Bhel

Since I grew up on Prabhat Road, our park was Kamla Nehru Park or KNP as the young, smoking, drinking, college crowd called it. My fondest memories of eating bhel after a long evening session of play with friends of my childhood are outside the large iron gate of KNP. Bhola whel was our bhelwala. No real reason, that's the guy my mother would take us to. A fifty plus year old balding man whose complexion had been permanently burned to a dark brown from making bhel in the scorching Indian sun. He owned a humble pushcart with a hand painted board that said Bhola Bhel next to an anatomically questionable picture of Shankar. The glass containers that contained the papri and rice puffs had pictures of Bollywood stars that hadn't been updated for decades. He cut fine onion with a speed and onion that would rival a KithcenAid® Chopster™. With a cheery disposition he never failed to make serious small talk no matter how little his customers. And for 70 Paise (this is in 1978) he would serve you Bhel on a single page of a glossy magazine with a little square from the slightly thicker cover would serve as the spoon. I would run back to the park with my friends and we'd sit under the biggest mango tree and enjoy Mr. Bhola's Bhel to the fullest. From what I hear Mr.Bhola passed away recently and the spot where his cart used to be has been taken by a chaiwalla. It was very relaxing to watch him make Bhel and I had watched him make it enough times to know the recipe by heart. So I dedicate this recipe to Mr. Bhola. Long after he has gone may his recipe live on in many corners of the world.

Ingredients
1 Cup Puffed Rice (Mumra)
1 Cup Farsan (Or a mixture of Sev, Papdi and Gaathi)
1/2 Onion chopped
1/2 Tomato finely chopped
1/4 Raw Mango chopped (optional)
2 tsp Coriander finely chopped
1/2 tsp Green Chlli Paste

For Tamarind Chutney
1 Cup water
1/4 cup Tamarind Pulp
1 tsp Jaggrey or Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Cumin Paste
1/4 tsp shendelon-pandelon (No idea what it means in English but it is optional.)

Method
In a small pot boil all the ingredients for the tamarind chutney.
In a big bowl mix puffed rice, farsan, onion, tomato, mango, cilantro and 4 tbsp tamrind chutney.
Add little chili paste according to your spice tolerance.
Serve in a small bowl garnished with Sev and Corainder.