Jhalmuri is a very popular Bengal street food and sells at every chowk.

I was introduced to it in Ranchi and in Bihar and Jharkhand it is as much a rasta favourite. There was a tiny jhalmuri stall outside my school and after school, for ₹1, he prepared in front of me a little paper cone of jhalmuri, which he meticulously put together and tossed up to mix the spices and it always tasted wonderful.

It's also an ideal accompaniment to drinks, especially with whiskey.

Crunchy sweet-spicy Indian-Style Potato Salad makes equally good chakna.

Jhalmuri

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• ¼ kg tiny variety muri or murmura or kurmura or churmura
• ¼ cup or more dry roasted peanuts
• ¼ cup dry roasted whole channa
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 2 green chillies chopped fine
• Handful green dhania or coriander or cilantro, chopped fine
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp red chilly powder
• 1 tsp black salt
• ½ tsp garam masala
• Pinch jeera or cumin powder
• ½ tsp chaat masala
• 1-2 tbsp mustard oil
• Salt only if required

Method

• Mix the muri, peanuts and channa together in a large bowl.
• Mix the onions, chillies, cilantro, spices, mustard oil together in another bowl.
• Add the onion mixture to the dry ingredients, bit by bit, till seasoned as per taste.
  Serve immediately.

Note: There are many versions of jhalmuri. In Bengal and Orissa, they also add tiny pieces of boiled potato, chopped cucumbers, tiny pieces green mango, chopped tomatoes, ginger, sprouts. Some people use the mustard oil from a pickle instead of plain mustard oil.

Those on a diabetic diet should reduce the quantity of murmura and up the chopped vegetables and roasted channa.

For a Jain version, skip the onion.

Indian-Style Potato Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes
• 1 cup boiled kabuli channa (should be firm and not mushy)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped fine
• 1 large red onion, chopped very fine
• Handful green dhania or coriander or cilantro, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp imli or tamarind paste
• ½ to 1 tsp icing sugar, optional
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• 1 tsp red chilly powder
• ½ tsp hing or asafetida
• Pinch black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 tbsp green chutney, optional
• 1 tbsp kashundi or Bengali mustard paste
• Generous handfuls nylon sev, for serving
• 10-15 flat pani puris used for sev puri, for serving

Method

• Boil the potatoes till cooked but not soft and mushy and peel.
  Dice into 1 cm cubes.
• In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, except the sev and the puris.
• Sprinkle in roughly crushed puris and sev just before serving.

Note: Those on a diabetic or Jain diet should replace the potatoes with boiled diced green bananas. Further, for a Jain version, skip the onion.

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