This year I am starting off my Diwali/Deepavali sweets and savories with this simple yet amazing recipe of Karasev, flavored with both garlic and pepper. My plan was to make atleast 6 recipes for Deepavali, our biggest festival of the year but crazy work life had other plans. I am slowly catching up and hopefully will be able to try out some recipes and post them here before the big day! Ok, that’s the end of my rant and now back to the Karasev recipe.
If there is one thing that I wouldn’t mind buying off the stores, it is Karasev. I love everything about it – from the shape, taste, flavor and the fine bits of black peppercorns. Karasev is prepared traditionally very differently from the regular Murukku/Janthikalu. The dough is pressed back and froth on a sieved ladle, right over hot oil. This results in the uniquely shaped sev, that is neither too thick nor thin.
This being my first time making Karasev at home, I obviously couldnt perfect the traditional method (as it takes years of practice) and made a small batch towards the end. The husband in his enthusiasm to try it out, finished it off before I could click a picture 😀 Anyway, there will be another time. In short, I used my regular Murukku press to squeeze out the dough directly onto the oil. Again, my mould had smaller sized holes, so my Karasev looks a bit thinner.
As I like my Karasev crunchy, I used 1 part rice flour to 4 parts Besan/Gram flour. For a softer or less crunchy version, reduce the rice flour quantity. Apart from that I added both ground peppercorns as well as garlic and loved the flavor combination! If you don’t like garlic, it is absolutely ok to not use it. I am sure I am going to make this often and not just for Diwali 🙂
How to make Karasev | Garlic Pepper Karasev
📖 Recipe
Detailed step by step picture recipe of making Karasev | Garlic Pepper Karasev Recipe
In a mixing bowl add gram flour, rice flour, ground black pepper powder and salt.
Next add hot oil/ghee/Vanaspati along with garlic paste.
Mix everything well and it should look crumbly.
Add water little by little and knead it into a smooth dough.
5. Fill the murukku mould with the dough and meanwhile heat oil for deep frying.
Press out the Karasev onto hot oil and don’t overfill it. Let it fry for a few seconds before breaking it down into pieces.
As the sizzling and bubbles stop, drain them onto a paper towel.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy with a cup of coffee/tea!
Recipe Notes
Adding hot oil/ghee/butter/Vanaspati while making the dough helps get crispy Sev. The oil for frying should not be very hot. Once it gets hot, reduce the flame to medium and fry at that temperature for even browning. These might look pale when in oil but soon after removing, gets its color. So wait for the sizzling to stop and remove them from oil.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
