THENGAAI SEVAI/ COCONUT SEVAI

Sevai/ Santhagai or Idiyaappam is a popular South Indian Rice Noodle  made out of Parboiled rice specially in the Kongunadu belt. It is the most wanted and preferred breakfast recipe next to Idly, Vadai,Dosa and Pongal. Whenever i think of this dish it reminds me of my Mother taking pain to extrude the cooked dough out of the Traditional Sevai Press or சேவை நாழி  and calling out to my dad to assist her.  We rarely get to see this equipment these days or most of them have dumped it in their attic and have shifted to use the ready made instant Sevai from the super markets. The last that i remember seeing the Sevai Press was at a Wedding when i accidentally happened to go to the kichen. It is truly a marathon to extrude Sevai out of this equipment but would taste great after all the efforts taken and definitely gives you the best tasting end product. I used to love the colourful display of Thengai Sevai, Elumicham Sevai ( Lime), Ellu Sevai, Thengai Paal Sevai and Thayir Sevai but my personal favourites were the Thegai and Lime. 





I was chit chatting with my MIL one day discussing at length all the topics that we could and finally ended up talking about cooking.! The conversation was all about different styles of cooking and in an impulse she said lets make Thengai Sevai for the evening. I said, Amma we don t have the Sevai press. How do we go about making it? We were not at all for using the ready made ones as none of us like it much. To my surprise she said ,Lets use the Murukku press Sowmya (She meant the Oma Podi press).I agreed instantly as the idea was new to me. I have never seen anyone using the Murukku press at least not in my family. But once we completed the project i was super impressed by the outcome. So here it is for you.

Ingredients
Parboiled Rice............................ 3 cups ( Idly Rice can also be used)
Raw Rice................................... 1 cup ( I used a measuring cup roughly bigger than a katorie)
Coconut Oil...............................  2 tbsp
Grated Coconut.........................  1 cup
Urad Dhal..................................  1 tbsp
Channa Dhal..............................  1 tsp
Mustard seeds...........................  1 tsp
Peanuts.....................................  grab some in your palm and that will do
Asafoetida................................ To taste
Curry leaves.............................  2 sprigs
Green Chillies........................... 4 to 5 finely chopped
Salt.......................................... To taste
Sugar........................................ To taste
Oil............................................ To taste

Method
  • Wash and soak the Par boiled and raw rice for 4 hours and grind it to a smooth paste. Just add little water. 
  • Add water coconut oil and salt to a non stick vessel and heat. When the water just starts to boil fold in the batter to it and keep stirring with a laddle to prevent forming lumps to form a stiff dough. Cook for a while till the raw flavour leaves and until the dough starts to steam. Do not over cook as it becomes crumbly.
   
  • Once done  roll out a handful of dough and oil it slightly with sesame oil or coconut oil and push it into the Murukku mould and press down in circles over a ceramic plate or over your Idly plates to make the Rice noodles. Steam the rice noodles in a pressure cooker for 8 to 10 minutes or microwave for 1 minute in kept in high mode. Repeat until all the dough is done.

  • Collect all the rice noodle in a big plate or tray and cool. Take a handful of chopped fresh coconut and grind it in a mixer.In a non stick kadai or vessel add oil and heat. Splutter the mustard seeds, urad dhal, channa dhal,peanuts and fry.Then add the chopped curry leaves, green chilies and add asafoetida powder and saute for a minute and then add the grated coconut. 



  • Now add the Sevai, salt and sugar and mix well. Take care not to break the the Sevai too much .Remove from flame and serve hot with Coconut chutney or Mint Chutney. 


  • Sevai tastes great when it is warm. It also tastes great with Pineapple Gothsu!!!. Recipe to follow soon.
Notes
  • The ratio of Parboiled to Raw rice is important for this home made Sevai. Please do not change the measurements if you are using the above.Otherwise the Sevai will turn into a mass while steaming.
  •  If you already have a ratio tested in hand please go ahead .
  • I have not used Cilantro leaves in the recipe. Add it if you like the taste.
  • I  added Peanuts as my husband and In laws like Cashew nuts can also be added.

Comments

  1. never knew it can be made with anything other than the murukku press :P Whats a sevai press.... Really never seen it...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Sarah. Nice to see some comment on my page.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A traditional press looks like this. Take a look at this link.
    http://www.google.com.sg/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&q=traditional+sevai+press&oq=traditional+sevai+press&gs_l=img.3...1823.10351.0.10784.25.12.0.13.4.0.100.937.11j1.12.0...0.0...1ac.1.5.img.TWYcg3dADF0&biw=1024&bih=672&sei=Ido9UYLsAsbPrQf14YCYDA#biv=i%7C1%3Bd%7CzrAQX0TfSMHT8M%3A

    ReplyDelete

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Thanks for your understanding

Happy Cooking
Sowmya

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