Vella Sevai / Indian Rice Noodles with Jaggery

The last few days, I have been boring people with my posts on Indian rice noodles called sevai. I dedicated some time to make these noodles using two different methods, and prepared the most common savory and sweet versions using the noodles.

In this post, I am wrapping up the series (at least for now!) by writing about another method of preparing the rice (to make the noodles), and summarizing all the different ways in which the noodles can be prepared. Firstly, you can either make a rice batter or rice flour. Then, you can either steam the rice batter to form "idlis" and then put the idlis through a noodle press and make the noodles, or you can make a rice dough with the batter/flour, cook the dough and then press through a noodle maker, or you can put the rice dough through a noodle press to make noodles and then steam the noodles. Sounds a little confusing? I have tried to elaborately list out the steps below. Hope it helps!

I'm also sharing a very simple recipe to sweeten the noodles. Savory versions of the noodles are more common than sweet versions. But, this sweet version is really the easiest of all. All it takes is to make a jaggery (or brown sugar) syrup that's flavored with coconut and cardamom. Mix and cook the sevai in this syrup for a fragrant and soft dessert

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

1. 1.5 cups raw white rice / idli rice or parboiled rice (white rice is easier to handle, because idli or paboiled rice get very sticky and difficult to physically handle)
2. salt, as needed
3. a few tablespoons sesame oil
4. 1 cup grated jaggery
5. 1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
6. 1/4 cup grated coconut
7. Some nuts (optional) to garnish

Preparing the noodles:

Step 1:Prep the Rice

There are two ways to prep the rice. You can either make a batter OR you could make a flour. So, I am listing both ways, and you can pick any method that sounds easier to you :). I honestly don't think either method makes a big difference, unless you don't have a heavy-duty blender to finely grind the rice to a powder.

Prepare the rice batter:

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

OR

Prepare the rice flour:

Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours. Drain, and let the rice dry by spreading it on a clean cloth. When dry, grind to a fine powder to make rice flour. You may wonder why you need to go through this trouble to make rice flour instead of just using store bought rice flour. Not sure why, but everyone discourages using store-bought rice flour. But, I am going to experiment with store-bought rice flour soon, and update this space.

Step 2: Make Idlis or a Rice Dough

Depending on whether you made a batter or flour, there are a couple of different options. Please pick one that works for you.

If you made rice batter (pick one of the two methods): 

Try this method if you have strong arms or possess a traditional sevai press: 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. Go to Step 3.

OR

Bring to boil 2 1/4 cups of water with a tablespoon of sesame oil in a heavy bottomed pot then, go to Step 2a.

If you made rice flour: Bring to boil 1.5 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of salt and a tablespoon of sesame oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Go to Step 2a

Step 2a: If you did NOT prepare idlis: Then, Slowly add the rice batter/flour to the water and continuously whisk and stir to avoid forming lumps. This is the most difficult part of the process, especially for me, who has the arm-strength of a six year old! Keep stirring on low-medium heat, until it becomes thick and leaves the sides of the pot and comes together as a sticky mass (see picture below). Since I can't stir continuously, I reduce the heat to low (level 2 on a scale of 0-10) and cover the pot, and let the rice cook. I check in every few minutes to stir and check. If the mass is sticking too much, add some sesame oil, but worry not if it sticks.

Step 2b: When the mixture is ready, transfer the gooey rice mass onto a tray, and using a wet cloth or paper napkin shape and form the mass to a manageable size (picture above). Don't worry if it appears sticky, it will get to the consistency of a dough when it cools slightly. Keep the mass covered with the wet cloth, and check every few minutes until it reaches the consistency of a very soft dough. When warm enough to handle, grease your hands with sesame oil or water and knead the dough gently and pull it together. Then form oblong shapes of the dough.

Step 3: Make the Noodles 

If you made "idlis":

Immediately, put the hot/warm "idlis" into the sevai press (using the sev / oma podi template shown above) 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.

If you did not make "idlis": You can pick one of the two methods described below if you did not make idlis. The first method requires a traditional noodle maker / sevai nazhi to make. The second method can be easily prepared with small metallic noodle makers available (as shown in the picture above)

If you possess a traditional noodle maker / sevai nazhi: Bring  a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the oval balls of dough (you formed from step 2) and add it to the water. When the balls float on top, they are cooked. Remove the balls, put them in a traditional seva nazhi (noodle press) and squeeze out the noodles. You must squeeze out the noodles when the cooked rice balls are hot, else it becomes difficult to press out the noodles.

OR

If you possess a newer noodle maker as shown in the pic above: Grease the insides of the noodle press with some sesame oil. Add the dough to the noodle press, and using the "sevai" template shown above (same as the one you would use for sev or oma podi) squeeze out the noodles onto greased idli plates or a steamer. Steam on high heat for 10-12 minutes until the noodles are cooked (do not over steam the noodles, they will turn soggy and clump up, like one of my batches did). When cool, gently fluff the noodles with your hands to break up the coils. (Tip: try to press the noodles when the rice dough is warm and not completely cool.  This makes the pressing/squeezing process easier. Also, make sure to keep the dough always covered with a wet cloth or napkin so that it doesn't dry).

And your noodles are ready!

Prepare the Sweet Syrup:

1. Add 3/4 cup of water a pot. Add jaggery and stir to dissolve it on medium heat. Keep stirring on medium-high heat for about 5-7 minutes until the jaggery begins to bubble, froth, and turn slightly thick. If you drop the jaggery syrup it will drip a little slowly, indicating that it has thickened a little. It's always safer to under-cook the syrup than over-cook, because overcooking the syrup could turn things into candy!
2. At this stage, reduce to medium heat, add coconut and cardamom and mix well. Then add 4-4.5 cups of prepared noodles and stir gently. The mixture will look liquidy, don't worry, keep stirring for 5 minutes or so until the mixture thickens and leaves the dies of the pan, and there's hardly any liquid. 

Remove from heat and garnish with some nuts. Serve at room temperature or chilled. As it cools, the sevai will get thicker. 

This is a nice and light dessert after a heavy meal.

So, there ends my sevai series for now. I write soon about idiyappam (the coiled steamed noodles) and a popular vegetable and coconut stew soon! But I need to take a break from writing about noodles ;)

Variations:
If there's left over sevai, you can make lemon or coconut sevai, or mix with pulikachal to make puli sevai, or mix with sesame spice blend to make yellu sevai, or mix with spiced lentils to make paruppu usili sevai, or mix with spiced black gram to make ulutham sevai.