Puri upma - quick recipe for breakfast or snack

How do recipes that are very region specific get to other regions? I am not talking now when everything can be looked up with Guru Google and you can whip quite an international fare at home never leaving your kitchen but how did the recipes get transferred from one region to the other in the past without internet became such a household thing? I think some of it has to do with people's likes and availability of similar ingredients and some of it is due to a constant quest for new types of food. Travelling to places definitely helps in mixing, merging tastes and evolving new recipes. Today, it is one such recipe from the Northern regions of Karnataka, there may be other places that have this or a similar version but I was introduced to this long ago by a cousin of mine who was a medical representative and traveled places.

When we are home on weekends, we usually do a heavy brunch and have snacks in the evening, snacks are generally light, quickly put together and chat pata in taste. I have reduced the deep fried snacks quite a bit and found baked, steamed, stir fried yummy alternatives which are healthy.

Puri or puffed rice is light, tasty and can be adapted in many recipes - both sweet and savory. If you are a chat lover like me, you will find the Mysore Churmuri irresistible. Growing up in Mysore, visit to the hill top Chamundeshwari (Protector Goddess of the place) temple was a frequent outing for us. Climbing the 1000 steps, stopping for rest multiple times on the way, stopping at the big Nandi statue is all part of my childhood especially during the summers when we always had cousins over at our place. After the pooja was done, we would always get some puri from the small shops in front of the temple to go with the freshly broken coconut pieces and jaggery before we ate any of the home cooked picnic lunch. Sometimes, if we went without any packed food, we would still be full eating the fresh puri and the coconut pieces. Fresh puffed rice is a snack by itself, doesn't need much in terms of decoration.

Today's recipe as I mentioned is very popular in Northern Karnataka and the bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh. My cousin used to say that he always ate chili pakodas or the famous mirchi bhajias as a side with this. I make this often when I can't think of anything quick for a light dinner or snack and usually make variations with what I add to the seasoning. Here is a nutritious sprouty version of the puri upma.

Also, here is another way in which I use the pappula podi we made earlier.

What do you need to make Puri Upma? 
Makes 3 bowls of puri upma
6 cups of puri/marmaralu/puffed rice
3-4 green chilies (adjust to taste)
1 cup sprouted moong or any other sprouts you like
3/4 cup thinly chopped onions
3/4 cup pappula podi
5-6 curry leaves
1 Tsp salt
2 Tblsp oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp cumin seeds
juice from one big lemon
water

How do you make Puri Upma? 

• Slit green chilies and keep aside.
• Chop the onions into thin, long strips and keep aside.
• Take a big vessel and fill half of it with water and add the puffed rice into it, push it down so it touches the water and let it stand for a minute. 
• Take handfuls of the soaked puri, squeeze out the water and keep aside.

• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, cumin seeds and let it splutter. Add the green chilies, curry leaves and fry for a minute until blisters appear on the skin of the chilies and curry leaves crisp up.

• Add sliced onions, fry for 2-3 minutes until onion sweats a little.
• Add the sprouts, salt and let cook for 3-4 minutes until sprouts soften a bit. 
• Add the soaked. squeezed puffed rice, pappula podi and lemon juice and mix it well. Adjust any taste as needed. Keep it on the stove long enough to get the puffed rice warmed up.

• Serve immediately topped with chopped cilantro (I didn't have it when I made it) and a wedge of lemon. 

Notes: 

• The end product should be spicy and tangy, adjust the green chilies and lemon juice accordingly. 
• Do not soak the puffed rice for longer than a minute at the most, it loses the crunch and turns soggy.
• You can add other sprouts that cook fast such as alfalfa sprouts. 
• I like the onions to retain their crunch in this recipe and hence undercook it a little bit. 
• Puffed rice is generally salted and you have added salt to the pappula podi also, so go easy on the salt and adjust at the last step if needed.

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 :-)