Javvarisi Vadaam (Sabudana Fryums)

Javvarisi Vadaam – A complete guide to making Sago Fries at home!

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind making dishes that a normal home cook obviously shies away from? Like ready-to-eat pasta, graham crackers, cheese… or fryums? How easy is it to walk in to a store and buy these things these days?

Availability of all these things (and then some) has made our life easier for sure. But the satisfaction that comes from making these things at home from scratch is something you can’t buy! One such recipe is that of the Javvarisi Vadaam – or Sabudana Fryums.  

My memories of making Javvarisi Vadaam dates back to summers of the late 90s… As a kid, I’d visit my grandparents during summer vacations.. And watch as my grandma painstakingly made a large batch of the mixture and patiently made hundreds of these fryums. A desire to recreate that at home and share it with all of you led me to trying this out (with my Ma’s help of course). And let me tell you – although seemingly simple, it requires some good arm strength to be able to stir and make a huge batch of the mixture.

Modern appliances have simply taken over the load from the shoulders of people who love to cook. They are technology based and get even the most difficult tasks finished in minutes. From using a blender for mixing and pureeing food to an atta maker for kneading dough, grinder to prepare smoothies, they can be seen in every aspect of cooking.

It turns out that your grinder can do a lot more than you know. Pretty useful around the kitchen, the grinder you have can be used to chop, grind and crush many other things. We are sure you must be using it to prepare fruit smoothie, cold coffee, dosa batter, besan batter and more. However, there are many other things you can do. We did some testing using my KENT grinder, and I found it worked really well to grind something as simple as chilli and a harder texture like the Sabudana.

Fun fact: This is known as javvarisi vadaam or vaththal to Tamilians. Chances are, your family must make a version of this and call it something else! All this is a dried up batch of flavored tapioca pearls (Sabudana or Sago) that can be deep fried and enjoyed as a snack or with meals.

So here’s how we made Sabudana Fryums (Javvarisi Vadaam) at home.

Javvarisi Vadaam Recipe – Sabudana Fryums Recipe – Printable Recipe

Javvarisi Vadaam Recipe – Sabudana Fryums Recipe – Step by step Pictorial

Add the green chilli, a splash of water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a food processor and grind to a smooth liquid-y paste.

Soak the Sabudana (Tapioca Pearls) in enough water to cover them overnight. Discard the water next day. Add it to a food processor or a blender and grind to a coarse paste.

Boil 1 litre water in a large pan with high sides. I prefer to use the pressure cooker that we have at home. Let it come to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon Salt, 2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil and the Green Chilli Paste and mix well.

Add the ground Sabudana paste to the boiling water and start to stir with a ladle. I’ve found using a wooden spoon makes the process a lot easier. Keep stirring constantly.

Cook on medium heat. It’ll start to come together in about 5-7 minutes. The ground sabudana will make the mixture gooey.

AT this point, taste and add more salt if required. Please remember – when fried, these fryums tend to get over salty. So its best to keep the mixture just a tad under-salted.

Here’s a closer look as the mixture starts to come together.

Add carom seeds (ajwain) and mix well. Don’t stop stirring.

The mixture will start to get more and more transparent and will fall off from the ladle easily.

To check if it is done, you’ll need to do 2 things – a) Pick some mixture on a spoon and let it cool. Press the sabudana pearls to check if they are soft and mushy. b) Dip your hand in water and pat the surface of the mixture. It shouldn’t stick to your hand. Switch off the flame.

You can use an ice cream scoop or a ladle or spoon to scoop out equal portion of the mixture onto the surface. Lay a clean kitchen cloth or plastic on a hard surface. Start to scoop out the mixture and pour it on the cloth. Drop each portion at a distance of  1/2 an inch from each other.

Once you pour some of the mixture on the surface, dip you fingers in water and pat each one to flatten it. You’re looking for a flat vadaam for a crispy version. It also dries up sooner. It can be thicker too. It’ll just take longer to dry up.

Place the board on which you’ve poured the mixture and formed the vadaam under the sun.

It will take around 2 days under hot sun to dry up completely. You should look for a completely dry mixture. If it is gooey or wet it will not fry up properly and will spoil sooner. That’s about it!

If you want to eat these fryums, just deep fry them in hot oil until well done.

And serve as is or as a side snack.

Here is what the dried up vadaam looks like. These stay well in an air tight container for well over a year!

Bonus section:

Incidentally, I’ve also found some cool uses for my grinder –

Herb Chopping

Dry the extra fresh herbs you have in your bucket and give them a quick spin in your grinder. Make sure you are keeping the herbs sealed in an air-tight container to maintain the freshness and taste intact.

Grind Spices

Make your meals even more tastier by using freshly ground spices. Roast them in a pan (each spice separately), keep aside and give enough time for cooling and grind them well in your grinder.

Chopping Nuts

Toss a few in the grinder and pulse them until ground.

Breadcrumbs

Running out of breadcrumbs is usual. So, this time instead of running to the grocery store make it at home. All you need to do is to toast few pieces of bread, break them all into smaller pieces and grind them well in the grinder.

Flour Milling

If you love cooking and trying new dishes, you must have encountered a situation when you wanted to try a recipe and scrapped the idea because it called for a small amount of flour, that you won’t use again in the future. Well, the next time you face any such situation, mill some flour using your grinder. It’s fast, easy and quick.

Conclusion

Now, aren’t things amazing? Make the most of the appliance you have and come up with fantastic new ideas every day to make cooking simple and easy. All you need to do is keep the safety instructions in mind while operating the grinder to prepare healthy and delicious dishes for your family and friends.

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