Kolkata’s Mouth Watering Delights – Jhaal Muri and Puchka

As the train chugged into the station, I pushed up the strand of hair that fell on my face and smelt the air once again, the air of nostalgia, the air of my childhood days. Brought up in Kolkata, I still remember the day I had to leave the city when I came to Mumbai to get married. I have been in Mumbai ever since the last 22 years and have considered going to Kolkata and binging on its food as my favorite dream come true.

Well my dream was coming true in the form of the small weekend outing I could manage to attend the inauguration of my friends’ showroom. Since my kids were out on a summer camp and my husband was abroad, I thought this was the best time I could use to not only go to my alma mater but also binge on the delicious food there.

To understand dining and food in Kolkata, one has to understand that the city is a hub of diverse cultures, traditions and customs. So the food habits here are predominantly Bengali but do have an influence of the nearby Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Orissa States. More than 300 restaurants offer the best kind of cuisine in the city of joy. But I hit the streets of Kolkata first.

Kolkata means rosogolla, sondesh, dim bhaja ( fried eggs), begun bhaja (fried egg plant) labra ( mixed vegetable) Khichudi ( rice cooked with lentils) alu posto ( fried potatoes). I love all of this. This time I decided I would go to the local food court on the streets of Kolkata.

I first went to Russell Street – the centre of activity in the city. Yum! Let me share with you the food I had with all the detailed descriptions. Food is best enjoyed when you know how it is made and what it contains.

Jhaal Muri at Russell Street

With the very familiar stand holding the contents of Jhaal Muri in various small containers, the Muri fellow beckoned me and asked “ Haan, bolen boudi, ki chay.?” Which in Bengali means “ Yes, M’am tell me what you want to eat.?” When I said jhaal muri he took out his familiar aluminum vessel quickly added the puffed rice, then the potatoes, onions, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, a dash of his spice powder, the punch given by the drops of mustard oil, and he topped it with coriander leaves and coconut pieces. Kolkata, from ages, has been an environment friendly city and always has used paper covers to give its food. The Jhaal muri fellow gave my muri in the tonga, the paper cover. I tasted it with the ice cream spoon that he gave me, and yum , was it delicious. The good old jhaal muri that we used to have in college once again in my mouth and melting down my esophagus flaring my digestive juices and bringing back old memories.

Puchka – The divine feeling

From Russell Street I went to Hindustan Park. This is an area which one can never forget if one has been a college student here in the city of Kolkata. For this is where most of us used to meet up, discuss strategies, plan studies, analyze plans etc over a plate of Puchka. Puchka? Yes strange as it sounds it is famous as pani puri in Mumbai and gupchup in Orissa. But Puchka is what is stuck in my memories and attaboy I headed for the puchka fellow or the puchka wala as we say.

“Bhaiya, zara puchka dena.” I said meaning Mister please give me some puchka. In my childhood days, we used to get 16 puchkas for 1Re. !! Now, of course those days are gone, yet the taste had not.

One thing about Kolkata’s puchkawalas is the stands they carry. A red cloth covering the puris and a huge steel pot to keep the water and bel leaves to hold the puchka. Yes, I told you Kolkata is environment friendly unconsciously from yesteryears. They don’t give us thermocol or plastic plates, they give us leaves. Of course now with many new kind of eateries, the practice of thermocol plates and plastic containers are in vogue. But the Hindustan Park puchkawala is still the same. Puchka is the puri made of semolina and the filling is a mixture of potato and boiled white peas added with a dash of spices, chilli powder , black salt . The puchka water is made of tamarind added with a mixture spice of cumin and fennel seed powder, rock salt and chilli powder. The puchka fellow gave me the leaf, dipped the puchka puri ( huge ones) into the pot of tamarind water after filling the puri with the filling and gave it to me. My mouth was watering like a waterfall and by the time I got the first puchka in my mouth after ages, my eyes started watering not only with the tears of joy, but also with the tangy taste of the puchka. They say that if you have not had tears in your eyes while eating puchka, then you haven’t eaten the right puchka. !! Puchkas are also famous in BBD Bagh in eastern part of Kolkata.

Kolkata the land of sweets has more to offer. I went around the entire city eating and hogging away to eternity. In my next blog, I am going to write about how I enjoyed the other delicacies in Kolkata. Till then happy munching on your palate senses and go take a quick trip to Kolkata have the jhaal muri and the puchkas.!!!

My say – Never compromise on memories be it emotional or of the palate.!!!