Soak the rice in water the night before you would be making the Shyavige, 6-8 hours.
Drain the water and grind the rice with grated coconut, salt and just enough to get a smooth creamy texture. Alternatively, skip the coconut in grinding, and use it only to sprinkle on the steamer plate and after steaming as a garnish.
Use a grinder preferably. You can as well use a blender or mixie but it will heat the batter more than is optimal at this stage.
Transfer the batter to a kadhai or frying pan and start heating the mixture on low heat (add a little water to keep it from scorching as it heats—the water helps the cooking so add carefully but don’t worry too much, it evaporates and gets absorbed soon enough).
Use a wooden ladle or a stick to fold the mixture in. Let the mixture cook for about ten good minutes or till you feel that the rice paste has cooked well.
Once the mixture is cooked, let it cool until you can handle the mixture in your hands and then shape into oval cylinders that can fit into the body of your press.
Grease the idli stand or leaves that you will use to line plates or the base of a bamboo steamer. Sprinkle with a little grated coconut if you wish
Place the ovals into the press and crank out the noodles directly onto the cavities of the greased steamer plates, making small, circular motions so the noodles distribute evenly and create a “disk.” Pinch the noodles off with your fingers once you have a small pile.
Repeat until you’ve filled up all the space/idli steamer cavities.
Now set the steamer in a pot (or above a pot) that has 2 cups of water on a simmer. A soup pot or stock pot works well. Allow the noodles to steam for about 10 minutes.
Allow the noodles to rest for a few minutes in the steamer (but not so long that they get cold) before transferring to serving dishes.
Garnish with more freshly grated coconut serving, and serve hot with vegetable stew or sweetened coconut milk.