What I like about Diwali is not just all the sweet goodies that gets made, but also the addition of savory snacks that somehow makes eating all of that sweetness a little bit more bearable. Have a couple of laddoos or burfis and switch to a handful of murukku or sev and keep switching. Rest assured, you can eat enough to skip a couple of meals. 
I think this is a tactic that our great great grandparents came up with so they can maximize the eating of all the goodies made during the festive season. I like thinking up such theories and believing they are true. Its kinda fun, when it makes sense.
Karam is spice in Tamil and sev is any crispy stick like savory snack made especially with besan / chickpea flour. I added both red chilli powder and black pepper to this, as the red chilli is the one that really gives it the spicy kick and I love getting a bite of the crushed black pepper in between these crisps. It is a fairly simple recipe, as long as the only additional thing needed is that little contraption in the picture below, that you will need to squeeze out the dough into string like sticks to fry them up.This recipe stays for a few weeks, easily, if you keep it stored in an airtight container.
Kara Sev – Fried Spiced Chickpea Flour Sticks | A Diwali Recipe
Ingredients
- Besan / Chickpea Flour – 1 cup
- Rice Flour – 1/2 cup
- Red Chilli Powder / Cayenne – 1 tsp
- Crushed black pepper – 1 tbsp
- Butter, softened – 2 tbsp
- Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
- Baking Soda – a pinch
- Salt – to taste
- Water – enough to form a firm dough
- Oil – to deep fry
Instructions
- Sieve the flours together. Add the red chilli powder, crushed black pepper, salt, asafoetida, baking soda to the flours and mix well together.
- Add the butter and mix it into the flour mix.
- Add water little by little, kneading the mixture by hand, till the dough starts to become firm, but still should not stick to your hands a lot.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
- Put a little of the dough into the sev press and press the dough, so that the strands coming out fall directly into the hot oil.
- Deep fry till the color changes to golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Transfer to an airtight container once cooled completely.
Ingredients
- Besan / Chickpea Flour - 1 cup
- Rice Flour - 1/2 cup
- Red Chilli Powder / Cayenne - 1 tsp
- Crushed black pepper - 1 tbsp
- Butter softened - 2 tbsp
- Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
- Baking Soda - a pinch
- Salt - to taste
- Water - enough to form a firm dough
- Oil - to deep fry
Instructions
- Sieve the flours together. Add the red chilli powder, crushed black pepper, salt, asafoetida, baking soda to the flours and mix well together.
- Add the butter and mix it into the flour mix.
- Add water little by little, kneading the mixture by hand, till the dough starts to become firm, but still should not stick to your hands a lot.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
- Put a little of the dough into the sev press and press the dough, so that the strands coming out fall directly into the hot oil.
- Deep fry till the color changes to golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Transfer to an airtight container once cooled completely.
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