Rice And Finger Millet Flour "String Hoppers"

Hello, I am back after a week of laying low. Well, I was gearing up to post for 7 consecutive days. Yes, I will be doing one a day, every day for a week with posts that are Kid-Friendly..especially my son-friendly. He is a very fussy preschooler but he has a few favorite(s) -- anything noodle-y, anything colorful, anything soft and fluffy, anything with unusual patterns, anything burger-y, anything deep-fried(Uh-Oh) and anything stuffed[just like Mama, :-)]. So here is one of his favorite -- Noodle-y and pleasing to the eye- Its a traditional South-Indian dish called "Idiyappam"  that translates to "String Hoppers". If you remember you should know that I have admitted a mighty strong weakness for String Hoppers in one of my previous posts.My son is no different. "An apple doesn't fall far from its tree" holds true, especially  in this case. :-)
The sauce/side-dish for the string hoppers can be sweet or spicy but my son likes the former. Yup, he is all for it if the hoppers are dunked in a sweet sauce made with warm milk + unrefined sugar(Jaggery/Panela), topped with fresh grated coconut and ghee-fried cashews. Be warned: the divine combo of hoppers, sweet sauce, coconut and nuts will incite a conflagration of hunger for more that even my picky eating son succumbs.. Every-time!
This is my post for Day1 of "Blogging Marathon #4".

Ingredients:(Makes ~ 16 Discs)

• 1 Cup Finger Millet Flour "Ragi Flour"
• 1 Cup Rice Flour
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1-1/2 Cups Boiling Water +  more as needed
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

For the Sauce:
Option1:

• 3 Cups Skimmed Milk
• 1 Cup Unrefined Sugar/Jaggery/Panela, crumbled

Option2:

• 2 Cups Milk
• 1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar or more/less

For the Garnish:

• 1/4 Cups Cashew
• 1 Tbsp Store-bought or Homemade Ghee "Clarified Butter" or Unsalted Butter
• 2 Tbsp Fresh/Frozen Grated Coconut

Tool:

• Idiyappam Press (I used authentic wooden Idiyappam press that has 2 parts. Bottom part has a cavity to stuff the flour and the top part is a press that pushes down on the flour to make noodles) Or Pasta maker ( I haven't tried with a pasta maker though)

 Procedure:

• Sift the rice and ragi flour  in a shallow bowl. Add the salt and stir to incorporate.

• Bring 2-3 Cups of water to a roiling boil. Initially pour 1-1/2 Cups of water and quickly using a wooden-spoon handle stir. Add 2-3 tbsp more or if needed. The flour should clump together but not/never soggy. Quickly cover the bowl and let the flour absorb the water for 10 minutes.

• Once the flour is warm enough to be handled with hands, knead it gently along with a tbsp of olive oil to form a smooth ball. Divide the dough into small portions to fit the Idiyappam tool(for a detailed step-by-step check this link) and squeeze the strings directly on any flat plate/Idli Mould. The String Hoppers need to be steamed for 10-12 minutes.

• After 12 minutes of steaming, remove the String Hoppers to a bowl.

• Repeat the above 2 steps until the dough is completely used-up.

• To Make the sauce: Use Option1 or Option 2 to make the sauce. I used Option1 for this post - using unrefined sugar to make the sauce.

• Add a cup of crumbled unrefined sugar to milk and cook only till its dissolved into the milk. The sauce doesn't have to be thick.

• Brown the cashews with a tbsp of ghee or butter. Move a portion of String Hoppers on a plate and pour a portion of warm milk-sugar sauce over it. Garnish with fresh or frozen grated coconut and a sprinkling of browned cashews. Sit back and Savor.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing (Group 3) BM#4 along with me-

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Sriv

Note:

• Hoppers can be made with just Rice flour alone. The sweet sauce can be made with granulated sugar and milk for the white hoppers. Check the recipe for "Rice Flour String Hoppers"-
  

Enjoy!