Karasev recipe | Besan sev | Diwali snacks recipes

Karasev recipe – Besan sev for Diwali. Karasev is a traditional Indian snack made with gram flour (besan), salt and spices. These are crunchy, have a lovely light texture and are aromatic. Karasev taste different from the traditional murukku and have an unique aroma of fried besan and carom seeds.

These are mostly made spicy & hot with the addition of chilli and garlic. Karasev taste very different from the other snacks like chakli, murukku or ribbon pakoda. These can be eaten plain or can also be added to South Indian mixture if you intend to make it.

Karasev is usually made by passing the dough through a ladle with holes to give a shape. The shaped dough falls in the hot oil and is fried until crisp. But that method is slightly hard so I made these using a murukku maker.

I have used garlic and carom seeds (ajwain) for flavor. You can replace them with cumin and coarsely crushed pepper. But the flavor of garlic & ajwain in these karasev makes them unique in flavor and taste.

One can find karasev in the shops with different textures. The recipe shared here yields karasev that is crunchy, light, spicy and do not absorb oil. These keep good for about 2 weeks in air tight glass or steel jars.

I tried these besan sev with different proportions of riceflour – from 3 tbsps to 5 tbsps. The batch with 3 tbsps were very light. The batch with 5 tbsps were very crunchy. But usually karasev sold in the shops is not very crunchy, it has more of besan and almost no or very little rice flour.

You can check more Diwali snacks here and Diwali sweets here

Related recipes:
Butter murukku
Murukku
Thattai
Chakli
Sweet murukku
Ribbon pakoda

Photo Guide

How to make karasev recipe or besan sev

1. Pour oil in a kadai heat it on a medium flame.

2. Sieve together besan, rice flour, fried gram powder and soda to a large mixing bowl.

3. Make sure you add only a pinch of soda.

4. Add chili powder or crushed pepper, garlic paste, hing, salt and ajwain.

5. Add 1 ½ tbsps hot oil. Make sure you don’t add more.

6. Mix everything together. You can check the taste now. The mixture has to be slightly salty and spicy. If needed you can add more of salt and chilli.

7. Pour water little by little only as needed.

8. Make a stiff dough. The dough should not be sticky. Too much moisture in the dough will make the karasev oily.

9. I choose to go with the plate that has medium holes. You can even choose one with larger holes but it takes a little longer to fry them.

10. Check if the oil is hot. Drop a small piece of dough in the oil. It has to rise and not brown quickly.

11. Hold the murukku mould with both your hands and gently press down to release the sev. When they are about 3 inches long, take a spoon and break them.

12. Karasev dough is very light so they will get broken easily and fall off in the oil.

13. After few seconds gently stir with a ladle to separate any joined sev. Fry them on a medium heat until golden and crisp.

14. Drain them to a kitchen tissue. Continue to make the next batch.

Cool karasev completely. Store them in a airtight steel or glass jar. The garlic flavor in the karasev gets enhanced the next day and these turn very aromatic.

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Besan sev or Karasev recipe