Old Ad: "Maggi, I'm hungry"

"Mummy, I'm hungry..."


How often have you said this! Each time with 
delightfully mouth-watering results. Because mummy 
knows you love to eat Maggi Noodles, at any time of 
the day. be it after school, or after play.
Maggi 2 minute noodles come in four delicious
flavours - Chicken, Masala, Capsika, and Sweet Sour.
Try a different one each time.
Maggi times are fun times...always!
Maggi 2-minute noodles. Fast to cook! Good to eat!

Maggi Noodles was first launched in India in Delhi in January 1983 by Food Specialties Ltd (associated with Nestle). It was an instant hit thanks to ever overworked mothers and ever hungry kids. Maggi became a phenomena. The following year, only people in the world eating more Maggi than Indians, were the Malaysians. Some tried to imitate Maggi's Masala for success and its instant formula, some like a brand called Favvy instant noodles, but none succeeded and now no one even remembers them. (But yes, a decade later, on board Indian trains, cup-a-noodles were a rage)

Maggi's Magic Masala

It seemed, Maggi's Masala flavor, looking at its success, had a taste unlike anything else that Indian taste buds had ever known and yet it tasted completely Indian. If you opened up the masala sachet - the Tastemaker, inside, along with the spicy red stuff, there were sugar grains too. Strange, it seemed. And the reverse side of a Maggi pack offered recipies like: "How to make Maggi Pakoras?", "How to stuff samosas with Maggi?", "Maggi ki chatni " and similar fetish.

In the late 90s, probably because of the quick rise (thanks to some media blitz) of Nissin's Top Ramen noodles (I thought, it was good because of its flat noodles and because of it veggy taste), Maggi tried to reinvent it self. Maggi noodles became flatter and the flavour changed. Flatter was fine bit for flavour it went the dhaniya (coriander) way probably thinking why not completely Indianize the noodle. Terrible idea, weren't the Indian's already eating enough of green dhaniya. Now, no matter which flavor of Maggi you bought ( the popular Masala flavour seemed to have vanished from the market), Maggi tasted of dhaniya. They had recently launched Maggi Macaroni, and even that tasted of dhaniya. Yuck. That was probably the first time when I completely stopped eating Maggi. I didn't eat it for months at a stretch. Soon the wise guys  realized their mistake and the Masala was back. Farewell dhaniya. Nissin's Top Ramen was forgotten. Beloved Masala Maggi was back.

Maggi remains the staple diet of hostel dweller and college goers. I don't eat it much anymore. I ate so much Maggi - the kind with two double boiled eggs thrown on top) during college days that I don't have much taste left for it.

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My little way of preparing Maggi: How not to make Maggi in 2 minutes or how to make Maggi in 20 minutes:

• Take the noodle, do not break, put it in the container or pot or whatever, add water (more than normal amount) and boil. Don't add masala yet.
• Once the noodle look ready, seperate the broth and the noodles. Pour out the noodle broth (only the broth) into another container.
• Run cold tap water on the sides of the container or pot having the hot bland noodles. The point is to drastically reduce the temperature of the noodles so that they sort of solidify. Sort of look like chowmin. But do not make the noodles too solidified. You don't want it to look like 'School tiffin box Maggi' - cold solid maggi noodles that look and feel like yesterday's rice but just taste better. 
  
• Wait for a few minutes. Now, start boiling the broth again, add the masala. Stir. Add the cold noodles, some butter, and Tomato puree. Put a lid. Boil for two minutes and done. Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

I used to make it with non-atta variety of Maggi - there was no healthy atta variety then. I don't know if it would work with the atta one. I remember, I got banned from kitchen for making it often, the reason: ' How can you stretch a simple 2 minute process of Maggi to a 20 minute culinary experiment.'

'Two-Minute' was the idea that really sold Maggi.