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

Deepavali Treats # 1

Dear Foodies,

A VERY HAPPY DEEPAVALI TO ALL !!

I really really miss being at home for Deepavali, some how this festival shares a very special place in my heart. Its probably because of the goodies mom makes or the Lakshmi Puja at home or the new dresses that Daddy buys for all of us or the fire crackers or the festive look in the house and the neighbourhood or the non-stop Deepavali special shows on TV or its just ALL of them.

Every year we kids in our street would have a competition of who light's the first cracker for Deepavali. And so, my brother and I would be up at 4:00 am in the morning, not to get ready for an oil bath, not to help mom with the preps... but to get the first 100 wala lit on the road !!! And the excitement in the air would be really infectious, and one after the other for abt 30 mins everyone in the street would hear 100 wala's and 500 wala's going off instead of their boring alarms. And that would begin the wonderful day for us :) No matter how splendid the fireworks display in the US is, I would still prefer our small bijili pattasu, flower pots, sparklers, rocket bomb and Vishnu chakra any day !! When I was a kid, I would roam around the whole day with a gun filled with roll caps with a cowboy look and pride on my face :D And when all is over, in the night when we collect all the trash papers we would toss in a few roll caps and serpent tablets for that finishing touch :D The whole day was just AWESOME !!

Read the list of fireworks industries based in Sivakasi, one could call it the fireworks capital of India, here and its history here ( .pdf file).

Being in school, I havent found time to make anything for the Big Day. But well, there has to be a silver lining somewhere rite, its Deepavali !! And here it is, tomorrow, that is on the eve of Deepavali we have a concert by none other than the outstanding carnatic vocalist, Sudha Ragunathan rite here in the university, just 10 mins from where I am now :-) Its being organised by SABHA. Hats off to SABHA !! Well I bet all of you have heard Sudha Ragunathan, if you havent please do listen to her render a carnatic song and you will be enthralled for life :-)

Well back to the food part of this blog, every Deepavali my mother makes boondi laddu and kara mixture at home apart from other sweets & savouries. She makes them in huge quantities too and a major portion is for sharing with relatives and friends and neighbours. Deepavali is a traditional Indian 'Thanksgiving' thing.

This year though, my mother did not carry her usual enthusiasm as both my brother and I are here in the US. But well, God has His own way of getting things done :-). So my pedamma (Aunt) volunteered to make a bigger batch of treats to share with us for our naivedyam and my mom did a beautiful job at photographing every stage of the laddu making process. After looking at the pictures I felt me writing out the recipe would be redundant !! Have a look at them yourself.

All thanks to Vee for hosting the JFI-Diwali, its a wonderful idea and has lit up all our blogs. Its bringing in the festive look I was missing staying away from home :-) THANK YOU VEE

So here goes the recipe for the laddu our the family, my aunt making them, my mom photographing it, and me happily blogging about it :-) (The recipe for home-made mixture is in the previous post)

~ Boondi Laddu ~

This plate is on its way to Vee's JFI-Diwali

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Besan

• 1 1/2 cup - Sugar

• 1 tbsp - Rice flour

• 5 nos - Cardamom/Elaichi, powdered

• 10 nos - Cloves/Lavang

• A pinch of saffron color

• Few kalakand pieces

• Water for sugar syrup

Procedure:

1. Prepare the sugar syrup, by adding required amount of water and boiling it till u get the one-string consistency(see second pic below for the 1-string test). Add some saffron color and reserve.
   
   
2. Make a batter with the besan by adding required amount of water to get a bajji batter like consistency i.e., the batter needs to be slightly runny.
3. Heat oil in a kadai and on a medium flame. Now pour a spoonful of the batter into the slotted spoon and rub the batter in to make it fall like tiny droplets into the oil. You can use either a rounded spoon/cup/your hand to do this. Be very careful though.
   

   
   
4. Fry the boondi on a medium flame. Dont wait till they get crisp, remove when 3/4th done and dunk them into the reserved sugar syrup.
5. When all the boondi is done toss in the lavang and kalkand pieces in too and make small laddu's of the mixture. This is easiest when the mixture is hot. If it has already cooled down you can re-heat till the sugar melts a little bit or you can use a little milk to moisten your hands while making the laddus. The use of milk will reduce the shelf life of the laddus though !
6. The next is to wait until the naivedyam is done to pounce on the laddus :-)

Deepavali Treats # 2

Dear Foodies,

HAPPY DEEPAVALI WISHES FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS :-)

Kara Mixture
( This one too wants to go to Vee's place)

This is another deepavali-special guest at our home :-) The recipe for boondi laddus is in the previous post.

For the mixture, make small batches each of

• Thenkuzhal
• Om Podi
• Mullu Muruku
• Kara Boondi
• Maida biscuits
  
• Fried : Kabuli channa and dried green peas,Putnalu/dalia, Peanuts, Cashews, Raisins, Atukulu/Rice flakes and curry leaves

All these are then tossed together with some salt and chili powder and a spoonful of sugar !! And I can assure you its the best mixture you will ever lay your hands on. (Though I am sure each one will give this title to your moms :-) )

I dont have the pictures for each one of them and so will share the recipes alone for now.

• Thenkuzhal:

Ingredients: 2 cups - Rice Flour; 1 small cup - Urad dal flour; 1 tsp -Sesame seeds; 1 Tbsp - butter; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Bring all the ingredients together in a bowl and add some water to make a dough. No kneading of the dough required, just blend the ingredients together. Take very good care to avoid lumps. Any dry flour in the dough will lead to fireworks when put in the oil !! So be very careful. Now separate the dough into small portions and fill them one by one into the mould of the murukku press. Use the plate with three round holes for this one. Now using the murukku press transfer the dough to the oil and leave it to fry on one side and then turn it around so that it browns evenly on both sides. As soon as the dough hits the oil you will see a lot of bubbles, you will know that the murukku is done when all the bubbles subside. Use medium flame for frying.

• Mullu Murukku/Star murukku:

Ingredients: 2 cups - Rice Flour; 1 small cup -Moong dal flour; 1 small cup - Channa dal; 1 tsp -Sesame seeds; 1 Tbsp - butter; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Follow the same procedure as above. Use the murukku plate with a star hole for this one.

• Om Podi:

Ingredients: 1 cups - Rice Flour; 1 cups -Besan; 1 Tbsp - Omam/Ajwain powder; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Its the same procedure again and this time use the plate that has tiny holes. The dough might need a little more water than the ones above as the smaller wholes would nessesitate a looser dough.

• Kara Boondi:

Ingredients: 1 cups -Besan; 1/4 cup - rice floour; 1 tsp - chili powder; Salt to taste and Oil for frying.

Procedure: Its the same procedure used to make the boondi's for the laddu. But in this case fry the boondis till they are crisp.

• Kabuli Channa & Batani (dried Green peas)

Soak the channa and peas overnight and dry them on a paper towel the next day. Once they are free of the moisture fry them in the oil till crisp. Be VERY careful while frying these as these batani's and channa are mini atom bombs !! The WILL surely explode a bit when dropped into the oil due to the stored moisture within them. And so cover the kadai with a lid the moment you put them in the oil. After the initial 1-2 mins you can check to see if they are done, but until then COVER them well and stay AWAY from the stove top.

• Peanuts/Putnalu(dalia)/Cashews/Raisins/Atukulu/Curry leaves

Fry all the above in oil and drain the excess oil with a paper towel. For these you can use a large tea strainer kind of a spoon while frying. Its easier to evenly fry them using that.

Now that you have all your savouries ready, toss them all in to a huge bowl and add some salt and chilli powder according to taste. Add a few spoons of sugar too for added flavor.

And its done... :-) 'Home made Mixture' readyyy :D

Phew !! That was a huge list, never really noticed how many went into the mixture while I gobbled them up all these years !! Well, you can always add and subtract any of these , like in the picture above the mixture that my aunt made for us uses just Ompodi, boondi, peanuts, atukulu and putnalu/dalia.

Other festive treats:

Thattai

Seedai

Kozhakattai - Sweet Rice dumplings

Dear Foodies,

My mother's entry to JFI-Flour hosted by Santhi

Kozhakattai/Modak are a must during Vinayaka Chathurthi naivedyam spread in Andhra. At my home, it also finds a place in the menu on Varalakshmi Vratam and Garuda Panchami. For the Varalakshmi Vratam puja my mother makes them in a oval shape similar to that of Kajjikayalu and for Vinayaka Chavithi it is modak, a small pouch like shape.

Last Sunday was Naga Panchami (also known as Garuda Panchami in our house) and my mother made the kozhakattai as part of the naivedyam. She has sent me the recipe and the photos on time for the JFI-FLOUR event hosted by Santhi. Garuda Panchami is similar to the Rakhi festival in North India with a slight twist, the sister prays for the well being of her brothers and ties a thread dipped in turmeric on her wrist unlike the Rakhi which is tied on the wrist of her brother. There is also a short story narrating the signifincance of this vratam, I will ask my mother to blog about it soon.

Now to the recipe,

Ingredients:

Filling/Poornam # 1 : coconut poornam

• 1 cup - Coconut, grated

• 1 ½ cup -Jaggery (2 if you want it even sweeter)

• 4-5 nos - Elaichi/Cardamom

Filling/Poornam # 2 : nuvvula poornam

• ½ cup - -Til/Sesame seeds/nuvvulu

• ½ cup - Jaggery

For the dough:

• 1 cup -Rice flour

• 2 cups - Water

• pinch of salt

• ½ tsp - Oil ( preferably sesame seed/gingili oil)

Procedure:

1. Coconut Poornam:

Freshly grated coconut is the best for making the coconut filling. Take a wide pan and toss in the coconut and jaggery and stir till the mixture thickens and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add the elaichi powder and stir for another half a minute. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow it to cool. Freshly grated coconut gives this filling its best taste.

2. Nuvvula Poornam:

Dry roast the sesame seeds till they turn a slight brown. the seeds let out a winderful aroma as you roast them. Cool the sesame and coarsely powder it in a blender. Add fine pieces of jaggery to this and powder.

3. Dough:

In a kadai/vessel bring two cups of water to a boil, add a pinch of salt and 3-4 drops of oil to the water. Once the water comes to a boil, gradually add the rice flour. Hold the ladle in the center of the vessel while adding the flour and then stir continuously for 3 mins on a low flame and then turn off the heat. When the dough is still hot, transfer it to a plate and cover with a wet cloth and knead well to remove any lumps. The wet cloth is to shield your palms from the heat.

4. Kozhakattai:

Have some oil in cup and grease your hands as you make the kozhakattai. Take a lime sized ball of the dough and shape it into a cup with your fingers. First slightly flatten the ball on your palm like a disk, place your thumbs at the center of the disk, and the fingers on the outside and shape like a cup by moving the dough between your fingers.

5. Put a spoon of the filling into the cups and seal it with the dough. You can either make them round or oval in shape.
6. Steam cook the dumplings and serve.

~ Sevai ~

The kozhakattai dough can also be used to make rice noodles or Sevai. Divide the dough into balls and steam cook it for 5-6 mins. When they are still hot, place them in a murukku maker with a fine holed mould and shape them like murukkus. Top them with the til poornam and some ghee.

You can also make lime and coconut sevai, recipe here. Follow the same method you use to make lime rice or coconut rice, but use the rice noodles instead. Sevai are a wonderful and very healthy breakfast/tiffin item. The variations you can try with them are clearly left to your imagination. Do try them out, I promise you will fall in love with them !!

For the Sevai, if you want to try them out with out getting into the dough making process you can look for rice noodles in the Indian grocery stores or in the pasta section in the stores. You just need to boil them in some water just like pasta, but for a shorter period of time. You can then flavor the noodles to your liking.

If you have extra filling, shape them into mini ladoo's for an additional neivedyam item.

This recipe is also my entry to Anthony's Curry Mela this week :-)