Smart snacking
A Guide to Sev: Regular, Ratlami, Palak Fudina and Kolhapuri
I only ever buy plain sev and I don’t know what the other kinds are for.
Sev is one dough and a dozen personalities. What actually changes between them, which one belongs on a chaat, and which one to keep away from guests who do not like heat.
· Updated · 3 min read
Sev is the most useful thing in a Gujarati kitchen and the least thought about. It goes on chaat, into bhel, over poha, on top of a dal, and straight into the mouth between the packet and the bowl. Which one you keep changes all of those.
The dough is besan, water, oil, salt and whatever is being pressed in with it, put through a fine plate. Thinner plate, finer sev. Everything else is the spicing.
Regular sev — the one to always have
Neutral, fine and lightly salted. It is not the most interesting thing on the shelf and it is the one that runs out first, because it is the only one that goes on everything without arguing with it. If you keep one sev, keep this.
Ratlami sev — clove and pepper
From Ratlam, and unmistakable: clove and black pepper worked into the dough itself rather than dusted on afterwards. Thicker than regular sev and much more assertive. It is a snack in its own right rather than a topping — putting ratlami on a delicate chaat buries it.
Eat it plain. It rewards being the only thing in the bowl.
Palak fudina sev — spinach and mint
Real spinach and mint pressed into the dough, which is where the colour comes from. It is fresher-tasting and lighter than the rest, and it is the one that surprises people who assume flavoured sev means more chilli.
It is very good over a curd-based chaat or a simple dahi poha, where the mint has something to work against.
Sev kolhapuri — heat, and then more heat
Built on Kolhapuri masala, which is a genuinely hot blend rather than a warm one. This is not the sev to put out for guests without warning them, and it is exactly the sev to keep if the rest of the shelf tastes flat to you.
The one rule about sev
Add it last. Sev is fine strands with a lot of surface area, which makes it the first thing in any dish to go soft — minutes, not hours, once it meets curd or chutney. Everything you love about it is texture, and texture is the part that does not wait.
The same physics is why the packet matters: sev goes soft faster than any other farsan on a humid Surat afternoon. Our storage guide is mostly about exactly this.
What is the difference between sev and gathiya?
Sev is thin and pressed from a firmer dough; gathiya is thicker and softer from a wetter one. Both are besan. The gathiya guide covers that family.
Which sev is best for bhel?
Regular, almost always. Bhel already has chutney, onion and chilli in it — a heavily spiced sev fights everything else in the bowl.
Does palak sev actually contain spinach?
It should. Ours does, pressed into the dough — which is also why the colour is muted rather than bright green. A vivid green sev is usually colour, not leaf.
See the sev we press to order Never pre-fried — pressed for the batch