In the Udupi Mangalore region, Akki Shavige / String hoppers /Idiyappam is a remarkable breakfast that is not a staple. Some special occasions and auspicious days call for such labour intensive food. This is served with sambar or pickle or sweet coconut milk or any spicy curries.
Ingredients
2 cups Sona Masoori rice
1 cup grated coconut (optional)
Salt to taste
Rice noodles press / Chakli press
Procedure
Soak rice in water for 3-4 hours. After soaking wash it well and drain all the water.
Grind the rice with coconut gratings, into a smooth batter using as much water as needed. Grated coconut adds softness to the noodles. You can skip coconut and even then you'll get awesome noodles which taste perfectly great. But you have to add little more water to the batter.
We need the batter watery to medium thick. Not too watery, not too thick. For 2 cups of rice 2 cups of water should be enough to make perfect shavige / noodles.
The softness, the texture of shavige totally depends on the amount of water you add.
The more water you add to the batter, the softer noodles you get. If the batter is too watery then you get soft, sticky shavige. If the batter is too thick then you end up having very dry shavige.
So keep medium thick to get soft and perfect shavige.
Transfer the ground batter into a large wok, add salt and mix well. Check and adjust the salt.
Set the flame to medium and cook the batter. As the batter cooks it starts to thicken and solidify.
Stir the batter continuously once it starts to solidify, to ensure it cooks uniformly.
If not the batter will stick to the bottom of the wok.
Cook the batter until it is cooked through completely and uniformly. The colour of the batter slightly changes.
Make balls of the cooked batter and steam it in a steamer for 20 minutes. This process ensures the batter cooks through completely.
Once you put off the flame of the steamer, immediately press it into noodles. If not the steamed rice balls tend to harden a little as they cool and it gets difficult to press them.
Use a traditional pressing machine or Chakli/ murukku press to press the noodles.
Serve the hot shavige with any curry or sambar.
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