Karapusa or Kara Sev is a deep-fried jar snack that is traditionally made during festivals in India.
I think each Indian state has its variations to these savory fried snacks adding different spices that make it unique.
Since I am familiar with both Andhra and Tamil Nadu Cuisines, in particular the Rayalaseema and Madras cuisines, I find it almost the same when it comes to most traditional Indian dishes.
So this Karapusa or Kara Sev is made similarly and with very basic ingredients. These make a wonderful evening snack or Tea Time Snack.
We are starting our second week in BM#104, Sweets & Snacks. The first week was sweets, the second week is snacks from one Indian State. I have picked up Andhra Pradesh and will be doing Andhra Pindi Vantalu which means dishes with flour.
As rice is the staple food, even the snacks are mostly made with Rice flour. So our festivals are full of different savories and snacks made with Rice flour.
For this week, it's going to be deep-fried Andhra Snacks. For day 1, it is going to be Kara Sev or Karapusa, I have already done one version of this Kara Sev for the Indian Cooking Challenge. Today's version is much simpler and was very easy to make.
Homemade Rice flour works out best for all these snacks, so we had about a kilo of rice ground and kept it ready for all the snacks that were made for this week. I also referred to a couple of sites, books, and discussed it with Amma at length before finalizing and making it. So thanks to Harichandana, Pratibha, and the cooking books that I have.
It's going to be another Indian State in Cooking 4 all Seasons with another type of Tea Time Snack, so check it out.
Week 1 - Sweets (Indian Traditional Sweets)
Day 1 is Arcot Makkan Peda
Day 2 is Burhanpur Jalebi
Day 3 is Ghevar
Day 4 is Motichoor Ladoo
Day 5 is Ghotua Ladoo
Day 6 is Bandar Laddu
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Step By Step Pictures to make Kara Sev
Karapusa | How to make Kara Sev
Ingredients Needed:
1 cup Besan / Gram Flour
1 cup Rice Flour
2 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chili Powder
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Asafoetida / Hing
Cooking Oil for deep frying
How to make Kara Sev
In a wide bowl, take the gram flour, rice flour, cumin seeds, salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, hing, and melted hot ghee.
Crumble all the ingredients together. Then slowly add water to knead to a soft dough. The dough should be soft and should not crack.
Heat a Kadai with oil. When the oil is hot, simmer down.
Divide the dough into balls, fill the murukku press, and press it directly over the hot oil.
Deep fry them on a medium flame until light golden color, turn over to fry on both sides evenly.
Drain them on a kitchen towel. Once it cools down, store it in an airtight container.
Notes
Since this has besan in sev, the fried snack is not crunchy, but more crumbly and crisp.
Karapusa | How to make Kara Sev
Ingredients
- 1 cup Besan / Gram Flour
- 1 cup Rice Flour
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 tbsp Ghee
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida / Hing
- Salt to taste
- Cooking Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- In a wide bowl, take the gram flour, rice flour, cumin seeds, salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, hing, and melted hot ghee.
- Crumble all the ingredients together. Then, slowly add water to knead to a soft dough. The dough should be soft and should not crack.
- Heat a kadai with cooking oil. When the cooking oil is hot, simmer down.
- Divide the dough into balls, fill the murruku press and press it directly over the hot cooking oil.
- Deep fry them on a medium flame until light golden color, turn over to fry on both sides evenly.
- Drain them on a kitchen towel. Once it cools down, store it in an airtight container.
Notes
I have featured the entire list that you can prepare for Diwali on both SYL and C4AS Sweets and Snacks & Sweets & Snacks for Diwali.
Suma Gandlur says
It is such a classic snack and one can hardly go wrong. Makes aperfect snack for diwali. We call the kara boondi as karapposa since it resembles poosa meaning a bead.
vaishalisabnani says
Super ! I was actually hoping and wishing someone would pick these jar snacks from a different state and here you go !
These snacks vary from state to state and to have them all in one place is such an asset .
The Sev is very different from the Gujju one , and looks nice and crunchy . Will be bookmarking the whole series :))
amaracooking says
Love the kara sev you got there Valli. We call the thinner sev karapposa. I'm a big fan of all kinds of sev.
namscorner18 says
Delicious sev. It is very similar to how we make here. Good start to this week
Sushma Pinjala says
I love karapusa. I make them even more thinner though. Try adding some chopped chili, onion and squeeze some lime juice and have it. Amazing taste it has. You have made them so perfect Valli.
Harini Rupanagudi says
Perfectly made karapusa Valli. As Amara mentioned, we also call the thinner version as karapoosa