Rice vermicelli are noodles made from rice. The principal ingredients are rice flour and water. Traditionally rice noodles are made at home from scratch and later spiced up. But it calls for a lot of procedure and time. But nothing can beat its taste. I will post that as a separate recipe. When time is short, we can buy instant rice noodles and make this recipe. This is an oil-free and gluten-free vermicelli.
Rice vermicelli upma can be flavoured many ways with coconut, tamarind, tomato or enjoy like a pulav. We can also make a kheer from this vermicelli. For today the chosen one is tangy lemon flavoured rice vermicelli. Addition of veggies like carrot, potato, beans, capsicum, peas etc makes it wholesome and more healthy. It's a great option for school lunch box.
Ingredients
- Rice noodles - 1/2 pack
- 2 potatoes chopped finely
- 2 onions chopped finely
- 1c peanuts roasted and crushed coarsely
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 4-5 green chillis
- 1-inch grated ginger
- Grated coconut (optional for this recipe)
- Coriander chopped
- Tadka
- 1 tbsp peanuts
- 1 tbsp channa dal
- 1 tbsp urad dal
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp cumin
Method
- Take 2-3 tbsp of boiling water, add slit chilli, lemon juice, salt and turmeric and allow the chilli to marinate in that either overnight or for an hour. You can also crush the chilli coarsely for a spicier version.
- Take a big steel vessel and boil water with some salt. After it boils, switch off the stove.
- Add 1/2 pack of noodles and let it rest for 2-3 mins.
- Drain the noodles in a sieve. Pour some cold water on the noodles to remove the starch. This helps the noodles from not sticking to each other. Allow the water to drain for 10mins
- Steam the potato and keep aside. Ensure it's not mushy.
- To make an oil-free tadka, in a clay or an iron heavy bottomed vessel add peanuts first and after it's half roasted, add channa dal and urad dal and continue to keep roasting. When it’s half done, add cumin and mustard seeds.
- Once it's done, add chopped onions, and continue to roast till its translucent.
- Now is the time to mix everything
- Take a big wide vessel, add the drained rice noodles, the dry tadka with onions, the marinated chilli and ginger along with its water and juice, steamed potato, coarsely crushed peanuts, coriander and mix using both your hands with fingers spread apart like a wide fork. One can use 2 forks too.
- The noodles are ready to be served.
Tips
- Watch the noodles from overcooking. It takes less than 5 mins. Continue to use a fork and crush the noodles between 2 fingers and see if it's soft enough to retain shape and also be consumed.
- If more salt needs to be added, always dissolve it in some water and mix it
- Lemon juice can be added as-is
- Other vegetables like capsicum, carrots can also be added