Friday, November 30, 2007

Savor the Sevai

Dear Foodies,

I hope all of you have had a chance to enjoy these delicious sevai. If not, its high time you did ! Sevai are rice noodles and can be made fresh or bought in a dried form at the store. They have a very delicate flavor and are smooth and soft when cooked, unlike pasta, that has a bite when eaten. Made the right way they are light and fluffy as the clouds. Dress them up with a flavor you love and you will love it even more ! They can be thought of as rice and can be made into lime sevai, Sweet Til (nuvvulu) sevai, Coconut sevai, Tamarind sevai. For a spicy touch it can also be served with vegetable kurma, chole or any gravy.

You can serve it as a nice refreshing breakfast or make it a light tiffin (or dinner) in minutes. My mother made some fresh sevai for last year's Ganesh Chavithi, you can find the recipe at the end of this post.

Cooking store bought sevai:
The one I used here is the dried rice noodles you get in the store. It is sold as Idiyappam (Rice noodles) in the Indian grocery store. They look like spiral noodles and to cook them you just need soak them in some boiling water for a few minutes (6-8). Check them frequently and look for the color to change to a nice opaque white and the noodles feel soft on touch. Any longer and you might end up with a white mush. Once cooked drain them well in a strainer.

Nuvvula/Til Sevai:

Deliciously sweet & comforting
Step 2 of the Procedure in this post also has the recipe for it. I roasted the sesame seeds and placed them on a tissue. Instead of using the blender I used the chapati rolling pin to coarsely crush them. I used a vegetable peeler to shave bits of jaggery. Mix them together and add some fresh ghee for a 'out of the world' experience. This sweet & crunchy mix is my favorite way of eating sevai. It simply warms your heart adding a festive touch to your mood. Please do not skip the ghee, even a teeny tiny drop will create magic. This is a nice way to pamper your sweet tooth too :)

Lime Sevai: (For 2 spirals)

Lime n lemony'
Heat 1/2 Tbsp of oil and splutter 1 tsp mustard seeds. Add 1 tsp of chana dal & 1 tsp of Urad dal and brown them. Chop a few Curry leaves, 2 green chillies and add it to the oil. As they turn crisp turn off the heat and add 1 tsp of turmeric powder and hing (asafoetida). Toss this over the sevai and season with salt to taste. Handle the noodles delicately and you will be awarded with a beautiful dish to plate (The taste is anyways awesome :D) There are very few ingredients here and so you need to have all of them to get the best flavor combo. You add some roasted cashews or peanuts for the added pizazz.

For the coconut sevai, use the same tadka ingredients as for the lime version, but replace the green chillies with red, skip the turmeric and add 1 Tbsp of grated, fresh coconut for about 1 cup of cooked rice noodles.

Pair the sevai with chutneys like - coconut, tomato or ginger chutney. Make them fresh or buy the ready-made ones, no matter which you choose I can promise you will love them.

Happy Cooking !

P.S: Bee, you were to get one of these for Click-noodles event, but I was too lazy to post :( I am going nuts :D

15 thoughts:

Anonymous said...

Very very nice! I didnt know much about these so thanks for all of your information.

VegeYum

Indian Food Rocks said...

I'll take your lime sevai over the sweet one! Good after school snack, you think?

Priya said...


VegeYum: Welcome to my space & thank you for guiding me to yours. I just browsed thru your posts and they look very interesting and detailed. Have a lot of catching up there ! And do try the sevai...they are yummyyy

Manisha: The lime is very very goood. I thought I liked that the most, but tasting the til one after ages just brought back soo many memories that it bounced to No.1. Very easy to make, even some fresh grated coconut with sugar and may be a lil of your butter...now I am hungry :(( bad..bad..Manisha :((

Indian Food Rocks said...

Hey you post all these yummy recipes and I am bad?! :-D But you're 2 hrs ahead of me so you'll get home sooner than I can get to my kitchen!

And where are those Grand Canyon pics?

bee said...

sesame seeds are allowed for CLICK december, you know.

somehow i have never taken to slithery things like sevai and vermicelli payasam. i don't even like pasta and noodles all that much. we have one participant who dedicated a post to how much she dislikes noodles, and i thought,'gosh, she is right.' :D

Rajitha said...

i love sevai priya..but honestly i miss the ones you make from scratch :(...but on another note..i have never eaten savai with til...looks good..will give that a try..if i make the fresh ones...

musical said...

Lime sevai is the best! Your picture is making me super-hungry, guess thats what i would make for dinner tonight :).

KALVA said...

lovely combo...Great pics dear!

Siri said...

One lovely looking Sevai Priya. These taste so good and so easy to make..:) Love the pics too!

~ Siri

Meera said...

Lime n' lemony sevai looks very inviting!

Finla said...

Wow i want them. Look so tempting and delicious

Unknown said...

wow!! wht an idea priya..amazing..looks very yummy!

Anonymous said...

yummy..padmapriya..vachinappudu evi anni chesipettali sare ne!

Kasi Arumugam said...

Wow! So many ways of making Sevai dishes! Nice blog, and nicer pictures.

We have an innovative Automatic sevai maker called SevaiMagik. Please visit www.sevaimagic for more info.

Anonymous said...

I love sevai. I have used the MTR sevai rice sevai you get in the stores. But i am waiting to steal my mom's sevai maker. I am longing for some sevai now.

Thanks for sharing.
I like the way you write. Nice recipes as well.
Archana
http://www.archanaskitchen.com/

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