Girmit North Karnataka Style

What is Girmit?

Girmit is one of the most famous and sort after evening tea-time snacks or street food in the Central and Northern regions of Karnataka, and you will get this in all the street side shops and temporary shacks. It’s usually eaten with Mirchi bajji. My husband and I grew up in Harihar, close to Davangere, and my husband remembers eating Girmit almost every day since childhood until he passed out of Engineering and still craves like a baby for this amazing snack. It’s very easy to prepare at home and can be enjoyed eating in a park, potlucks, or train journey. This resembles bhel puri, but the taste is entirely different and made with different ingredients. You can also try other Karnataka recipes like nargis mandakki, garlic puffed rice, mandakki usli, masala peanuts.

How to Make Girmit Recipe

Soak tamarind in warm water for about 15 minutes, squeeze out the pit, seeds, and extract the juice. Keep it aside until ready to use. Heat oil in a Kadai. Make a small slit, fry two green chilies, sprinkle salt, and keep it aside. Add mustard seeds, jeera, and let them splutter in the same oil. Then add crushed garlic, green chilies, curry leaves, turmeric, hing, and saute for a few seconds. Next, add onions, salt and cook until onions turn soft. Add tamarind pulp and sugar, and saute for another 2-3 minutes until the raw smell of tamarind disappears. Girmit masala is ready. Cool it and keep it aside. Take puffed rice/mandakki in a deep vessel, add onions, tomato, coriander leaves, fried gram powder, and girmit mixture (oggarane) and mix it all in a rotating motion so that puffed rice doesn’t fly around and is well coated. On a serving plate, put the prepared mixture and top it with some more coriander leaves, sev, fried peanuts or roasted peanuts, and fried chilies. Girmit or north Karnataka mandakki girmit is ready. Serve it immediately else puffed rice becomes soggy.