Om Namah Shivaya !.. Happy Mahashivratri to all !

India is a land of festivities and every indian hindu festival is a celebration of food in itself. The kind of food that characterizes hindu festivals are mostly vegetarian and that too of the Saatwik type, which are vegetarian without onion and garlic. Saatwik food are considered the purest forms of food on earth or you can say that they are the cool food which brings peace to the human mind and infuse energy in contrast to the tamsik food which are energy draining, brings lethargy and their consumers to the brink of death and ultimately leads to their demise. Saatwik means power and well being in future, while taamsik and raajsik are more about ignorance, living in the present or passion driven. Saatwik person or saatwik food are always considered superior to the rajasik or tamsik food. Hence the hindu religion, going by these beliefs always favour Saatwik food habits and hence every hindu religious festival celebrate saatwik food in a big way. Hence, going by this notion, we celebrate every puja with saatwik kind of food and this Shivratri is also no different where we had this healthy totally oil free and saatwik dish to satiate our hunger pangs after the day long fasting. Sabudana is one of the common food items in India among many others that are consumed during a vrat or religious fasting. In our home, we include sabudana in many ways in our post fasting meal platter. This sabudana no oil pulao is also an outcome of our craving for something different and that too without oil, other than the potatoes and sweet potatoes that we usually consume on this occasion. My aunt prepares this awesome no oil pulao with sabudana and it is just perfect for any such occasion. It can also serve as a very healthy & tasty breakfast option especially when you are on a diet. This is a very quick and easy to make recipe that can be made simply with minimal ingredients & by adding anything you may love to have along with these usual tapioca pearls. Now jump to the recipe and give it a try :

RECIPE :

Ingredients :

1. Sabudana/ Tapioca pearls (soaked overnight) – 1 cup (small grained)
2. Potato (boiled & mashed or crushed) – 1 small or ½ medium size
3. Green peas (boiled) –  1/4 th cup
4. Coconut (grated) – 1 & ½ tbs
5. Ginger (finely chopped) – ½ tsp
6. Green chillies (finely chopped) – 1 or 2
7. Curry leaves – 5-6
8. Peanuts (roasted & crushed) – 5-6 (optional)
9. Black salt- ½ tsp
10. Rock salt/ Sendha namak – to taste
11.  Pomegranate seeds (for garnishing) – 1 tbs

Procedure :

1. Take the soaked sabudana in a bowl, add boiled and mashed potatoes, grated coconut, boiled peas & black salt and mix them together nicely.
2. Heat a pan, add grated ginger, green chillies & curry leaves and saute to dry roast them together.
3. Bring down the flame and add the sabudana mixture and roasted peanuts and saute for another 1 minute just to cook the sabudana. (Note: Do not overcook, otherwise the sabudana may turn little mushy or gooey reducing its taste).
4. Bring down from the flame.
5. Add pomegranate seeds and serve.
6. Your absolutely oil-free, yummy sabudana saatwik pulao is just ready for relishing. End your fasting with this delicious treat and feel the divinity in the flavours.