Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Kara sevu

Karam - spicy hot; sevu - fried noodle like crispies.

Chevu or sev is a very common spicy snack in the rural areas of Tamilnadu. We can get two versions of it. One belonging to the villages of Southern Tamilnadu, the very spicy HOT 'kovilpatti kara sevu' and the next one is called 'lala mittai shop's butter sevu'.
I prefer the  'spicy kara sev' better. It is a very simple recipe and won't demand much skills as we need for a murukku. My mom used to make them for us in a very spicy manner, which my elder brother exclaims as smoky HOT and I am sharing her recipe here. It is a ritual nowadays in our house to make some snacks before weekend, that too a must during winter:) I have to stock up a small batch for hubby's snack needs before he buys home whatever he sees.


Kara sev stacked.

Ingredients:
Besan flour (bengal gram flour) - 2 cup
rice flour - 1/4 cup
salt - as per need
oil - to deep fry
To grind:
dry red chillies - 6
ajwain (bishop's weed / omam) - 1 tsp
whole black pepper - 1 tsp
cumin - 1 tsp
garlic - 4 cloves

Utensils:
A murukku press.
A wide wok to deep fry.
slotted spatula

Method:
Grind the items in a blender to a medium coarse texture.
Mix that masala with the flours, add salt and 2 tbsp of hot oil.
(Adding hot oil reduces oil absorption while frying).
Add required water and knead into a soft chapathi dough consistency.
Fill the 'murukku press' with the prepared dough.
Heat the oil in a wok.
Press the dough in circular form as shown below.

Kara sev after frying.

Flip once and take out after the bubbles disappear.
Drain excess oil and place over paper towels.
Kara chev is ready!

Tips:
Perfectly prepared kara sev should not be oily.
Always keep the gram flour in refrigerator,this will result less oil absorption.
Add some hot oil while kneading the dough to get a crispier sev without much oil.

Serving suggestions:
Break it into long pieces.
Allow it to cool completely and store in air tight container.
Serve as snack with tea.

Event:
Though this kara sev contains very little ajwain (omam), it will have much flavor from ajwain.
So I am sending this kara sev to 'Cooking with seeds event - Ajwain' hosted by Kavita of 'seasoned and dressed' . The event is the brain child of 'Priya.' of  'Priya's easy and tasty recipes'. Happy hosting dear!

27 comments:

Padma said...

Reminds me my native(Kovilpatti). Love the sev from that place and also from nearby village( keel Eeral).
Looks yummy.

Prema said...

My daughter's fav,i used to prepare this for her snack box...ur's luks so perfect.

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Looks yummy and madurai too is very famouts for kara sevu.. I am so much tempted.

Santosh Bangar said...

spicy and munchy snack fit for tea time

Cham said...

U did with the murruku mold Good, i always thought that i need the" special Karasev press"! Perfect one!
Happy New Year 2011!

Unknown said...

Hey Vikki,

Happy new year to you!!Any event here???The kara sev looks amazing..One of my favorites...:)

Dr.Sameena@

http://www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/

Nandinis food said...

Wow! The sev is very spicy and crunchy. Love it.

Priya Suresh said...

My favourite, i can finish those sev in no time,yumm..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

what a treat. I prefer the thinner version but this one looks perfect for eveing coffee.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Padma: Thanks dear.Glad to know more about you. I am from Tirunelveli. Yes, Karasev from kovilpatti is more famous. Karasev and kadalai mittai preparation are cottage industries around the area like keela eeral. They make it super spicy and I guess they add some corn flour (sola mavu) or tapiaco root powder too to add to the flavor. I did my UG in NEC kovilpatti and no wonder I love this sev very much and would have it every day with tea:) Every time I visit my home, I would buy big packs of sev and ground nut mittai (kadalai mittai) from there. Nostalgia....

Vikis Kitchen said...

Prema: Thanks dear. Kids love this...

Vikis Kitchen said...

Pavithra: Thanks dear. Yes , Madurai people and South of it like this spicy version very much.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Santosh: Thanks dear. Yes, karachev will be great with tea.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Cham: yes , cham. I used the murukku press here. Actually for butter sev, they use a slotted spatula like utensil and rub the dough to get this karasev. But this sev is made like this in my neighborhood villages:) you can see the karasev stacked up like mountains in sweet stalls of Tiruchendur area:) Thanks for coming and Happy New year!

Vikis Kitchen said...

Sameena: Thanks doc. Happy new year dear. Event?..ha...ha ...I have to make more snacks than I do normal cooking, as it is the only way for me to prevent my hubby from buying snacks from Indian grocery stores (I prefer home made, as we can control the quality of oil we use...hi..hi).

Vikis Kitchen said...

Nandini: Thanks dear.
Priya: Thanks dear. Its for your event only:) One more is in my draft for you:)
Sayantani: Thanks dear.

புவனேஸ்வரி ராமநாதன் said...

தொடர்பதிவு ஒன்றுக்கு உங்களை அழைத்துள்ளேன்.
http://maragadham.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post_05.html

Suja Manoj said...

Tempting snack..crispy and spicy,love it

Swathi said...

Viki,

I want to try this spicy kara sevu. amma makes less spicy for us.This one sounds crispy and awesome with coffee.

MAGESH said...

Thanks for kara sevu, your nellai recipes are always make tempering..

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Sevai looks so spicy and crispy. Awesome snack.


Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Sushma Mallya said...

perfect snack with tea...

Priya dharshini said...

I LUV KARA SEV...I also used to bag them a lot...my husband's fav snack...He made me to cook this,when we were in USA..Will try ur recipe ,when i try next time...Happy new year to you..

aipi said...

wow, they look so crunchy/munchy :)


US Masala

Unknown said...

Kaara chev looks crunchy!No you are tempting me to make some fried snacks as we are surviving solely on store bought chips:)

Jaleela Kamal said...

காரா சேவ் சூப்பர் விக்கி

Vikis Kitchen said...

Thanks Jaleela akka:)Irunthaalum ungallai pol samaikka varuma?

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