Paruppu Usili Sevai / Rice Noodles with Spiced Lentils

Sevai is Indian rice noodles. It is prepared through a slightly involved process with ground rice flour or rice batter that is cooked, thickened, and made into noodles. There are a few different ways of preparing these rice noodles.  I discussed one method here, here is another slightly varied method, which actually works much better using a traditional iron noodle press (sevai nazhi) because it  requires a stronger set of arms! My mom and her side of the family often use this method.

The prepared noodles are mixed with many types of spicy seasonings. In this version, bengal gram and yellow lentils are ground with chillies and curry leaves and fried to a crispy crumbly mixture. The noodles are then mixed with the spiced lentils to make a really tasty dish that is packed with protein, making the dish more healthy and nutritious, in addition to being delicious.

Please refer to the Glossary for more details on the Indian ingredients listed here.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

1. 1.5 cups raw white rice / idli rice or parboiled rice (if you are trying this for the first time, go with raw white rice, because it's easier to handle)
2. a few tablespoons of sesame oil
3. salt, as needed
4. 2 dry red chillies
5. 3/4 cup bengal gram / kadala paruppu / channa dal
6. 1/4 cup toor dal / tuvaram paruppu / yellow lentils
7. 1 tablespoon whole, skinned black gram / ulundu / urad dal
8. 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
9. 1/2 teaspoon hing / asafoetida
10. few curry leaves

Preparing the Sevai:

1.  Wash and soak the rice overnight. In the morning, drain the rice and grind it in an idli/dosa grinder (if possible) to make a soft, smooth batter. Add a total of 1 cup of water (you may need slightly less or more, depending on the quality of your rice) in regular intervals to grind the rice. Add salt while grinding, to ensure even mixing. The consistency of the batter will be like that of idli batter. When you drop the batter, it will fall in ribbons (see picture below)

 2. Add 1/2 cup of water and slightly dilute the batter. Grease idli plates, ladle the batter onto them and steam on high heat for 10-12 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Immediately, put the "idlis" into the sevai press (using the sev / oma podi template) and press to make the noodles. It is slightly easier to use the old-fashioned iron sevai nazhi to make the noodles using the cooked "idlis". To make sure it's easier to press the noodles, the idlis should be warm / hot so make the idlis in small batches just before you are ready to make the noodles (another mistake I did!).

The noodles are done.

Preparing the lentil spice:

1. Wash and soak the bengal gram, toor dal, black gram and red chillies for half an hour to one hour. 
2. Then, drain the water, and coarsely grind everything with salt, curry leaves and just a tablespoon or two of water (if necessary) into a thick, almost dry mixture.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Splutter mustard seeds. Add hing and the ground mixture and fry on medium heat until the lentils begin to slightly crisp and brown (about 15 minutes). 

Consistency of the ground mixture; And the fried lentil mixture

Add 3.5-4 cups of noodles to the seasoned lentils and gently mix the noodles to incorporate it with the seasonings.

Serve with sambar or chutney for a delicious meal!

If there is left-over noodles, try flavoring with lemon juice or roasted coconut to make lemon sevai or coconut sevai.
Or mix the noodles with pulikachal (a spicy tamarind concentrate) to make puli sevai, or mix with sesame spice blend to make yellu sevai.