Jhaal Mudhi Le Lo…
Filed under: Behind the screen..., craps ..., uuphh yeh life!!! — chapters @ 12:41 PM
People here in Kolkata are Jhaal Mudhi (Spiced Puffed Rice) fans. If you step out of your office anytime after 4 PM, you will find the Mudhi vendors with their stalls. You will easily recognize it if you find a big transparent polythene containing puffed rice on one side of the open stall; then there will be rows of glass jars with different kind of Namakins, peanuts, pickles etc, bowls containing minutely cut onion, ginger, green chilies, coriander leaves, coconut, boiled potatoes, raw tomatoes, & spice powder, salt and sometimes sprouts of chana.
In my place, it was always Mudhi and Mixture. I loved that. The crispy puffed rice and the tangy mixture was a delightful treat for me. I never preferred anything else to be added to eat. Here I tried eating the Jhaal Mudhi, but it was too much spiced for me. Even if I tell the Mudhi wala to make it less spicy then also the end product is always too much for my taste buds, because less-spicy does never find a place in Bengalis’ dictionary; either it is spicy or it is too much spicy!!! Bengalis love spicy food, so the vendor can never make what I demand for and I always get the after effect of eating their version of less-spiced puffed rice with a running nose, teary eyes and a red tongue. I am kind of allergic to chilies, cannot take even a little bit. (Most of the time I avoid putting chilies in any form while cooking.)
Anyhow, recently I discovered a way to make the vendors to prepare exactly what I want to eat. I wait for somebody to order his/her Jhaal Mudhi with all the spices and namkins and potatoes-tomatoes in it. After the vendor prepares it, he pours the whole mixture to a paper packet and then I jump in to order mine. I told him to add the puffed rice, one specific kind of namakin (called jhuri bhaja) and small amount of peanuts. No masala, pickles… nothing… not even salt. He gives me little more of the peanuts or Jhuri bhaja as there is no other ingredient in my version of Jhaal Mudhi and mixes it in the same container where he had prepared the earlier order. Getting mixed with the left over powdered masalas my jhaal mudhi becomes exactly what I want it to be. Some tiny pieces of ginger or onion also find their way to my jhaal mudhi. I find various kinds of tastes, but at the same time in the minimum amount one can imagine. And the puffed rice remains crispy as the potatoes, tomatoes, oil, pickles are not added to it. 
At-least now I have mastered the art of ordering a perfect crispy not so jhaal mudhi. With this achievement in hand, I look forward to other such intelligent inventions and thus successfully surviving in this spice land. Wish me luck 
