I love rice noodles in all its forms. We call it Shevayi in Konkani, Shyavige in Kannada and Idiyappam in Malayalam. We make a couple of different types of them – aayi’s special with boiled rice and Konkani special . Both these versions require a little bit of planning as the rice needs to be soaked for few hours. I make them very often, the boiled rice version being my choice always.
Recently I saw a recipe for Didhir Sihi Shyavige – KairaLi style (Instant sweet noodles – Kerala Style) in a Kannada magazine. I have seen this in many different blogs too, but somehow never tried it. Few days ago, on a Saturday, I wanted something good for breakfast. Usually weekends are idli/dosa days at my home, but somehow that weekend, I had not prepared the batter. So I thought it is right time to try this recipe. It got ready in about 40mins or so and was lip smacking good. This is going to be a regular at my home now. Next time I will try with some spicy topping.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup water 1 cup rice flour 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 2 tea spns coconut oil(optional) 2 tbl spns sugar 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder Salt
Method: Heat water along with salt in a large pan. When it comes to boil, switch off the heat, add rice flour and close the lid. Leave it for about 5mins. Then open the lid and mix with a spoon to remove any lumps. Close and leave for another 5mins.
When it is cooled enough to touch, mix it well with hands. Add coconut oil (just to give extra flavor, it can be ignored) and mix well. Make small balls out of it, if needed sprinkle little more water.
In a separate bowl, mix coconut with sugar and cardamom powder.
Grease an idli stand with little oil. Take the balls in a shevayi dante ( idiyappam press) or chakli press which is greased with oil. Press the noodles on the idli plates. Traditionally, it is pressed on banana leaves and then the leaves are kept on the idli plates, I didn’t have the leaves, so I directly pressed them on the plates.
Now, top each of them with about half table spoon coconut mixture.
Steam it in a steamer or in a cooker(without weight) like idlis for about 12-15mins. Serve when they are still hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 40mins
PS: For a better taste, instead of ready made rice flour, make it with homemade version. Wash rice and spread it on a towel till it is dry. Grind to a smooth powder. Roast this powder till a nice aroma comes out. Store in an air tight container. Ready made “ Idiyappam flour” can be used for more taste. I used normal rice flour available in market. I made them slightly thicker as I was running out of time. They taste great when made very thin.
Appe huLi is a signature dish of Havyaks . I have been searching for this recipe for a long time now. There are many ways of making this HuLi . Most of the times, it is made with a special kind of raw mangoes called appe midi , salted for a long time. Apparently ‘appe huLi concentrate’ is also available in markets.
Since aayi has tasted this dish at one of her friend’s home, she told me it is thin and many times people drink it like rasam . Recently when going through a magazine, I found a recipe for aape huLi . Since it was very simple and didn’t require any concentrate or preserved mangoes, I tried it immediately. Did I mention I drank half of it while cooking itself?. I had to make it all over again because it got over in one go.
Once my mango stock got over, I tried the same with kokum. One of my friend had told me appe huLi can be made with kokum. I haven’t heard of this version before. But call it whatever you want – either appe huLi or mango rasam or mango drink or kokum kadi , it is THE best.
This dish is perfectly suited for the kind of extreme cold weather we are having – though it is a perfect summer drink, I am making this in winter here. It has such a soothing effect for the throat.
Ingredients: 1 cup raw mango pieces (do not include outer skin) 1 tea spn jaggery Oil 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 2 green chilies 2 red chilies A pinch asafoetida 3-4 curry leaves Salt
Method: Cook the mango pieces in water. Grind it to a paste. Cook the paste with jaggery, salt and water. Add enough water to bring it to a consistency of rasam . Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, green chilies, red chilies and asafoetida. Add this to the dish. Serve.
Serves : 2 Preparation time :10mins
PS: Increase or decrease the amount of mangoes depending on the sourness. The mangoes available here were not at all sour.
