The town of Davangere is the prime centre city of Karnataka. The place is quite well-known for its fantastic foods. Among the long list, there exists a super yummy dry snack known as Nargis Mandakki or Davangere-Special Puffed Rice. Though the dish varies from region to region, it is consumed cognitively throughout the country with the same happiness and cravings.
The favourite street-style snack, Nargis Mandakki, has a melange of crunchy peanuts, grams, chopped onions and obviously the puffed rice, tossed with a magical mix of spices. Initially it is sweet, but right away you will get a hot rush from the cold. The flavours blend harmoniously in the mouth as a whole. The snacks are filling, flavourful and nutritious. It is vegan and gluten-free too.
Nargis Mandakki is an Indian originated delicacy. Mandakki is a Kannada name for puffed rice. Puffed Rice was the result of an experiment in Alexander Pierce Anderson's laboratory with starch crystals. Nargis Mandakki is known as ‘Bhel Puri’ in North India and as ‘Jhal Muri’ in eastern parts of the country. The light, guilt-free, and crispy kernels instantly brings back the childhood memories of the roadside stalls serving the Nargis Mandakki in convenient paper cones.
Here’s the recipe for Nargis Mandakki:
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
- 5 cups of puffed rice
- 2 tbsp roasted gram
- 2 tsp oil/ghee
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- A few curry leaves
- 2 tbsp peanuts
- 1 tsp salt
For grinding:
- 2 tbsp roasted gram
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 10 garlic cloves
- 3 green chillies
- ½ cup coriander leaves
Method:
- In a blender, add roasted gram (putani) and sugar.
- Blend them well to form a coarse powder.
- Remove from the blender and keep aside.
- Now, in the same blender, combine garlic cloves, green chillies and coriander leaves to form a paste. Keep aside.
- In a large saucepan, heat some oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and curry leaves.
- Sauté them well until they splutter.
- Add in the peanuts and sauté for a few minutes until the colour changes.
- Add roasted gram to the saucepan.
- Sauté over low flame for a few seconds and add green chilli paste.
- Keep stirring until the raw scent vanishes.
- Add turmeric powder, followed by puffed rice and salt.
- Now, add the powdered putani gram and sugar mixture.
- Mix gently and nicely to spread the flavours.
- Serve with chopped onions and green chillies to add crunch and more taste.
- Savour the delicious Nargis Mandakki with piping hot masala chai.
For more flavour:
- To get a tangy flavour, drizzle lemon juice on the top.
- You can add veggies like tomatoes or cucumber.
- Fruits can be added like mango, pomegranate seeds, or raisins too.