"J" for Jhaal Muri

"J" for Jhaal Muri. If you've ever eaten this delicious snack, you know how it gets its name... "Jhaal" is the Hindi term for spicy. This snack is a street-side snack very popular in Calcutta, an eastern metropolis in India. Read more about multi-faceted Calcutta here.
Jhaal muri is a favorite snack of mine. In my college days, me and my friends used to go to this chaat and sweet cafe in Bangalore. It was called "Gangotri". They made the best Calcutta chaats and the best Bengali sweets. My favorite were jhaal muri and rosogullas! A perfect combination. The Kolkatta babu who made our jhaal muri always threw in these amazing ingredients, tossed them up and down to mix them and always gave us a handful to taste - to make sure that salt, spice and lime levels were right - and then he dished it out into a brown paper bag, slid a spoon in there and gave it to us! The hint of mustard oil, lemon juice and black salt was a heady combination! And after eating the spicy Jhaal muri we always ate 2 big rosogullas from tiny earthen pots! Those were the days! When no matter what we ate, we had no care in the world! No worrying about the extra pounds!
Now coming to my post. I was going to make this dish so I can have it as my entry for lovely Nupur's event - A to Z of Indian Vegetables.But I realized that J for Jhaal muri does not really have too many veggies in it. But since I made it anyway, I was going to write up this post!
Let's take a look at the Jhaal muri and see how we can make this easy snack!


Spicy Jhaal Muri

You will need:
3 cups Puffed Rice (Muri, Mamra or Marmaraalu)
2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts
1 tbsp Channa Dalia (Chutney dal)
1 big Potato - Peeled, Boiled and Cubed
1 Onion - Chopped fine
3 green chillies - Chopped fine
a small handful of Cilantro - Chopped fine
Juice of 1 small Lime
1 tsp Black Salt
a little salt to taste
2 tbsp Fresh grated coconut
2 tsp Mustard Oil
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Dhania Powder

Method:
The Mamra or Puffed Rice that we get here in the US is usually not as crisp as we get in India. I guess since it is pre-packed and is not really very fresh. Jhaal muri tastes best with crisp Mamra. So to achieve the best tasting jhaal muri, I prefer to roast the peanuts, channa dalia and the mamra in 1 tsp oil, on a medium flame, stirring in between for about 5 minutes or until the mamra is crisp. I usually add a pinch of turmeric, a tsp of chilli powder and salt while the mamra is roasting.
In a mixing bowl, take all the remianing ingredients and mix well. Add the roasted mamra mixture and toss. Mix well, garnish with fresh grated coconut and serve.
One more look...


Spicy Jhaal Muri
Do let me know if you try this incredibly easy and tasty snack at home!