Like Malyalees, Konkanis love shevayi/idiyappam/sevai/shyavige. I was a huge fan of them while growing up. At my home, aayi makes the boiled rice version of these noodles for breakfast. I like that version since it is very easy to make and more healthy. But I wanted to post this, more popular method also here, for a long time now. These are bit easier to press because of the coconut. So here it is finally. (Thanks Chitramami for reminding me about this).
At native, aayi has a special shevayi danto – an equipment to make these shevayi which looks like follows. It was bought some 30 years ago, when she was newly wed. I don’t have this special equipment here, so I use normal chakli press.
I had a hearty laugh today, when aayi told me two interesting stories about these noodles. These were the two beliefs she was told, when she made these.
– At our native village, we find all sorts of insects, ants and small animals inside the houses. Most of these are harmless. But few of them, especially ants can bite. One such family of ants, that can bite is called “kenchka” in Konkani. Their bite is pretty bad. So when these show up, people pray them to go away and they promise to offer these shevayi if they go away :)). So these noodles are prepared only when the kenchka shows up in the house.
– Around Sirsi(my aayi’s birthplace), when some relatives come and stay for a long time and they don’t show any signs of going back, the women make these noodles and serve. This is supposed to be a sign to say “go away” :)). So if you are staying at someone’s home and they serve you these noodles, then you know what you are supposed to do ;).
I don’t think anyone believe these anymore, but its really funny to know such stories.
Read Manjula’s shevayi.
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup rice
1 cup fresh/frozen coconut
Coconut oil
Salt
Method:
Soak the rice in water for around 3-4 hrs.
Grind it to a smooth paste with coconut and salt, adding required amount of water. Its okay if the batter becomes watery.
Now heat this batter in a nonstick(preferably) pan. Keep mixing till all water evaporates and the dough becomes dry.
Make balls of the dough and steam them in cooker or steamer (I have a pasta cooker which I use to make rice daily. I use it as steamer also). Steam for 15mins.
Take out the balls, put them in press(apply some coconut oil to the press before putting the dough) and press to make the shevayi.
They cool immediately, so close them in a tight vessel.
Usually these are served with either mango pickle or soyi rosu(sweetened coconut milk). I like to eat it with coconut chutney also.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 55mins
Nothing can match the taste of fresh sevai (as we call it). But doing it alone is such a tiring task. I settle for store-bought ones. This is in my to-do list when my mom visits me 🙂
I have always wanted to try these!
LOL… the hints @ guests overstaying heir welcome is nice!!
Shilpa,
This shevayi made me nostalgic..in my college days,on holidays, amma used to take the trouble of timbat ghalchey, vattuche then ‘allachey’..last pain was rotating the shevayi dante..oiling it for smoothness and immediately putting in the hot undey in the dante,amma holding the plate below,me and my brother taking turns,bending over this dante which was far frm smooth,rotating it and hearing the sizzling sound when shevayi came out,mom neatly fingering out shevayi onto a plate,and immediately placing it on a wet squeezed cloth…v after 5 rounds..tired..soothing our backs once a while,later eating it wt soyi-godda rossu…was worth the trouble!! tks shilpa u returned such a lovely memory to me and my brother!
Have u tried ‘undi’ recipe,i’m not very sure, but upto steaming its same, later one tadka of coconut oil wt saasam is given on the undis.(b4 steaming they r given one finger-depression on top..try those too..these two r my ammas fave-fave recipes…she hasnt quite eaten them for a long time now due to diabities 🙁
Take care..best rgds..
Shilpa: It felt like my childhood too Purnima. After 4-5 rounds we both retired loyally ;). Then it would be my dad’s turn to finish pressing remaining batch :). I have undi recipe on the blog too.
Dear Shilpa,
In Tulu language, all the rice preparations like shevai, dosa are alled “adde” and shevai is called “Shemeda adde”. When they call “Nookadde” for the shevai that means the guest is supposed to leave.(nooku-means push) This is a wellknown joke in Mangalore also.
What if they like Shavige too much and stay for one more week?:D They will do it too you know.some are shameless relatives!!
I love sihi Shavige.My mom’s mom has that big machine and also akki rotti press just like that with flat plates below to press rottis.Thanks for posting that Shilpa:)
Everyone in our household is a big fan of shevain ! We have a couple of things to go with shevain. From my mom’s side, we use “hinga tel” which is green chillies and hing powder seasoned in coconut oil. My hubby’s side of the family eat shevain with “Piyava Gojju”: tamarind pulp, red chillies and diced onions are blended to a apste and then more raw diced onion is added to the “gojju” and finally a few drops of coconut oil are added in just before serving.
Very interesting story. I generally go for ready-made sevai rather than preparing at home. Homemades always have their own taste. Looks delicious.
yummy! nange shavige thumba ista! thanks for posting dear. my mum used to make on saturdays and we would relish it …
Wow that Idiyappam looks so nice and fresh…. I get the instant ones or frozen ones these days, even forgot what the fresh ones are supposed to taste like 🙁 … I don’t have the press to make fresh ones anyway, so I will just look at your pics and drool for now. 🙂
Funny story by the way 😀
Shilpa,
You truly have described the typical Konkani recipe ! more than that lots of my childhood memories come with it. I hope many readers like above commentetors bring their childhood memories in this Blog, It truly binds the whole community in this Virtual world.
KB
Shilpa, this is one of my favorite tiffin,even now if mom asks me what i would like to eat idiyappam will be my first choice..thanks for sharing lucky you..
Hi Shilpa,
This post brings back childhood memories!! Its so nice to read the same feelings here from so many people. We love this sevai with coconut chutney & also sometimes my Aayi would make it into lemon sevai…yummy ;p
Hi Shilpa,
There`s one more funny shevai story. Its also specially given to pregnant women who are nearing the delivery date…..its supposed to help in easy delivery!!! I too was served this, by my sister`s mom-in law..but it didn`t help much.
iddiappam is one of the traditional dishes of Tamilnadu. but dont find them in US. oh I need a lot of muscle to operate that instrument:) I am lazy to make it but will be very happy to eat them:) thanks for the great recipe.
Hey Shilpa,
Thats a lovely picture. Love the colors in the background.
One of my Keralite friend gave me her Idiyappam recipe. The ingredients and the final product are same but the algorithm is totally different from ours!
Thats a nice story. Also I heard some people saying, making shevei when you have guests isn’t a good sign..its like telling them “Its time to leave”! he he. The Kencha story might be related to this.
Thanks for linking to my blog.
When we were kids we would eat it with plain coconut oil or daalithoy. They tasted fantastic. The grown ups would eat with pickle, hingu water or even some ghasi or koddel which was being made for lunch.
Shilpa, I would suggest you try to lessen the use of non stick vessels in cooking. The coating is not very good for health and the fumes when the pan is heated have toxic properties, they may not kill anyone but we should treat out bodies with respect. A good iron/steel kadai will get easy to use over time as you cook more and more items in it. It may stick the first few times but believe me the old methods and traditions are best sometimes.
I was born and brought up in Tamil nadu. This was my favourite dish. Loved to eat it with korma, sugar and coconut milk. Havent made this for long time. Now after seeing the pictures will definetely want to make it. Thanks for sharing
Shilpa!
We used to prepare shevayi atleast once in 15 days!And we served it with either daalitoy/hinga water/pickle/potato saung and also any gravies.Its one of my fav!Tahnks for posting this recipe and also I never knew that it can be prepared using a Chakuli press!I guess I will try it one of these days, but befor ethat I need to buy a chakali press!!Thanks!!
Shilpa,
Loved reading the post…..@ the ants and the guests overstaying was funny…. i dont have a chakli press as of now, but when i do i will try making these…
Hi tried this recipe out it was very good. I was searching for idiyappam, i found an interesting recipe to make out of idiyappam
http://5starchef.blogspot.com/2007/07/idiyappam-vegetable-briyani.html
which i tried with my leftovers….it was really good.
Hi-
Thanks a lot for all the recipes.These days it bacame a ritual for me to open your website to see if you have posted anything new. your website made me wanted to try different recipes. I made ur Curried Tomatos and it was a Big Hit !!! Thanks again.Keep up the Good Work
Hello Shipla,
Thanks for posting such a wonderful traditional recipie. Brings back childhood memories of us slaving over the shevai danto 😉 ,since we are two sisters,I always took the first turn,and my sis (who loves going to the gym) took the second turn LOL. Just today morning I was complaining to ma that I havent eaten shevai for a long time,unfortunately I dont have an chakli press either,so am just going to have to wait. I wonder if you can still buy the traditional shevai danto still in India?
Shilpa: Yes Namrata, these are still available in some places in and around Mangalore. I donno which shop exactly, but one of my neighbor bought it recently.
Hi Shilpa,
My native is Kokan in maharashtra, and we also enjoy this dish there. But the machine there was slightly different. it was a wooden machine similar like the one above, but instead of the screwing action, the right unde was pressed down. While doing the kitchen wall, people used to keep a small hole in it and then while making sewaya, the iron rod like thing we used to dig soil was used to press the wooden rod. so the action done by the screw was done by a wooden rod and that rod was pressed down using the iron rod. (my mom used to say that this was the only dish where men’s help was taken during cooking). I wonder how many houses will have this machine and that hole in the kitchen wall now!!!
when my mom came to Mumbai, she missed her sewai. making it was difficult because now she had to use chakli press and after boiling, the rice unde become very difficult to press. but then one day she saw her southindian neighbour making idiappam and she got an idea. she used rice flour and made a dough of the raw rice flour. she put the raw rice unda in chakli press and then she made her idli cooker ready, put a wet cloth in the place where she used to put idlis and then just pressed the raw rice unda on it for sewayi.. she let it steam for 10 mins and the rice sewaya were ready to eat along with sweet coconut juice.
my daughter loves these sewaya too.. she calls it sweet MAGGI and atleast once a month i prepare these sweet maggi for her. and making it is very easy now.
hi i was reading through your site. there is a much easier way to make idiyappams. its something my mom and grandmom do. they take rice powder and roast it so that the powder can last for much longer period in storage. the rice powder has to be extreamly finely grounded. you get these in the supermarket now a days roasted. you just have to take a little of the powder add salt as you require and pour hot boilling water into the flour in stages and mix it with a wooden spoon very well. the water should be really hot if not you dnt get good idiyappams they end out hard.the batter should nt be wattery it should be of the correct consistency else wen you press it out of the idiyappam maker it will nt be right and when you steam to cook it ot will turn wattery and run so the batter should be slightly harder like for chappaties. and then you press it out of the presser into a iddaly plates or you gt special plates fr idiyappams in the market and steam it. this is also healthy cause it dsnt have cocont and those consered about your cholestrol could try it out more often.and since its steam cooked its verry healthy and tasty.
While squeezing the idiyappam mavu, it falls like rain drops or some times it does not come. What could be the problem.
Shilpa: Are you using the same recipe as above? If your dough is not done properly, it crumbles.
Where can I purchase a chakli press?
Do you happen to also know the name of a hand-held tool that has 4 or 5 little metal loops on the end (blades I guess) that you can use to scrape out the young coconut meat, and it makes it look like noodles? What would that tool be called if you know and where can I get one of those?
Thank you for your help 🙂
Shilpa: Stacy, chakli press is usually available in Indian stores here. I am not sure what the coconut scrappers are called :(.
Hi Shelpa
It looks very yummy. Can you please tell me where I can buy the shevayi machine shown in your web site, and the price I am trully appreciated.
Thanks
Kula
Shilpa: Kula, I am not sure where it is available. We have it for a long time now. I use chakli press. I am sure the traditional press is available in South and North Kanara.
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Dear Shilpa,
narlache kisne podu naja mohnu , amma wd scrap the coconuts outer shell (karti). ashi kartari piltana tondre jaina.
Hi Shilpa, I love visiting your recipe website. I enjoy especially the introductory notes which always has snippets of tradition which makes one nostalgic.
Your shevai/idiyappam recipe looks good and yummy.But i find it a lil cumbersome.I do it the easy way by just mixing market available rice flour with warm water and salt and lil bit of coconut milk. This semi dry dough is then directly pressed into greased idli pans through the seva nazhi ( the shevai/chakli maker) and steamed.
Hi Shilpa.
Though we make Shevai at home every Sunday, and eat it with the Vegetable Korma, I think the best combination would be the Prawn Curry and Shevai. It tastes yummy and I feel that my soul has been satisfied. Your method is so easy to make, that i am tempted to try it out this way…with the chakli press.
Your website is like breath of fresh air and is a pioneer in Konkani food. I am indeed amazed to see such detailed steps explaining everything.
Long Live aayisrecipes.
One request, I would like to learn how to make Egg Paratha. Can you please advice.
Thanks. Roopa
Hello,
I am in USA, searching for shevai making machine(Mangalore style)…any idea where I can get it here?
Thanks
Shiva
Hi Shilpa,
I tried your recipe and it was just out of this world.. I’m sure seeing my comment in almost every reicpe you can guess how much I adore your website.
I saw some queries regarding where one can get the Shevai Daante in Mangalore. I would suggest them to go to Car Street, Venkatraman Temple road and there are lines of shops who sell them, in various sizes and very reasonable price.
Shilpa
Thnk you so much Shilpa didi for this recipe. I followed the same recipe many times but with a slight variation. Instead steaming the dough balls, I pressed it first and then steamed in idli cooker. But today I followed your recipe exactly and its very very tasty and got the authentic taste ….Thnx a bunch…Where do u live ? I live in U.S.
Currently, I am in Kansas, USA
Hi shilpa the idiyappam recipe looks yummy and i am dying to try it at home. Should we use boiled rice or raw rice for this recipe. I have a chakli press at home. I have 5 blades in it. Should i use the blade with multi tiny holes could u kindly reply
Any normal rice (not boiled rice). Yes, use the one with more holes.
Hi shilpa… Im newly married and just moved to us.. Though i got the shevia press from india, havent really tried so far.. Mom suggested instant shevai using rice flour and coconut milk… Have u tried with this combination ??
I have tried this instant version.