This thick, creamy, and perfectly sweet sabudana kheer is usually made during Hindu fasting days and made with 3 main ingredients - tapioca pearls, milk and sugar (plus, flavor & garnish).
Wash Sabudana: Take sabudana in a colander and rinse under running cold water. Massage the pearls lightly while rinsing to get rid of excess starch and dirt. Check if they are washed properly: When sabudana is added to the water and water should look clear (not cloudy anymore).
Soak: Take washed sabudana in a bowl. Add ½ cup of milk, cover and let it soak for 1 ½ - 2 hours. After the soaking time, sabudana pearls get bigger in size.
Make Sabudana Kheer: Take milk in a heavy bottom pan and turn the heat to medium.
Drain the soaking milk from sabudana using a strainer and add to the pan. Keep sabudana aside.
Let the milk come to a simmer. Take around 1 tablespoon of hot milk and add to a saffron bowl. Let saffron soak in the milk so it releases its color and flavor. Keep it aside.
Keep stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan while the milk is simmering. Simmer milk for around 3-4 minutes or until it starts to thicken.
Add Soaked sabudana. Keep stirring occasionally and continue cooking. Simmer for around 8-10 minutes or until sabudana becomes soft and transparent. Check one pearl by pressing between your thumb and index finger. It should mash easily without any effort.
Add sugar, saffron milk, cardamom powder and almond, cashews. Mix and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
The kheer should thicken nicely. Keep in mind that it will thicken more as it cools down. So at this moment, it should be thick yet flowing (pourable) consistency.
Notes
Check cooked sabudana texture: It should be soft, and slightly slimy without any bite to it. And it looks translucent.Nuts & Dry fruits: You can use other nuts like pistachios, walnuts, chironji (charoli), chopped dates and figs. If adding lots of dates then you can skip (or reduce) sugar.Consistency of sabudana kheer:
When it is hot/warm (right after cooking), it should have a pourable (flowing) consistency.
As it cools to room temperature, it will thicken more and becomes a pudding-like consistency.
If your store it in the fridge, it will thicken even more. So if planning to serve chilled then keep your kheer slightly runny to begin with.