to boil, stirring
frequently because milk tend to burn from the bottom.

Boil the milk in a pan

Milk start boiling

3. At first milk will boil and rise up, but after few minutes it will settle down. Reduce the heat, and let the milk boil until it reduce to 85 percent, while stirring occasionally and scraping down the sides of the pan.

4. Drain the water out from the tapioca and add in the boiling milk and let it cook for 5 to 6 minutes, or until tapioca is soft and has become translucent, making sure stirring occasionally and scraping down the sides of the pan frequently.

Milk is reduced

Add soaked tapioca and mix

5. Add crushed cardamoms seeds, saffron strings, sugar and half of the sliced
      almonds and mix and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes or until you have the
      desired consistency, turn the stove off. Once the kheer cool down it becomes
      thick like pudding.

6. Transfer the kheer in the serving bowl and decorate with other half of sliced
almonds and sliced pistachio nuts.

7.  Kheer can be served chilled or warm. If like chilled then place the dish in the
     refrigerator.

Add crushed cardamoms, sliced almonds, saffron and sugar and mix

Sabudanna kheer is ready

Sabudana ke Kheer

Tips:

1. Sabudana kheer become thick when it cools down, so keep in mind the consistency you want in case you want to serve it cold. If the kheer become too thick then add some milk and mix.

Please take the time to let me know what you think about my recipe. Your comments would be helpful to me to improve the recipe.

Thank you

Geeta Seth

Other recipes:

Kheer (Rice Pudding)                                                   Phirni (Rice pudding)

Makhana kheer (Puffed lotus seeds)                     Carrot halwa (Ghar ka halwa)

Vermicelli (Seviyan kheer)                         Lauki ka halwa (Bottle gourd halwa)

Shrihand  (sweet yogurt)                             Seasame seed burfi (Til ki burfi)

Sabudanna ke kheer (Tapioca pudding)

Sabudanna ke kheer
(Tapioca pudding)