Jhalmudi…lip smacking n just so tasty

On the route from Mumbai to Howdah, once you enter the outskits of MP (Madhya pradesh) bihar and Jharkhand…u will hear the cry…”jhal moodi jhal moodi…” ohhhhh…its nothing to make you scared…nothing weird but just a version of our very own bhel poori…but ofcourse the similarity ends here…Jhal moodi can be a real pain to eat mainly if you are unused or hate mustard oil of which there are liberal lashings…but if you like me love “sarson ka tel” you will absolutely love it…and mustard oil and onion combination is just DIVINE…you may not like it…since the taste is as foreign as olives (my mouth is watering) or horseradish…(m salivating)…
The cries are usually heard in second class train compartments…this was one thing that my ma in law didn’t allow any time since she got (rightly) scared that I may have stomach infection…but taking a intercity train to howdah from Jamshedpur and cry of “jhalmoodi” couldn’t make me resist for one…the person had a wicker basket, with assortment of mixtures (sev ,roasted gram and peanuts etc),chopped coriander and green chilles (bombs on tongue actually),chat masala,saindhav (rock salt) and ofcourse mamra (moodi/) ,wet coconut stripes (coolant after chilly bomb)and ubiquitous mustard oil. In a pace that will put a top chef to shame, he assembled the ingredients in a paper cone…decorated with cocnut stripes,coriander and sev…impatiently I took the cone…and had my first bit…aha….lovely…a simple yet wonderful dish…it was good on empty stomach and wonderful on the tongue…Ohhhhhhhhhhhh m loving it JJ and no..nopes…I didn’t have an infection…infact it increased my appetite for one more jhalmoodi J