Ragi Iddiyapam (Finger Millet flour Shevaya)

Ragi Shevaya with Vali Randai (Indian Spinach Coconut Curry)

   

Shevaya/Idiyappam/Sevai (Rice noodles) is a very known dish across the Indian subcontinent. It is made with a special kitchen gadget called shevaya press and looks something like this.

It used to be a long affair where ladies sat and made this seamless beautiful flowing spirals of rice flour called shevaya. Then it got steamed and served with the curry of their family favorite. While growing up I have seen a lot of ladies/grandmas who made it at home in bulk and sold in the neighborhood making it a cool home business. I used to really admire them then. In my house nobody particularly loved this :(, so my mom did not make it often, we ended up buying home made shevaya and ate.

In these past few years, I have become a big fat fan of Ragi (Finger Millet) also called as Nanchni (in Maharashtra/Karnataka) . So I try to substitute Ragi with the rice flour whenever possible. Ragi has a fantastic taste to it and I love to play with it. I used my Ragi Mudde (finger millet balls) recipe to make this ragi shevaya. Comes out really nice. I don't have a traditional press at home, so am using my chakli press with a plate that is used to make sev. I will have to buy a plate that makes thinner spirals :) For now am happy with this result!

Let us take a look at this simple recipe:

Ragi Shevaya with Coconut Oil

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Ragi flour (finger millet flour)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups water (approx)*
• salt as per taste
• 1 tsp oil

ragi flour

ragi dough

chakli maker

spirals into idli mold

steam for 15-18 minutes

Preparation: 

• In a pan take ragi flour and salt and dry roast the mixture for few minutes. Simultaneously bring water to a boil in another vessel, add oil in it.
• Start adding little by little hot water in the ragi flour and with a wooden spatula keep mixing it. First, it will look like a crumbly mixture, but as you keep mixing water it forms a nice ball of dough. 
• Take a chakli maker with a plate that has many perforations(sev making plate). Put the dough into the chakli maker and squeeze little spirals of the flour into the idli mold that is greased. ( If you don't have an idli mold stand, just add the spirals in a steaming vessel and follow the same instructions on steaming)
• Keep doing it until all the dough is used up. Steam it for 15-18 minutes. 
• Serve hot with pure coconut oil or Potato Stew or any other coconut based curry. 
• Shown in the picture is vali bhaji (randai).

You may also like Ragi Mudde, Oats Rava Idli, Instant Poha Idli, Potato Stew....

Notes*: Add hot water into the flour 1 big spoon at a time. Quantity may vary a little depending on the flour quality. So keep adding till you get a soft dough.

njoY!! happY steaminG!! :)

Health Benefits: Where do I begin :) Finger Millet is a power packed grain! It is high in protein and minerals. Helpful in controlling diabetes, keeps one younger for a long period(cross-linking of collagen), reduces bad cholesterol, also has anti-microbial properties and has been found to act against a number of bacteria including Bacillus cereus, which causes food poisoning, Salmonella sp., which causes a typhoid-like fever etc. Try and include this healthy food in your diet.