Bengaluru street food: the humble peanut

Got back from Bengaluru weighing some x pounds more. Among the seven sins, I might surely die of gluttony. Can you believe me if I said I ate 5 types of peanuts in Bangalore? Yes, even before chaat, chinese or any others took over the Bangalore street-food scene, there was the humble peanut in its many varieties.

Raw

Sold on carts on the street. Juicy. High in protein.

Roasted

Usually roasted over coal or hot sand stoves. Crunchy munchies. Some eat it with a piece of jaggery. Some eat it with chilli and lime.

Boiled

Boiled in water with a spoonful of salt. Soft and succulent goodness.

Bonda kadalekaayi (Bonda peanut)

Battered in spicy chickpea flour and fried in oil. Can we make it any less healthy? Unlikely. Can we make it any more tasty? Unlikely.

And last but not the least, the Congress:

When Mrs.Indira Gandhi decided to split the Congress party, the snack makers of Bangalore decided they would follow the leader and split the humble peanut. While she split the party, added politicking masala and ruled roost over India, the snack-makers split the peanut, added masala, roasted and ruled over Bangalore. Thus was born the Congress kadaLekaayi (peanut) or simply 'Congress'. A mind-numbing, tongue-burning, cant-stop-eating peanut snack, the likes of which Bangalore had never tasted before.