Jhalmuri - Revisiting childhood

A couple of weeks ago Subhasmita asked me if we can do a guest post together. I suggested it be theme based and when I mentioned this idea to Sujatha and Anjana they wanted to join as well. We, four kitchen divas, decided to cook an Indian snack and blog it. Sujatha lives in Massachusetts, Anjana lives in Texas, Subhasmita lives in India and I live in your heart 😉 just kidding in Boston. Do not forget to visit their links.

Here is Sujatha’s post on falafel and tahini dip and Anjana’s post on ‘MASALA VADA & ELAICHI CHAI’.

Jhalmuri and I have a very interesting connection. When I was young, we used to travel to my dad’s native house by train. If you are wondering why we did not travel by car, the reason is that in the ’90s traveling by train was an easy option. No matter how much my mom fed me, I always used to have two servings of jhalmuri from the train vendors. I eagerly waited the announcements from the time we boarded the train. They called in a uniform tone, “jhalmuri chai, jhalmuri ache, jhalmuri neben.” It means “I have jhalmuri, do you want to get it from me?”

Whenever I heard that call from the first vendor–we call it jhalmuri wala–I used to look at my dad. He knew what I wanted. Mom would scold him for buying me jhalmuri because there was a good chance I would get a stomach ache from eating it. Well, she was not totally wrong: I got a stomach ache every time I ate there. They were not world’s cleanest people but who cares at that age! This street food is very cheap and for less than a penny (Rs 10) you can fill your tummy.

When we stopped going there because of my academic responsibilities, I used to ask ma to make jhalmuri almost every evening. We would sit down in our balcony with a bowl of jhalmuri and a big mug of chai. In general, my dad makes black tea with evening snacks. During those jhalmuri days ma used to make her special ginger chai and both dad and I used to wait eagerly for those golden days.

Many years have passed and now I live with my husband in Boston. I make jhalmuri often. Some days I make it when he comes late and I am home alone. After he returns and sees the bowl in the sink he looks at me with his sad eyes. It’s his way of saying I want some!! When we went to India my mother made this for him with ginger chai every day. He loves it that much! He is a Jewish New Yorker and if he loves it I am sure you will.

It is the easiest thing on earth to make and requires very little cooking. Let me know if you liked it? Your comment will make my day 🙂

Note: You can find a bag of Bombay mix and chat masala in your local grocery. If you have fresh coconut, you can add some fresh coconut stripes to your jhalmuri.

Prep Time : 10 minutes. Cook Time : 5 minutes Yield : 4