It crackles in your hand, it tantalises your taste buds, and it carries with it a lifetime of memories. Muri makha isn’t just a snack, it’s a ritual, a mood, and for many, a taste of simple times at home. Quintessential, yet unique to every household, this beloved puffed rice mix — tossed in together with mustard oil, green chillies, onions and more — transforms dramatically depending on whose kitchen it is made in. My Kolkata asked Kolkatans about the hero ingredient that goes into the muri makha.
Chana muri makha at food content creator Arpita Das’s house
In Arpita Das’s Kolkata home, muri makha was more than just an evening snack — it was an event. “At our home, muri makha is usually made on holiday evenings, when everyone is around,” recalled the food content creator behind Weekend Flavours, who now lives in Singapore. “When there are about 9-10 of us, it becomes a big batch. Baba, or one of my uncles, would go out to get the chop, shingara, beguni, or peyaji — whatever each person loved.” But the real star? The addition of chana — sometimes bought fresh from the neighbourhood vendor they lovingly call chana kaku. “We’d gather around and mix the muri together — mustard oil, cucumber, onions, green chillies, coriander leaves, chanachur. And then 2-3 chops or shingaras, cut into small pieces, go in. That’s what makes it special.”
Arpita’s mother, she added, would occasionally roast the muri lightly in mustard oil with turmeric and curry leaves, adding a pinch of bhaja masala for a deeper flavour. Now away from home in a foreign land, Arpita still keeps muri stocked in her pantry — for the days when nostalgia hits hardest.
Fritters for Iftar muri makha by chef Nayana Afroz
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Chef Nayana Afroz, with roots in Kolkata and married in Bangladesh’s Dhaka, highlights the Iftar version of the snack. “Into the muri go the fritters of the day — anything from alur chop to peyaji, even shami kebabs and egg chops. Then go the chopped vegetables like tomatoes, capsicum, coriander leaves, green chillies, boiled potatoes, ginger juliennes, lemon peel. We even add jalebi and boondi to give it a sweet twist,”she explained. For her, muri makha is a dish of surprises, sometimes enhanced with unexpected elements like pomegranate and corn. “The whole family enjoys it together. It’s chaos in a bowl, in the best way possible.”
Chef Preetam Bhadra’s Ujjala chanachur special muri makha
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Chef Preetam Bhadra swears by a minimalist approach that lets the ingredients shine. “In our house, it’s pretty standard: muri, some chanachur and knacha shorsh’er tel — no fuss,” he said. His household swears by Ujjala chanachur, prized for its crisp chire and balanced seasoning. “The muri has to be mota muri — no other shapes or sizes. The trick is to balance the quiet beauty of the three ingredients; it shouldn’t be oily from the mustard oil, and the seasoning is only from the chanachur and the muri. No need to put anything else.”
Bhaja masala for the enhanced taste for food vlogger Souvik Bhattacharya
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Food vlogger Souvik Bhattacharya, better known as GoodFood Bro, puts the spotlight on bhaja masala — the dry-roasted, fragrant spice blend that many believe is the true secret weapon of muri makha. “The proportion of onion, mustard oil, green chilli, masala and chanachur that goes into the muri makha is an intellectual property of every homemaker. There is no defined recipe, but wherever you eat, the love is constant,” he shared.
