Wartime Snack · Spiced Puffed Rice
Jhal Muri
Photo: Rupamdas75 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It's said to have taken off on Kolkata's streets during World War II, when Bihari migrant workers started selling spiced puffed rice to the British soldiers and American GIs flooding the wartime city.
Puffed rice is tossed by hand with mustard oil, chopped onion, tomato, boiled potato, roasted peanuts, and a mix of spice powders, mixed to order in a large bowl and served in a twisted paper cone. Vendors carry it in baskets through Kolkata's streets, parks, and train compartments.
Why it's made this way: Bengal's puffed-rice tradition met wartime Kolkata's swollen population of soldiers and officials, and migrant vendors turned a cheap grain into a fast, portable snack that never left the street once peace came.
More from India
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.