Karasev with garlic

It is now almost a month since Deepavali.  All the snacks I made, and the ones my friends shared with us are done.  My husband still comes back home and opens the pantry door, looking for some forgotten dubba (box) of snacks in the back.

Anyway, I had the day off after a long time.  It had snowed over night and the roads were pretty slick. I did not feel like going out to run errands, so decided to make something for my husband to munch on when he came home - and in the process have a handful myself :)

On our last trip to India, my brother kept bugging my mom to get him some garlic -flavored karasev.  She either forgot to buy it, or couldn’t find it in the store, and she ended up making some for him.  He loved those so much, that she had to make another batch and send it over to Singapore.

I have made karasev before, but have never added garlic to them and decided to try it out.  They came out great!  My husband came home, and as usual, looked in the pantry and saw these.  He munched on a few  and loved them.

Only later, when he saw the thenkuzhal press on my draining board, did he realize that I had made these - he though I had bought them!

Note:  Typically, karasev is made with a special ladle.  I don’t have this, so I used one of my thenkuzhal discs to make these.

Here is what you need:

• 2 ½ cups besan (gram flour)
• 1 cup rice flour
• 2 tsp coarsely crushed pepper (I used my pepper grinder and just approximated the measurement)
• ½ - ¾ tsp. red chili powder
• ¼ tsp. hing (asafetida)
• salt to taste
• 3 tsp. ghee
• 1½ tsp. minced garlic (I used store bought)
• water to make the dough
• oil for deep frying

Here is how I made it:

1. Heat the oil for deep frying in a big kadai or deep pan.
2. In a bowl, combine besan, rice flour, pepper, chili powder, hing, and salt.  Mix well.
3. Add the ghee and garlic.  Slowly add water to make the dough.  Don’t make this too stiff because it will be difficult to press out the dough.  It needs to be a bit sticky to the touch.
4. Make a big ball of dough and put it into the thenkuzhal press with the appropriate fitting.
5. While swirling, squeeze out enough of the dough into the hot oil.  Reduce heat to medium and cook till both sides are done.  Drain on paper towel.
6. Repeat till all the dough is done.
7. Once the karasev is cool, break it up into pieces and store it in an airtight container.