Yum Yum Churmuri

I am sure many of know what I am talking about, this is a very popular street side healthy chat from Mysore, the reason I say Mysore is I haven't seen it made the same way in Bangalore either. When we were in Bangalore,  we used to go to see Vidhana soudha lighting on the weekend  - I am talking about the stone ages when night life was not as bustling as it is now and there were few choices for young married couples to spend their day off from work :-), we used to sit there on the steps and wait for the lights to switch on, enjoy the beautiful sight, eat some snacks and get back home. There would be all these vendors with push carts and hand baskets selling spiced cucumber slices, boiled peanuts, roasted corn (if it was the season) and churmuri. I bought the Churmuri from this little kid once and was disappointed to see it tasted differently from what I would enjoy in Mysore.

Over to Mysore - on the days akka had to go back for her over night shifts during her PG days, I used to give her a ride on my 2-wheeler to the hospital in the evenings. There was this small store near the JSS circle in Mysore called churmuri angadi (store), he made the yummiest churmuri I have ever tasted. He could dish out tasty churmuri with varying degrees of heat in them based on the request. Akka  always ordered a mild churmuri and I would tell him  'nange jaasti khara haaki (put extra green chilies for me)'. He would hand us 2 packets of churmuri just perfect for our individual palates. Akka never finished the whole packet and I would get part of it while eating my own extra spicy stuff puffing through my teeth and blowing my nose in between :-), but never once leaving a single bite out.

Growing up, we didn't have access to bakeries & fast food restaurants and our evening snacks were all home made. The old man with 2 gunny sacks hanging on either side of his bicycle would come visiting our area every wednesday and those sacks carried some of the freshest, crispiest puffed rice. We used to gobble up fistfuls of it before my mom had time to even pay & send the guy off to the next street. It tastes wonderful with some fresh coconut pieces and jaggery.

Churmuri is a healthy medley of puffed rice, peanuts and raw vegetables mixed together with lemon/lime juice. In summer, they add grated green mangoes. It doesn't have any ketchup, tomato sauce, red chili powder or broken papdis/puris in the Mysore version. I feel the tomato addition moves it towards being Bhel puri (another tasty snack item) and away from being churmuri. The peanuts added are called 'Congress kadlekayi(peanuts in kannada)' and make for a very tasty snacking with a cup of tea.

What do you need to make churmuri? 
4-5 cups of puffed rice/puri/marmaralu
2 medium sized carrots - washed, peeled & grated
1 medium size onion - chopped fine
a handful of fresh cilantro - chopped fine
1-2 green chilies - crush them in to a paste using the food chopper or in mortar & pestle
1 juicy lime/lemon - juice extracted
salt to taste
1 cup of congress kadlekayi if you have access to it, alternatively use dry roasted, dehusked peanuts
1 Tbsp of cooking oil

How do you make Churmuri?

1. Take a bowl big enough to mix all ingredient.s
2. Add all ingredients except for the puffed rice & peanuts.
3. Mix it & have a taste, should be on the spicier side.
4. Mix the peanuts & puffed rice, toss it to coat well and serve immediately.

How do you serve Churmuri?
Tastes best when eaten immediately after mixing as a tea time snack with a cuppa tea or coffee. We had ours while watching Gnomeo & Juliet and laughing over the Elton John's happy ending take on the Shakespearean classic.
Best eaten by hand, served in roll made from old newspaper but tastes just as good eaten from a serving bowl with a spoon. Enjoy..

Variation:
Mix grated green mango, reduce the amount of lime/lemon juice

Tips:

1. Make sure your puffed rice is crispy & fresh for a good tasting churmuri
2. Add the green chilies, a tsp of chopped onions and a spoon of cilantro into the food processor and give it a whirl to get the paste
3. I keep the green chili paste aside and mix individually for self, spouse & daughter to create the 'made for you' effect :-)

Update on 1/11/2012 - I was informed about the 'Let's Cook #11 ~ Rice' event by Radhika, so here goes Churmuri to my first ever blog event :-)