Wet grinders and mixers  have made our life easier by replacing old traditional tools of cooking. However, there are some traditional cooking tools which can never be replaced by the modern ones. One such example is the traditional Shavige/Rice Sevai Press Tool.

Shavige / Rice Sevai is a popular dish from coastal Karnataka region that is prepared using traditional Shavige press tool.

It is served with a sweet dish called the Kaayi Haalu (Sweetened Coconut Milk). But my favorite is home made tender mango pickle (midi uppinkaayi) and coconut oil 🙂

So without further more write up, here is the step wise recipe for the Shavige / rice sevai preparation.

Tools Needed : Wet Grinder and Sevai Press Tool

INGREDIENTS:

Parboiled Rice / Idli Rice – 4 cups

Shredded Coconut – 1 cup  full

Thin Poha / Thick poha – 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

METHOD

Wash and soak idli rice with enough water for an hour.

In a wet grinder, add a cup of water and run the grinder. Now add the soaked and drained rice to it.

Next add the shredded coconut. If you are using a store bought shredded coconut, defrost it before using.

Next add the poha.

*If using thick poha add it to the soaked rice 20 minutes before grinding.

*If using thin poha, just sprinkle some water on the poha till they are soggy and soft.

Grind the rice, coconut and poha well. Add water if needed.

Make sure the consistency is similar to that of a dosa batter – not too watery nor too thick.

Transfer the batter into a container, add required salt and mix well.

In an idli maker / idli cooker / any pressure cooker, add enough water needed for 1 hour of steaming.

Grease big steel tumblers / idli moulds if you do not have any tumblers with coconut oil.

Pour the batter and steam for exactly an hour.

Once done, just slide a knife around the inside edges of the tumbler and take the cooked sevai dough out.

Cut them into pieces so as to fit into the press container. Make sure to cover the dough with a wet kitchen towel so as to prevent the dough from drying out.

Put the dough into the pressing container and press them to get the sevai.

Once done with the pressing of all the dough, place them in a container, cover with a wet kitchen towel or clean wet muslin cloth and close it with a lid or a plastic cling wrap if you are not consuming it immediately. Doing this will prevent the sevai from drying out and hence remains soft even if is not hot.

Serve with some sweetened coconut milk or pickle / coconut oil.

I can vouch that there cannot be anything yummier and comforting than this food 🙂