Shevayi - 2 recipes

Aayi’s recipe for shevayi

Ingredients:
Boiled rice (use the white one to get white shevayi) 1 cup
Salt

Method:
Soak the rice in water for around 8 hours. (Soak in the morning so that it can be ground in the evening and shevayi can be prepared the next day).

Grind it to smooth dough. The dough consistency should be in between idli and dosa dough. (Not too watery like dosa dough and not too thick like idli dough). The dough should be very very smooth (Use cold water while grinding to avoid too much heating of mixer/grinder. Touch with hand and the small rice particles should not be felt). Add salt and keep it aside for overnight at a warm place for fermentation (since there is no daal, it will not ferment much like dosa/idli batter, but it will ferment a bit).

Note (added on Aug 19): Use one tea spoon of coconut oil/butter while grinding the batter, this makes the shevayi more tasty. (I got this tip while googling and it worked out for me).If there is too much water standing on top of the batter, discard it. Grease idli stand and pour the dough in it. Steam the idlis for around 10mins.

Grease the press with oil(preferrably use coconut oil) and take 2-3 idlis at a time in the press and turn the handle of press to get shevayi. (Keep the remaining idlis closed, if they become cold, it is almost impossible to press them. After each round, grease the press with oil. Usually coconut oil is used to grease the idli stand as well as the press. This increases the taste).

Traditional Konkani method of shevayi : Here boiled rice is not used, instead any normal rice and coconut is used.

Ingredients:
Rice 1 cup
Coconut 1 cup
Salt

Method:
Soak rice for 2-3 hours. Grind to a smooth paste.
Heat a large pan, pour the dough and keep mixing it. Cook till the mixture becomes thick and finally turns into a ball like chapathi dough (it takes around 10mins). When it is still hot, make big balls of this dough and steam them in cooker (like idlis) for around 10-15mins.
Take the balls in the greased press and make shevayi.

With this method, there are chances of breaking shevayi in small pieces. If the consistency of coconut becomes more or less or the dough is not cooked properly, the shevayi does not come out in long strands. So I prefer the first method, where chances of screwing up the shevayi is less :D.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 90 mins