Muri (food)

Puffed rice is a type of puffed grain made from rice, commonly used in breakfast cereal or snack foods. It is usually made by heating rice kernels under high pressure in the presence of steam, though the method of manufacture varies widely.

Puffed rice
Puffed rice for sale in Ulsoor Market, Bangalore
Spiced puffed rice

It is a popular street food in India, Bangladesh and Nepal or street snack in Korea.

Production

Puffed rice is formed by the reaction of both starch and moisture when heated within the shell of the grain. Unlike corn, 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.[1] Though not as dramatic a change when compared to popcorn, the process and end result are the same.[1]

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 (1,400 kPa). 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.[1]

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.[1]

The method of modern industrial puffed rice production is attributed to American inventor Alexander P. Anderson, who stumbled across puffing while trying to ascertain the water content of a single granule of starch, introduced the first puffing machine at the World's Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1904. His eight "guns" that puffed grains for Fair goers were dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World" by an advertising billboard poster. Once the puffing principle, technique and technology had been discovered by Anderson, the competition to puff ready-to-eat American breakfast cereal took over the economy of Battle Creek, Michigan, with Kellogg's and Quaker Oats being two memorable and still active names to endure through the early puffing frenzy.

Usage

Korea
Gangjeong coated with puffed rice

In Korea, puffed rice is known as twibap (튀밥) and is used to make yeot-gangjeong or to coat gangjeong.[2]

India
Spicy puffed rice

In India, puffed rice is known as muri. Other regional names includes mudhi, murmuri and puri. It is a staple food in Odisha.[3]

Puffed rice is an ingredient of bhel puri, a popular Indian chaat (snack). It is offered to Hindu gods and goddesses in all poojas in the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Pilgrims of Sabarimala often pack puffed rice in their Irumudikettu along with jaggery meant to be offered to Lord Ayyappan. Tamil saints say that Lord Ganesh loves pori, so it should be offered to him without fail. Pori has been mentioned in various Tamil literatures as an offering to Hindu deities. Offerings of pori and jaggery made to Vinayagar (Lord Ganesh) are mentioned in the Tiruppugazh, a 15th-century anthology of Tamil religious songs, written by Tamil poet Arunagirinathar.

In Telangana, as a snack typically given to children, puffed rice or bongulu is made into ball with jaggery sugar syrup or bellam pakam.

Jhal Mudhi (Puffed rice) of Baripada

Under the initiative of Make in India, the Central Government of India decided that muri from Odisha would be part Indian traditional food among 12 traditional dishes from different states that would be launched globally.[4][3]

Uggani and Bajji (Steamed puffed rice and Fritters), a typical breakfast of Rayalaseema

In Mithila area, puffed rice is had with "kachari"-fried potato/onion chops, fried fish or with mutton curry. "Jhal-muri" and "Murhi-Bhuja" are also very popular snacks in this area. In Madhya Pradesh, this is referred to as Parmal and its very often eaten with Sev as a snack and also used in Bhel.

Western world

Mostly in United States and Europe, puffed rice is served with milk as a breakfast cereal, such as the brand Rice Krispies. Some chocolate bars, such as the Nestlé Crunch, include puffed rice, and puffed rice cakes are sold as low-calorie snacks.

Philippines

Ampaw is a sweet puffed rice cake from the Philippines.

See also

References
  1. Howstuffworks "What is a Rice Krispy? What is it made out of and how do they make it?"
  2. "Twibap" 튀밥. Standard Korean Language Dictionary (in Korean). National Institute of Korean Language. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  3. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Mudhi-to-be-a-part-of-global-Make-in-India-campaign/articleshow/48319625.cms
  4. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150804/jsp/odisha/story_35223.jsp#.VcBR4_mqqko
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