Sevai Recipe | How to make Sevai in a traditional way?

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Sevai known as Rice Noodles is a traditional dish made from Rice. It is also called Santhakai or Santhavai in the Kongunadu region of Tamil Nadu. It is similar to Idiappam except the type of rice used and the method of preparation. Now a days we get instant sevai in the market but my mother-in-law always make this from scratch as described in this recipe. Traditionally Sevai is made using Sevai Nazhi (Sevai Press) which was one of the essential household item in the past generation. Once the Sevai is made this can be served plain or we can further make different sevai in different flavors. The commonly made sevai are Lemon Sevai and Coconut Sevai. I have given the recipe for plain sevai and lemon sevai in this post.

Conventional way of making Sevai:

Soak the Parboiled / Idli rice for 2-3 hours
Grind the rice to a smooth batter
Cook the rice batter along with salt and oil to a thick dough in a kadai (like we cook for Kozhukattai mavu)
Make dumplings out of the sevai dough and steam cook them in the pressure cooker
The cooked dumplings are then put inside Sevai Nazhi and squeezed to make noodles.

The squeezing process is indeed tiresome. We need to hold the legs of the sevai maker with our legs and turn the handles with both of our hands. Usually the kids and family members takes turns to press the sevai. If the cooked dumplings are warm, it will be easier to squeeze and if the dumplings become cool, it will be very hard to squeeze.

Can we do Sevai without Sevai Maker (Sevai Press)?

Yes, Surely. We can use Thenguzhal/Idiappam Mould to make Sevai. Only difference is instead of cooking dumplings and then squeezing, we need to first squeeze the prepared sevai dough and then steam cook as we do for Idiappam. The detailed recipe to make Seavai using Thenguzhal/Idiappam Mould is given in the link below

Recipe to make Sevai using Thenguzhal/Idiappam Mould

How to Serve Sevai?

Sevai is usually served plain with Pulissery and Pappad in my MIL’s place (Nagercoil). It is an ultimate combo.
Sevai can also be served in different flavors. We first need to crumble the noodles and then flavor them. Some of the commonly made sevai varieties are
1. Lemon Sevai: We need to follow exactly the tempering we usually make for lemon rice and instead of rice we can toss the crumbled sevai and mix well
2. Tamarind Sevai: We first need to prepare tamarind based mix as we prepare for Puli Aval or Tamarind rice and then toss the sevai and mix gently
3. Coconut Sevai: We need to prepare the tempering and fry the coconut till light brown as we prepare for coconut rice and then toss the sevai and mix gently
4. Coconut milk and Sugar: We can also serve the plain sevai with coconut milk and sugar, like we make for Appam.

Tips for making Sevai

Rice and Dough - Use Idli Rice / Parboiled rice for making Sevai. Soak the rice for about 4 hours before making dough. The dough should be smooth and prepared like Dosa dough consistency. Wet Grinder is recommended to make the dough but your an also use Mixer Grinder.
Cooking of the Dough - The dough should be cooked in medium flame till its soft, non-sticky and like chappathi dough consistency. Use heavy bottom pan to cook. We should continuously stir while cooking the dough otherwise it will stick to the bottom and may get burnt. This may be little difficult if the quantity is large. You may need additional help to stir the dough continuously. It will be harder to stir when it becomes thick.
Steam cooking the Dough - You can use any steamer / Idiappam steamer or Idli plate to cook the dough
Pressing the Dough - Press the cooked dough when it's hot. When it gets cold, it becomes hard and hence difficult to press. So, press the dough when it is hot. You may need additional help for someone to hold the legs while pressing. Take turns among the family members to finish the pressing.

How Sevai is different from Idiappam ?

Sevai and Idiappam are usually mistaken as same dish. Technically both are different. Sevai is made using Parboiled/Idli rice. Idiappam is made using raw rice. Also Idiappam is almost instant, we can use store bought rice flour and make Idiappam instantly, but on the other hand for Sevai is not instant. Though the time and effort for making sevai is more than Idiappam, still the taste of sevai is worth the effort.

Recipe card for Sevai recipe | How to make Sevai with Sevai Maker:

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES:

SOAKING RICE

Take parboiled rice / idli rice in a mixing bowl. Add water and wash the rice thoroughly. Drain water and add fresh water to washed rice. Soak for 3 hours.

PREPARING SEVAI BATTER

Drain water from soaked rice and add it to wet grinder. Add water little by little and grind it to smooth batter. The batter should be like dosa batter consistency.

Add salt and grind for a min and then pour the batter in a mixing bowl.

COOKING SEVAI BATTER

Heat a heavy bottomed pan. Pour the ground sevai batter. Stir continuously in medium flame till it becomes thick like a dough.

If you take a pinch of dough and roll it, then its the right consistency. Switch off the flame. Allow the dough to cool off till you are able to touch.

Take big lemon size dough and roll it like a dumpling. Similarly repeat for rest of the dough.

Heat water in a steamer. Arrange the prepared rice dough dumplings in steamer plate and place it inside the steamer.

Steam cook the dumplings for 10-12 mins. Break one of the dumpling and check if the inner portion is also cooked. The inner portion should look pale white. If you have bright white inside, it means the dumplings still need to be cooked for more time.

MAKING SEVAI

Once we are ready with sevai, take the sevai maker (Sevai nazhi ). Wash it thoroughly. Add 2 dumplings inside the small container of the sevai maker. Keep the rest of the dumplings inside the steamer so it doesn't get cooled off. If the dumplings get cooled then it will be very hard to press and make rice noodles.

Then using the lid press and turn the handles in clockwise and you can see the dough starts to come out like noodles. Repeat the same for the rest of steam cooked dough dumplings.

Sevai is now ready. We can relish it morkuzhambu/Pulissery.

MAKING LEMON SEVAI

Heat sesame oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add split urad dal, chana dal, peanuts and fry till the dal turns light brown color. Add chopped green chili, curry leaves, turmeric powder, asafoetida and give a good mix.