Jhal Muri (Kolkata's famous street food)

     With so much self-control, I had been preserving some omapodi (plain sev), wanting to use it in a chaat. I was browsing for some recipe & finally landed into various sites showing a popular snack / stree-food of Kolkata using puffed rice. The recipe sounded simple and similar to Bhel Puri. I was happy with the fact that this recipe didn't require the sweet chutney or green chutney or papdi as in the case of Bhel Puri (as I was not ready to make all of them but still wanted a good murmure to eat :P ). Read that this Jhal Muri is a favourite street-food in Kolkata. This 'Jhal Muri' is the version of dry Bhel Puri that is made in Kolkata. Jhal Muri means 'spicy puffed rice'. They use various spicy powders & mustard oil in making this snack.

Now over to the recipe.......

Prep Time: 15 mins || Roasting Time: 5 mins || Serves: 2 || Category: Chaat / Street-food

Ingredients:
1. Tomato - 1 cup (chopped)
2. Onion - 1 cup (chopped)
3. Cucumber - 1 cup (chopped)
4. Boiled potato - 1 cup (cubed)
5. Groundnuts - 1/2 cup (dry roasted)
6. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)
7. Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp
8. Chaat Masala - 2 tsp
9. Roasted cumin powder - 2 tsp
10. Aamchur powder (Dry raw mango powder) - 2 tsp
11. Dry red chilli powder - 2 tsp
12. Salt - as required
13. Oil - 1/2 tbsp (Mustard oil preferred)
14. Hing - 2 tsp
15. Omapodi (Plain sev) - 1 cup
16. Puffed rice (Pori) - 1 cup (dry roasted)
17. Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:
1. Have all the ingredients in place. Soak tamarind in hot water, sufficient to give around 2 tbsp of juice. Extract the juice and keep aside. Mix all the chopped vegetables, the masala powders, salt, hing, raosted groundnuts in a bowl & mix well with the tamarind juice. If desired, add mustard oil at this stage.

 2. Add puffed rice (dry heated on a pan), omapodi, coriander leaves and mix well. If desired, add lemon juice and mix well. 

Suggestions:

• Black salt can also be added to the spice powders (I omitted it as I didn't have it).
• Original recipe calls for mustard oil, which gives the exact regional flavour of the dish. (I don't prefer the smell of mustard oil & also any other oil in this chat. Hence I omitted)
• If you have any pickle, 2 tsp of the oil floating on the pickle can also be used instead of mustard oil.
• Dry roasting the grounduts & the puffed rice gives a good crispy texture.
• Adding lemon juice is optional.
• Add puffed rice & sev just before serving, otherwise they get to become soggy due to the water content in the chopped vegetables.

Serve in paper cones for a street-food effect. Enjoy with hot tea / coffee !!!