Jhalmuri is a popular street food and snack from Kolkata. This gluten-free and vegan snack is made with a lot of healthy ingredients like puffed rice chopped salad spice powders and herbs. This is famous for its pungent flavour and aroma that comes with mustard oil.
What is Jhalmuri
Jhalmuri is a spicy tangy puffed rice snack. The taste of dhal muni is quite unique due to the addition of a special ingredient, mustard oil. This is a famous Indian street food snack from Bengal and Bihar.
This spicy snack is a combination of different flavours and textures that comes from many tidbits that are added in Jhalmuri. Green chillies add heat and onions add pungency and crunch. Chaat masala and lime juice add a tangy taste and special flavour comes from mustard oil. All of these make the taste of jhalmuri unique.
And, make jhal muri stand apart from Bhelpuri and other puffed rice snacks.
There are many puffed snack varieties like chaat in different states of India. Apart from bhelpuri from Maharashtra churumuri and girmit from Karnataka are also quite famous. Uggani from Andhra Pradesh is also a puffed rice snack. Mandaki is another street style snack from Karnataka.
Why Jhalmuri is our favourite snack
Jhalmuri is one of our favourite healthy Indian street food snacks because:
Most chaats are deep-fried. Jhalmuri is not deep fried and has veggies and that makes it a healthier choice.
Easy to make, low calories, vegan and gluten-free snack to serve with tea or even a light meal.
It’s spicy and tangy and gives you perfect satisfaction with a healthy chaat and street food taste.
Jhalmuri Ingredients
Puffed Rice – Puffed rice is also known by the names Muri, Marmara, Pori, Kurmura, or Murmura. It is very light and made by the roasting process of rice.
Bhujia – You can use bhujia or any sev mix available at your home. This is the only deep fried ingredient used in this recipe but a very small quantity is used. You can skip this if you wish to.
Mustard Oil – A special ingredient that adds unique taste and is a must in Bengali Jhal Muri.
Peanuts: Roasted Peanuts add the crunch. In Kolkata Jhalmuri, chanachur is also a must.
Vegetables – In this crispy snack, we will add some veggies for the crunch and nutrition. Here, I have used tomato, cucumber, onion, potatoes, green chillies, and fresh coriander.
Spices and Seasonings – A few spice powders and herbs makes it taste spicy and tangy. You will need roasted cumin powder, chaat masala powder, red chilli powder, salt, and lemon juice.
How To Make Jhalmuri
Preparation
- First finely chop veggies like onion tomato, boiled potato and green chillies. Keep these aside.
- In a pan roast puffed rice on low for 2-3 minutes. If it is perfectly crisp there is no need to roast the murmura.
Making Jhalmuri
- In a bowl add puffed rice, peanuts and sev mixture or bhujia.
- Add cumin powder, chaat masala powder, red chilli powder, black salt and salt as per taste.
- Add chopped boiled potatoes, chopped onion, tomatoes and cucumber if you are using it.
- Now add chopped green chillies, coriander and lemon juice and a generous glug of mustard oil.
- Mix well and serve immediately in a paper cone or small chai glasses that look really good on any teatime or hi-tea table.
Recipe Notes: Tips by Rekha
- Serve jhal muri immediately after mixing as it becomes soggy in minutes.
- Adjust the amount of green chilli as per your heat level preference.
- Use red puffed rice for making this snack. The white heavily puffed pillowy kind of puffed rice does not taste as good as the red rice murmura.
- In authentic Jhalmuri raw mustard oil is used. However, If you find raw mustard oil too pungent I suggest using tempered mustard oil.
- To temper the mustard oil, heat the oil to a smoking point and then allow it to cool down. This is less pungent in taste.
Serving Suggestions
This is an easy and quick recipe. You can do this for Diwali and Holi parties in cones. This spicy street food is perfect to serve as a teatime snack or a quick pick me up for any time hunger pangs. This scrumptious recipe can also curb your midnight hunger pangs.
Storing Suggestions
Do not mix all the ingredients together and store them as that will become soggy and does not taste as good.
To store: Mix all dry ingredients and spice powders and store in one airtight container. Then chop all veggies and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When You are ready to serve, mix everything together and add lime juice and mustard oil.
More Chaat Recipes to Try
Jhalmuri Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Puffed rice
- 2 tablespoons peanuts roasted or fried
- 1 tablespoon bhujia
- ¼ cup onions chopped
- ¼ cup tomatoes chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon chaat masala
- ¼ teaspoon cumin powder roasted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil
Instructions
Preparation
- First finely chop veggies like onion tomato, boiled potato and green chillies. Keep these aside.
- In a pan roast puffed rice on low for 2-3 minutes. If it is perfectly crisp there is no need to roast the murmura.
Making Jhalmuri
- In a bowl add puffed rice, peanuts and sev mixture or bhujia.
- Add cumin powder, chaat masala powder, red chilli powder, black salt and salt as per taste.
- Add chopped boiled potatoes, chopped onion, tomatoes and cucumber if you are using it.
- Now add chopped green chillies, coriander and lemon juice and a generous glug of mustard oil.
- Mix well and serve immediately in a paper cone or small chai glasses that look really good on any teatime or hi-tea table.
Video
Nutrition
