Spicy Garlic Sev

Spicy...Garlicy...Dead Easy!

If you are new to Diwali Faraal and dont know what to start off with...this is the recipe to go!
It is really quick and easy. Needs no experience and a huge bunch can be fried in less than 10 mins.
Having a chakli press is necessary though...

You can season this dish with any of your favorite spices.

Red chilly powder, Black pepper powder and clove powder make the sev spicy.
You can also add in cumin seeds (jeera) or carom seeds (ajwain) to the dough. Just make sure you roughly crush them before adding. I would suggest rolling them with pressure with a rolling pin. We don't want it super fine. But if there are large pieces of spices, it will just fall out into the oil when you fry the sev.

Your chakli press has 2 discs for making sev. Thicker sev and thinner sev, as shown below. Just remember that if you are using the thinner sev disc, try and avoid whole spices as it is difficult to press the sev out of the chakli press and the spices get clogged inside the contraption.

Now let's get started.

Level: Easy
Serves: 8 - 10 people

Ingredients:
2 cups chickpea flour
8 tblsp rice flour
1.5 tsp turmeric powder
2 tblsp garlic powder
2 tblsp red chilly powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida
Salt to taste (I used 2 tsp)
2 tsp clarified butter (ghee) / oil (I used ghee)
Warm Water as required
Oil for deep frying
Thin sev disc

Method:
Step 1 - Take a flat large pan and fill it with an inch of oil. Start heating it on medium high heat.

Step 2 - In a large bowl, measure out the chickpea flour, rice flour, garlic powder, red chilly powder, black pepper powder, asafoetida and salt. Mix it with a spoon or with your hand till everything is incorporated well.

Step 3 - Add in the clarified butter or oil and mix the ingredients well. It should have a crumbly texture, which indicates that you have mixed all ingredients well with the grease.

Step 4 - Now slowly add in the warm water and start kneading it into a dough, similar to a chapati dough. The final dough should be of a soft texture. Check for salt. If you need to add more salt, don't just sprinkle it into the dough. Mix the salt in a tsp of water, heat the water in the microwave for a few seconds. Mix till the salt dissolves well. Add to the dough and knead well again.

Step 5 - Spray the interiors and the rod of the chakli press with some oil spray or just smear some oil with your hand to make sure the dough comes out well and does not stick to the surface.

Step 6 - Divide the dough into 2 parts, mould it into a cylindrical shape and push the dough into the chakli press. Close the contraption in place. The remaining dough needs to be oiled and covered well. We dont want the dough to form scales on the top while it rests.

Step 7 - Let us check the oil now. By now it should be perfectly hot. Take out a pinch of dough from our resting dough and add it to the oil. It should immediately come up and start sizzling. This indicates the oil is ready. Now take the chakli press and start rotating the rod till it starts squeezing the dough out. Holding the press above the hot oil, quickly squeeze out the dough. Keep moving your hand around so the pan is full of sev.

Step 8 - Let the sev fry for 5 - 10 seconds. With the help of tongs, turn the sev over carefully. Fry for another 10 - 12 seconds. Remove off the pan and place on a tissue lined tray. Start next batch. Make sure you do not brown the sev too much.

Step 9 - When the sev has cooled down, just slightly crush them down with the plams of your hand on the tray, so they break down. You can crush them as small or as long as you like them. Store them in an air tight container and gobble away.

Hope you enjoy munching on these.

Tips:
Make sure you are careful when you push down the sev into the hot oil. You dont want the chakli press to fall into the hot oil and splash oil all over you. To avoid this, before you start frying, make sure your hands or the chakli press is not oily.

Use a flat pan to fry these, so you can fry a large batch at one time.

When the dough touches the oil, there will be a lot of bubbles. Slowly the bubbles will start disappearing. This is the indication of the sev being cooked. Don't wait too long for the sev to change color here. They might end up burning.

When I was frying the sev, I did not pile them a lot as my pan was very flat. Due to this my cooking time was just a few seconds. If you have a deeper pan, and can pile your sev together into a heap, don't forget to  increase your frying time.