Roasted maize warm up winters

Pushcart vendors, selling hot corn sprinkled with lemon and salt, attract people of all ages

ISLAMABAD: Just like the ice cream man’s music sounds in summer, the street vendor’s call of “challi wala,” (Corn seller) is the favourite jingle or many in winter.

The three-wheeled cart with a wood-fired stove under a big metal pan filled with sand fills the air with aroma of roasting corn and firewood.

Fresh roasted maize kernels have great nutritional value and are a staple for people on the go. The corn hawkers can be seen in different parts of the city from morning to evening, especially near crowds outside educational institutions and offices, offering roasted corn kernels heated in sand. Other fares include roasted corn cobs and roasted chick peas, making up an array of snacks favoured by students and office-goers alike.



A group of working women said that roasted corn were healthy since they are free of unhygienic oil and spices.

“We often send for bags of roasted maize from the nearest roadside hawker or for corn-on-the-cob roasted in sand,” one of the women said.

Their favourite seasonings for it included lemon and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Hawkers usually charge around Rs30 per cob which, the women said, was quite economical.

“We prefer not to have lunch from our canteen, which sells unhygienic food for exorbitant prices, rather we go for corn-on-the-cob, which is hygienic as the challi walla removes the leaves from the corn ears, roasts it in sand and adds spices and lemon to it,” she said explaining the process.



Amina, a schoolgirl, said that whenever she hears the call of the corn vendor, she urges her parents for a bag of roasted maize.

“Whenever I hear the voice of corn seller in my street, I cannot stop myself from craving some. Roasted corn is my favourite.”

Iyaz Khan, a corn seller, however, had a different side of the story. He lamented that the price of corn has gone up, meaning his profits have shrunk.

“Last year we were charging Rs10 for a small cob and Rs20 for a large one. Now we have had to increase the prices to Rs20 for small one and Rs30 for the big one, considering inflation.”

He said that winter was the perfect time for corn sellers like to earn handsome money as people irrespective of their ages throng the carts for buying hot corn grains in the chilly weather.

Health expert Dr Aftab Rao said corn contains vitamin B-12 and folic acid which prevents anemia and has sufficient iron in it to increase red blood cells in the  human body.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2017.