Indian Street Life – Some Things Don’t Change
Life has changed dramatically in the towns and cities of India in the last 15 years. Nearly every aspect of social life has been transformed – quickly those regions have grasped onto modern-day materialism. That has been the general trend.
Even then, there are some aspects of life that have remained the same – like the preparation of moori – or Indian puffed rice, a staple food for many.
Here is what the person who shot this video had to say…
Do you know how murumura, a.k.a moori (puffed rice) is made? I didn’t till I visited Parsabhata haat (weekly market), near Balco Township, Korba. Some oil is added to raw rice, and mixed well. The raw rice is then added to very hot sand in a kadhai and allowed to sputter. In less than half a minute the rice transforms to white flakes. A sieving and murmura is ready — crisp and delicious.
The following section is courtesy of Wikipedia:
A traditional puffed rice called muri (sometimes spelled mouri) is made by heating rice in a sand-filled oven. Muri is to rice as popcorn is to corn. The processing involved makes rice less perishable. Mandakki is a staple food in many parts of Rayalaseema, North Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and Bangladesh. Jhalmuri or Masalemandakki is a very popular preparation made from mandakki (muri). Puffed rice is formed by the reaction of both starch and moisture when heated within the shell of the grain. Unlike popcorn, rice kernels are naturally lacking in moisture and must first be conditioned with steam. Puffed rice can be created by heating the steam-conditioned kernels either with oil or in an oven. Rice puffed in this way is crisp, and known as “crisped rice”. Oven-crisped rice is used to produce the Rice Krispies breakfast cereal as well as the crisped rice used in Lion Bars, Nestlé Crunch, Krackel, and similar chocolate bars. Though not as dramatic a change when compared to popcorn, the process and end result are the same. Another method of puffing rice is “gun puffing”, where the grain is conditioned to the correct level of moisture and pressurised to around 200 PSI. When the pressure is suddenly released, the pressure stored inside the kernel causes it to puff out. This method produces a puffed rice which is spongy in texture. Rice can also be puffed by making a rice dough, and extruding small pellets which are then rapidly heated. The moisture in the dough flash boils and puffs the rice up. A cereal such as Cap’n Crunch is extruded, cooked, cut, pressurized, puffed and dried in a continuous process. Mudhi is a staple food of people of Odisha – northern Odisha, especially Baripada, Mayurbhanj district is significant for the production of Mudhi, where throughout the state it is eaten in breakfast. Read more…