Santhagai / Idiyappam / String Hooper / Tamilnadu Noodles

     In Kongu nadu (Coimbatore region of Tamil Nadu), Santhagai is the first dish prepared and presented to newly wed couples in the bride’s house. I call it Indian or Tamilnadu Noodles.

     

     Instant Noodles is harmful for kids but heavily advertised. Every Kid will hence pressurize their moms to give them noodles. Instead of using the Instant Noodles I give Sandhagai and tell my kid that this is noodles.

    As  Sandhagai  is steam cooked and easily digestible, it is very important recipe to master for every mom.

    

     Another Goodness about Sandhagai is that we can prepare many many varieties like Lemon Sandhagai, Tomato Sandhagai etc. I will provide those recipes in the following week.

Ingredients:

Barboiled Idli Rice	2 cups
Coconut Oil	3 tbsp
Salt	1 tesp

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 2 – 3 hrs. Drain the water and grind it into a fine thick paste with salt. Use little water only for grinding. Grind it using mixe or grinder as your wish.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add batter to the Oil and mix them well. Keep the flame in sim. Fry the batter till the batter becomes thick without water/wetness.

3. Allow it to cool down and make small balls or kozukattai. Steam cook the balls for 10-12 mins.

4. Grease the santhagai machine with oil and keep the vessel under the santhagai container. Now place the balls into the container and rotate the screw gently. The santhagai comes out from the holes of the container.

  Very very spongy and yummy santhagai is ready to use.

Note:

1. Add little amount of the salt only. Because we can use this for various variety of flavours (hence we can add salt differently for different flavours).

2. You can pour the batter in idli plates and create idlis without 2^nd step and use the idlis to make santhagai as usual.

3.You can refrigerate Sandagai and use whenever you want it. Just bring it into room temperature and steam cook for just 2 mins and use. You can’t guess whether it is fresh or frozen one. That is the specialty of this santhagai.

I am sending this to Remmy's Kitchen: First blog Anniversary and giveaway