Tapioca Pearl Patties – Sabudana Tikki

I love tapioca pearl patties. They are my all-time favorite. My mom used to make them when we were growing up and I couldn’t get enough of them. Now my kids love them just as much and we all enjoy them from time to time. And the best part, they are gluten free.

Growing up in a Hindu household meant observing all kinds of Hindu festivals. One of the religious festivals that the Hindus celebrate is called “Navratri”. Translated it means 9 nights. Hindus tend to “fast” for 8 days and on the 9th day they celebrate by feeding young kids and breaking their fasts. On the 10th day, they celebrate by burning an effigy of “Rawan”.

Fasting during these 8 days means keeping away from all kinds of grains, legumes, alcohol, etc. During this time, these patties, known as Sabudana Tikki are very popular, since they have all kinds of things that people are allowed to consume.

The ingredients for Tapioca Pearl Patties

There are not too many ingredients in this recipe, but the flavors will amaze you. Although traditionally, onions would not be part of the recipe, I enjoy adding onions to mine.

Ingredients List for this Indian Recipe:

• 3/4 cups tapioca pearls
• 2 baking potatoes
• 1 green chili
• 1 small red onion
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon dried mango powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 teaspoon of black salt (or pink Himalayan salt)
• Oil for pan-frying

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Soaking the Tapioca

The first step to making these delicious tapioca pearl patties is to soak the tapioca pearls. Tapioca pearls are hard and can not be used as they are, so we need to soften them by soaking them in water. To do this:

• Add 3/4 cup of tapioca pearls into a measuring cup or a bowl and cover them with water – about 2 cups worth of water.
• Let them soak for about 5- 6 hours and soften.
• Subsequently, we can discard the water they were soaking in. It is no longer needed.

Comparing the Tapioca Balls:

Once the tapioca pearls have soaked, they will not only soften but also increase in size. The pearls also become a little translucent as they soften.

Making The Potato and Spice Mixture

The next step is to boil the potatoes.

• Peel and chop two baking potatoes into large chunks.
• Boil them till they are soft all the way through – just like you would when making mashed potatoes.
• While the potatoes are boiling, finely chop one small red onion and one green chili.
• Grate one teaspoon of ginger and set them all aside.

Once the potatoes are done boiling, we can make the patty mixture.

• In a large bowl, add the potatoes and mash them.
• Next, add:
  • tapioca pearls
  • chopped onion
  • chopped green chili
  • grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon dried mango powder
  • 1 tablespoon cumin powder
  • and 1 teaspoon of black or Himalayan salt.
• Mix everything together so that the spices get evenly distributed.

Adding the Peanuts to Tapioca Pearl Patties:

We are ready to add the roasted peanuts to the potato mixture.

• Add 1/4 cup of roasted peanuts to the bowl and mix so that they get evenly distributed.
• The peanuts are optional of course. I love the texture of the peanuts when they get fried, but you can skip them altogether.

Making the Sabudana Tikki:

Finally, we can start making the patties. The recipe makes 10, 2-inch patties. To make it easy:

• Divide the mixture into 10 equal parts.
• Take one part, roll it into a ball, and then flatten it into a patty. You can even out the sides once you flatten it so it looks nice.
• Repeat the process until you have all 10 patties formed.

Pan Frying the Patties:

Let’s get frying and enjoy our delicious snack.

• Heat a cast-iron pan, (or a non-stick pan) and add 2 tablespoons of oil to it. I add about 2 tablespoons of oil to my pan and I can cook 5 patties at one go.
• Once the oil heats up a little, place the patties on the pan.
• Let them cook for about 3-4 mins. I tend to rotate them around, so they cook evenly.
• Flip the patties once and add another couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan. Cook them for another 3-4 minutes. The patties should brown all over and get crispy on the inside.

Serving Suggestions:

Enjoy these gluten free patties warm with:

• a side of my mango and coriander chutney
• and my perfect cup of chai.
• my pumpkin latte goes really well with this recipe too.

Variations:

There are a lot of variations we can make to these patties / tikkis:

• If allergic to peanuts, replace them with cashew nuts or unsalted roasted pumpkin seeds.
• Don’t like onions or are fasting, skip the onion altogether.
• If you don’t have dried mango powder, replace it with one teaspoon of lemon juice.

Tried and Liked the Recipe?

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