A street food named jhal muri

Jhal muri is a street food that is unique to Kolkata – it has been there for ages and no one can really remember who invented this recipe. It is a very simple recipe and requires no cooking as such. It is a ready to eat mixture that is usually prepared and served to the customers on demand. It is always fresh and a delicious preparation that used to, once upon a time, be the catalyst for relationships between the boys and the girls – in the days when social networking, as we now know it, was nonexistent.
The art of making jhal muri is a well-kept secret of those who have mastered the art. Way back in the 1950s and 1960s, the sellers, wearing ghungroos (bells) around their ankles, would go about the neighborhood. The very sound of the bells was music to the ears and children would flock to the source of the jingling to get in queue and lay hands on the jhal muri packets.

These packets would be made of paper, mostly large size pages of magazines.
As to the ingredients – most important was the fluffed rice of muri. The dispenser of the concoction would put a fistful of muri into a container which would usually be a can that once held oil or ghee or some such product.
Then would follow a whole lot of ingredients like tiny pieces of onions, green chili, fried groundnuts, and a few other exotic items. He would then sprinkle a few drops of mustard oil in the container and stir the ingredients with a large spoon.
And – then he would remove a packet, pour the jhal muri into it and serve with a flourish. Usually, the quantity of jhal muri prepared would depend on the number of customers at that point of time.
Incidentally, jhal muri vendors are also seen in trains bound for Kolkata – they board the trains when they enter the borders of West Bengal and the long distance passengers are their patrons because jhal muri is an identity of Bengalis. (to be continued …)

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