Thengai Sevai (Coconut with Rice Noodles)

Ingredients:
Dried rice noodles, available in the noodle aisle - 1 brick (about 1/4 of a packet?)
[You can replace the above with 1 cup or more of cooked rice, skipping the soaking in boiled water part below]
Coconut, grated - 4 tbsp

Seasoning:
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Peanuts/cashews - 1/2 cup (can be replaced with 1/4 cup chana dal)
Red chili, dried - 1 (or 1 long green chili, chopped)
Ginger, chopped fine - 1" piece
Curry leaves - 5-6
Hing (asafoetida) - a pinch (optional)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Cooking time: 5-10 min
Servings: 2 (breakfast) or 1 (lunch/dinner)

Method:
Bring water to boil in a large vessel. Turn off the stove and soak the rice noodles in the water for a 2-3 minutes, keep covered. In the meantime, heat the oil in a wok and add the asafoetida. When it starts to sizzle, add the mustard seeds and peanuts/cashews/chana dal. When they start to sputter, add the chili, ginger and curry leaves and mix well. Lower the flame and stir in the salt and coconut. You don't have to cook until the coconut turns brown (I usually don't), but that gives a different flavour. Turn off the stove. Drain the water from the noodles, add them to the seasoning and mix well. Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Alternates:
1) For lemon sevai, replace coconut in the above recipe with turmeric (optional, for colour) when frying. Once the noodles are mixed in with the seasoning, add 1/3 cup of lemon juice and mix well.
2) For curd sevai cook without coconut and with a higher amount of ginger. Once ready, mix with 1/2 to 1 cup of yogurt.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan