During the nine-day Navratri fast, when you crave something crunchy, spicy, and tangy with evening tea, you can prepare a homemade mix of sabudana and potato instead of buying expensive and unhygienic ready-made snacks. This mixer combines large niwalona sabudana, crispy potato slices, makhana, fried peanuts, cashews, and raisins, giving even a simple fasting dish a delightful taste.
A pungent seasoning of rock salt, black pepper, and amchur powder makes this snack significantly tastier and healthier than packaged alternatives. The advantage of this homemade version is that when stored in an airtight container, it remains perfectly crunchy and fresh for an entire month.
The following ingredients are needed for preparation: 4 large raw potatoes (for slicing), 1 cup of large sabudana (niwalona/for frying), 1/2 cup of peanuts, 1/2 cup of makhana, 10-12 cashews and raisins, 8-10 curry leaves, and 2 green chilies (optional), 1 teaspoon of rock salt (to taste), 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of amchur powder or chaat masala (according to fasting rules), as well as peanut oil or ghee for frying.
Peel the potatoes and grate them through a coarse grater into a bowl filled with water. Wash the potatoes in clean water 3-4 times to remove starch. Then, boil them in boiling water for 1 minute, immediately transfer them to cold water, and spread them on cotton cloth to dry. This method ensures that the slices will be snow-white and super crunchy when fried in oil.
Fry the dried potato slices in well-heated oil over medium or medium-high heat until lightly golden and crispy, then remove them.
Heat the oil to a high temperature. Then gradually add the niwalona sabudana and fry, stirring constantly with a spatula. On high heat, the sabudana will increase in volume, become large, and very crunchy.
Separately fry the peanuts, cashews, raisins, and makhana on low heat for 1-2 minutes until crisp, then remove them. Also fry the curry leaves and green chili.
Mix all the fried ingredients (potato slices, sabudana, dried fruits, makhana) in a large bowl. Sprinkle rock salt, black pepper, and amchur powder on top, mixing gently. After completely cooling, transfer the mixture into a glass or plastic airtight container.