Shevei (Fresh Rice Noodles)

Konkani Style homemade rice noodles
Shevei is rice noodles made from the scratch at home. Authentic konkani way of making sevei is a time taking task. But once you have tasted the shevei you will know its worth all the efforts.

To make shevei or fresh rice noodles you will need the following equipments
A grinder or mixer grinder or a heavy duty blender to grind the batter
shevei dante or A shevei maker- This is a special equipment designed to press noodles, available in the Mangalore area. The main part is the ricer to press the rice balls into noodles, that looks almost like the chakkuli/chakli maker. The shevei maker has a sturdy stand with 3 legs that keeps the ricer elevated at a height to ease the process of collecting the noodles. It also has handle sturdy handle on the top that helps in the uniformly squeeze action.
Traditional Shevei maker
Do not worry if you do not have a shevei maker. Use you chakkuli/ricer maker to press the noodles.

Shevei can be made of white rice or the parboiled rice, i.e. the kerala rosematta rice.
2 cups white rice and 1 cup shredded coconut or
2 cups parboiled/rosematta rice only

Soak rice in plenty of water for 9 hrs. Grind the rice and coconut into a paste. The rice should be of the consistency of the rava. Add salt.
Heat a kadai, pour 1/2 tsp oil in it and rub the whole surface of the kadai with oil. Pour the rice paste and cook on a medium flame. Keep mixing the paste till it turns in to a thick lump. see the picture. This process is called aLache in Konkani.
Rice paste made into a lump
Let it cool for 5 minutes. While the paste is still hot, take a tablespoon of the batter and make small balls. Steam the balls for about 10 mins.
Steamed rice balls before pressing into noodles
Put 2 rice balls at a time in the shevei maker and press the noodles. The noodles needs to be completely cool down before they hold their shape. Spread the noodles on a damp clean cloth. You can cover the noodles with a damp cloth and spread another layer about it.
Shevei piled between layers of damp cloth

There are 3 well known ways to eat Shevei and I love all the 3 ways. I usually eat it in 3 courses, once with each of the following methods

Serve with Sambar.

Sweet Coconut milk often is paired up with Shevei for sweet tooth. Make a thick coconut milk from a fresh coconut. Add jaggery to it. You may also add some cardamom powder. If you are planning to use canned coconut milk, do not bother. Canned coconut milk has a coconut oil taste to it, which is nowhere close to the fresh coconut milk.

I also like to drizzle a spoonful of fresh coconut oil and mango pickle on the shevei.

Churmundo (Wheat flour ladoos )

This is one of the all time favorite ladoos among the Konkani people. The ladoo is made of wheat flour and not maida. It has very little ghee in it, made dry and explodes into powder in the mouth. This was my elder brother AshokaNNas favorite ladoo and my paternal aunt used to make never ending dabba full of Churmundos for him whenever we visited her. You cant stop at one, believe me!

This recipe with the wonderful picture was sent to me by my jhaava, Nayana Shenoy. Jhaava in Konkani means husbands brothers wife. Husbands elder brother is called bhaiyyo. Nayana is a great cook. You will see many more recipes from Nayana in future.

Chana Besan - 1/3 Cup
Chapati Atta - 1 Cup
Powdered Sugar - 1 Cup
Ghee - 1/4 Cup
Cardamom Powder - a pinch

Seave besan and wheat flour separately and set aside.
Heat ghee in a pan. Add chana besan and fry on medium heat for about a minute. Add chapati flour and keep frying until you get a nice roast aroma. Remove from flame and keep aside to cool.
When completely cooled, add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and mix well.
Make laddoos by firmly squeezing a small portion of the mixture in the palm. Ghee may be added if the mixture does not stick together to form firm laddoos.

Store in air tight containers.

Spinach Song (Spicy Spinach Curry)

Spinach Song is a spicy curry made with chilli powder and tomatoes with a roasted garlic. This tastes somewhat near to konkani batate song, and hence my konkani name for it "Spinach Song". You can add soy chunks or soy protein granules to it, optionally.


Spinach Song is not a authentic konkani dish. My my mother-in-law came across a similar recipe somewhere in north India a few years back and she gave a konkani touch to it. She has been making this since then and everyone in my family loves this.

1 bunch spinach
10-12 soy chunks(badi), optional
3 garlic cloves
2 ripe tomatoes
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder

Clean the spinach and chop. Set aside. If you opt to add soya chunks, soak them in warm water.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic Put turmeric and chilli powder and fry until they are puffed. Add tomatoes and fry on low flame for 10mins until the tomato is cooked and turns into a thick puree

Add spinach, salt and little water bring to boil. Do not add more water. The leaves cook fast and reduces to small quantity within no time. Squeeze the water from the soy chunks and add them. Cover the pan and cook on low flame until the spinach is cooked and soy chunks are soft.

Serve with chapathi or rice and dal

Konkani Style Stir Fry (Upkari)

Upkari is a Konkani style Stir fry that is made with bare minimum spices and very little oil . Its very mild and the very taste of the vegetable rules. You can relish on just the upkari like a snack or a salad. Upkari can be made with french beans, long beans, gherkins/tenDLe/tonDekai and many other vegetables. Usually only one kind of vegetable is used and can be combined with potatoes.
If you are new to upkari, I recommend you try this first time with french beans.

French Beans Upkari

2 cups french beans
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal, optional
3-5 green chillies
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp coconut, optional

Wash, clean, rinse french beans in enough water. If the beans are over grown then remove the strings on the sides. Chop the french beans to 1 cm size.

Heat oil in a wok/kadai, splutter mustard seeds. Now add urad dal and fry till light brown. Add slit green chillies and curry leaves, fry for a moment. Add chopped french beans and salt. Add just enough water till all the french beans are soaked. Cover and cook on medium flame till the french beans are tender. Now add coconut, if you opt to and gently mix into the upkari.

Serve with rice and dal or with chapati. I also like to eat it like a snack.

Cucumber Dosa (Taushe doDDak)

Cucumber Dosa can be made sweet or spicy. Today I made the spicy version for the breakfast. This can be made with Rava or Rice. The Rava cucumber dosa is instant and does not need to be preplanned. However for the rice cucumber dosa you need to soak rice for 4-5 hrs, hence needs a little foresight.

1 cucumber
1 tbsp shredded coconut. fresh or frozen, optional
2 green chillies
small piece of ginger
1 cup rice or rava

Wash and peel the cucumber. Grate on a fine grater and set aside.

If using rice, soak rice for 4 hrs. Wash and rinse the rice a couple of times. Use the liquid from the cucumber grind the rice. When the rice is still coarse, add green chillies and ginger and grind little till they are crushed. The batter should be the consistency of the idli rava/rava. Add salt. Mix together the rice batter with the grated cucumber.

If using rava, mix the rava with the grated cucumber. Add just enough water so that the rava soaks and puffs up. Crush green chillies and ginger and add to the batter. Add salt.

Heat the griddle and make dosas. These dosas are eaten without any side dish. Optionally you can serve with sambar or pickle.

I use brown rice to make this dosa. You can use brown or white rice.