Sev

Fine or medium crispy chickpea-flour noodles deep-fried until pale golden — the indispensable crunchy element of Rajasthani and Gujarati cooking, showered over sabzis, chaats, and kachori at every meal. Bikaner's sev is GI-tagged and considered the gold standard; the Bikaneri sev uses a specific ratio of besan, black pepper, carom seeds, and salt, pressed through a perforated plate into hot oil and fried quickly. Eaten as a standalone snack, used as a topping to add crunch to dal-baati, sev-tamatar ki sabzi, and mirchi bada; a jar of sev on the Rajasthani table is as fundamental as salt.