Instant Pot Sabudana Kheer

Hassle-free Indian Sago pudding

• CuisineIndian
• CategorySweet
• CourseDessert

Ingredients

• 1 cupSabudana (Sago/tapioca pearls)
• 1½ cupsSugar
• 2 cupsCoconut milk
• 2 cupsMilk
• 4Green cardamom
• ½ cupSultanas
• ½ cupRaw cashews
• 2 tbspGhee
• 1 pinchSaffron

Preparation

1. Set Instant Pot to Saute (Normal) and add the ghee
2. Once ghee is heated, add cashews and sultanas and saute till cashews are slightly brown and the sultanas swell up
3. Remove the cashews and sultanas and pour out the ghee
4. Heat 2 litres of water in a kettle and add to Instant Pot
5. Add sago and stir
6. Put on Pressure Cook (High) for 6 minutes followed by QPR (Quick pressure release)
7. Pour into a sieve and wash with cold water and drain
8. Crush cardamom into powder discarding the skin
9. Add milk, coconut milk, sugar, crushed cardamom and saffron to pot
10. Set to Saute (Low) for 30 minutes and stir every 5 minutes
11. Add fried cashews and sultanas and the washed sago and stir
12. Set to Saute (Low) for 5 minutes and stir gently

So why use an Instant Pot to make Sabudana Kheer - it is not like I am getting paid for it. With that legal disclaimer out of the way, there are two reasons - body count and multi-tasking.

The body count is the trail of dirty pots and pans left behind once the cooking is complete. With the steps followed, you make it all in the Instant Pot and you don't even have to rinse in between. Apart from that, it is just the spoon, sieve and may be a bowl or a plate to stash stuff in. The milk goes in the end so there is no starchy residue and the pot can be easily cleaned.

Multi-tasking refers more to the need to watch the pot like a hawk. Cooking the sabudana is always a pain. It takes for ever and one can never be sure when it is done. The last specks of a white centre disappear very slowly. Keep it for too long and the starch starts washing out. With the Instant Pot, it needs no attention apart from the pressure release once you hear the beep indicating the end. The pearls come out perfecty cooked without a white centre. The cooking period is fast and the pearls do not lose their shape. There is no need to presoak the sago either.

Thickening milk has its own multi-tasking challenges. It has to be constantly stirred. Take your eyes off and it may boil over. Or worse still, the bottom may burn. The taste and smell of burnt milk is all pervasive. You have to toss it out and start again. And air the kitchen out while you are at it. Once mixed with coconut milk and sugar, the milk tends not to boil over. The temperature of an Instant Pot can be controlled well and it never reaches a point where it can burn the milk. All you need to do is stir it every 5 to 10 minutes.

There are two ways you can simmer on an Instant Pot - Slow Cook or Saute. The temperatures of Slow Cook are roughly 85 °C (Low), 90 °C (Normal) and 95 °C (High). The tempertatures for Saute are roughly 140 °C (Low), 170 °C (Normal) and 190 °C (High). Between 95 °C and 140 °C is the Valley of Death. Many things, like meat, are cooked somewhere in this range and the Instant Pot does not do it! A beef dish braises so well at 110-120 °C but you are out of luck. I just cannot see the reason for this major flaw.

In any case, for thickening milk, this valley is a problem. 95 °C is too low and too slow. But with the coconut milk in the mix, 140 °C can still do it. So use Saute (Low) for this.

Start by putting the Instant Pot on Saute(High) and melt the ghee. Once it is hot, add the cashews and sultanas and brown them. The centre of the pot is raised and the ghee collects away from it. So spread the cashews and sultanas accordingly.

Remove the cashews and sultanas and drain most of the ghee out. Leave a coating behind. This prevents the starch of the sabudana from sticking to the pot. Rather than waiting for filling it water and heating it up, heat the water in a kettle, it is faster. Throw in the sabudana and give it a stir to separate the grains. Put the lid on and put it on pressure cook (High) for 6 minutes. And this is what it looks like once done, every grain cooked to the core.

Drain the sago in a sieve and wash it with cold water. It does tend to clog up fast. Stir with a metal spoon or rub the outside to wash off the starch.

You don't need to rinse the pot once the sago is emptied. Add the milk, coconut milk, sugar to the pot. Sprinkle the powdered cardamom and saffron on top and stir. Saffron takes a long time to release its colour. Putting it at this stage ensures that the colour leaches out. This is a slow process and it will continue to shed its colour over the next day or so. Use a wooden spoon to stir the milk - a metal spoon can scrtach the interior.

Put the pot on Saute (Low) and stir it every 5 minutes. The saffron has released most of its colour. The whole process should take about 30 minutes. The proportion of milk and coconut milk can be varied. The coconut milk can even be dropped completely but it does add a nice taste to it.

Check the consistency and heat it a bit more if needed. If you think you have gone too far, add a small amount of water. Once thickened to the right consistency, add the fried cashews and sultanas and then add the sago. A bit of a stir and then saute for 5 more minutes.

As you can see, it is not messy. The pot is pretty clean above the level of the kheer. It is a nice and shiny stainless steel pot. You could just serve it in the same pot. I wonder if you need to take it to someone's place, you could just put the lid and take it across. It is unlikely to splash around and there is zero chance of it ending up on your car seat.

Through the whole time, the pot was never really rinsed out. If you ended up serving it in the same pot, that was the only item apart from the spoon and the sieve that needs to be washed.