Thread: Sevai

hi all,

Sevai is a healthy dish made from rice fits into the description of rice noodles. As kids we were happy to learn if sevai is made for evening tiffin. Probably the ladies who has to make may not have enjoyed much. The tedious work involved can easily put off the idea of making sevai. In most of the houses, the help from male members is warranted while pressing the steamed dumplings. In olden days it was the wooden/brass type. It calls for great strength to press them. Imagine the work involved when it has to be made for a family of 10 (I had stayed in a joint family then).Thanks to the new technology pressers available which requires less effort making it easier for ladies.

Ingredients
Parboiled rice (Puzhingalarissi) - 3 cups

coconut oil - 3 tblspn
mustard seeds - 1 tspn
chana dal(kadala paruppu) - 1 tblspn
red chilly - 3
green chilly - 5 nos
curry leaves

Method
Wash and soak the rice in water for 4 hours. Grind the soaked rice with salt to a fine paste. The batter consistency should be thicker than idli batter.

I am giving three ways to prepare the steamed dumplings. Every house has their own way of making it

1)Sauteing the rice batter into dough and make dumplings and cook the dumplings in boiled water (My amma follows this method).

2) Sauteing the rice batter into dough and make dumplings and steam cook the dumplings in an idly steamer

3) Spoon the batter into oiled idly moulds and steam cook for 10 minutes . This is the easiest of the three,according to me.

Press the dumplings into sevai using a sevai press. As soon as it is pressed, sevai is left to cool on a plate. While it is warm, gently separate them.

Heat oil, Season with mustard. When mustard seeds crackle, add chana dal. When dal turns light brown, add red chilly broken into two, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Add to the pressed sevai. Serve with any chuntey of your choice.

The base sevai can made into Lemon/Coconut/Tamarind sevai. You can convert the base sevai into any exotic dish as you would do with rice. Its all up to your imagination

iyyerram,

Sevai is a wondeful dish which I like. It is easily digestible also.

After completing daily dosage, please make it as a pdf booklet and upload it in the forum

Please keep it up

All the best

Iyyerram/***

I also grew up eating 'sevai'!! Little did I know that 'sevai' and 'Idiayappam' were the same!! I learnt that lesson recently (in Chennai) at a restaurant . I wonder if the word 'sevai' is brahmin-language for idiayappam!!

Namassadhasae

I think idiappam and sevai are different items. Idiyappam with kuruma, thengaippal etc. easily available in hotels is not the sevai we mean.
Brahmin item sevai is different. Lime sevai, curd sevai, coconut sevai, are some varieties of this brahmin sevai. Sevai itself is like rice (sadham).
En ammavin kaiyAl niraiya sevai sappittirukiraen.

I also guess sevai got its name because of the seva aspects (somewhat hard physical work), involved in this service). Sevai means service. Is it not? Ha ha!

அவரவர் இச்சையில் எவை எவை உற்றவை அவை
தருவித்தருள் பெருமாளே!

Hi,

Good tip sir.Every time I try to make sevai it ends up in failure and one day my nazhi itself broke.