Sevai Recipe | Parboiled Rice Noodles Recipe

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.

Conventional way of making Sevai:

Soaking Parboiled / Idli rice for 2-3 hours
Grinding the rice to a smooth batter
Cooking the rice batter along with salt and oil to a thick dough in a kadai like we cook for Kozhukattai mavu
Making big dumplings out of the sevai dough and drop in hot water and cook till they are nicely cooked
The cooked dumplings are then put inside Sevai Nazhi or maker and squeezed to make noodles. I have attached below the conventional Sevai Maker(Nazhi)

The squeezing process is little complicated and tiresome. We need to hold the legs of the sevai maker with our legs and turn the handles with both of our hands. 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 and it may require 2 people sometimes.

My MIL makes Sevai very often and she never hesitates or feel tired of making sevai. She enjoys making and every time she makes it all by herself without even getting any help. The sevai would be utmost delicious because of her passion.

Can we do Sevai without Sevai Maker?

Yes, Surely. I have not brought Sevai maker to USA. So whenever I feel like eating, I use Ommapodi Mould and press 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.

How to Serve Sevai?

Sevai is usually served plain with Pulissery in my MIL's place (Nagercoil). Pulisery served with Sevai is an ultimate combo.
Sevai can also be served in different flavors. We first need to crumble the noodles and then flavor them
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.

Recipe Card for Sevai Recipe | Parboiled Rice Noodles Recipe:

Instructions with Step by Step Pictures:

PREPARING BATTER

Wash and soak parboiled rice for 2 hours. Set this rice aside for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, drain the water from rice and take it to mixer jar

Grind the rice to a smooth batter like dosa batter.

COOKING BATTER

Heat a pan. Add the ground batter and start stirring. Add salt and gingelly oil

Keep stirring in medium flame till the batter becomes thick like a dough. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool

SQUEEZING PROCESS

Take ommapodi mould and press. Grease it with oil. Add prepared dough and close it with press lid. Grease oil in idli plates. Squeeze out the press to make like sevai.