Bengali Luchi Recipe | Luchi Recipe | Maida Poori

Learning the ropes of a new cuisine can be quite intimidating!! When the Blog Hop theme for this month was decided as Bengali Cuisine, so many ideas popped up in my mind and was not able to decide on one. Bengali Luchi Recipe is the one of the first thing that pops up in one’s mind when thinking about Bengali food. Then I decided to make a  Spicy Cauliflower Curry to go with it. As a dessert lover how could I miss that out, then fixed on the famous Bengali Mishti doi.

Before getting into the Bengali Luchi Recipe, a little about my knowledge about the cuisine since this is my first post in this cuisine. First of all let me tell you I can’t write about the Bengali cuisine in detail yet as I’m not an expert. Though I have tried my hands on some delicacies especially the desserts, I’m still exploring the vegetarian side of this cuisine. I also found Bong Mom’s CookBook to be nice, informative and interesting. Though I haven’t exactly adapted any recipe this time, I would love to try out some in future. With a few bengali friends, it was not that difficult to manage the chosen recipes, I must say. Wikipedia is anyway useful for some general information.

Bengal is known as the land of ‘Maach aar Bhaat’, which means ‘fish and rice’. If the impression has been given that Bengalis only eat fish, then the wrong impression has been made, which I actually realised in the process of hunting for recipes. Bengali cuisine is one of the finest blends of non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes. The cuisine is also healthy, except for maybe a few fried foods and irresistible desserts, but everyone needs to enjoy the tempting things in life every now and then.

The Bengali food culture gained more prominence due to the Mughal influence that started in Bangladesh. This influence brought in the richness in the Bengali food, and together with influences from many other cultures, it got labeled as one of the most aromatic and most flavoured cuisines of the world.

The flavours in Bengal cuisine are distinctive and vibrant. The incorporation of spices and roots, which are ground into pastes, gives many of their sauces and meats a strong, rich taste. Mustard oil is also an important ingredient across Bengal, as it adds a pungent flavour to dishes. The cuisine is appreciated for its fabulous use of Panch Phoron, a term used to refer to the five essential spices, namely mustard, fenugreek seed, cumin seed, nigella seed, and fennel seed. The specialty of Bengali food lies in the perfect blend of sweet and spicy flavours.

A significant feature of the cuisine is a significant variety of sweets based on milk and sugar as part of tradition. Traditional Bengali food always ends up with mishti doi, sweet yoghurt. Bengali food is famous for its sweets. The vast varieties of lip smacking desserts make this cuisine very popular across the globe.

Wondering what happened to this South Indian focussed food blog? Lately posting more of different regional cuisines…Yes, not only do I enjoy South Indian style cooking but I love trying different kinds of cuisines too. This is an expression of the passion that I have for food. Don’t worry you will get the best food on my blog!!

I never knew, the maida pooris I have eaten so long is nothing but the luchi, the most cherished breakfast fare of the Bengalis. Luchi is an Indian deep fried flat bread that is made using All Purpose Flour (Maida) and is widely served in West Bengal during Durga Pooja or any other special occasion. Basically it is made of  wheat flour/ refined flour, salt and oil. But I’ve also added sugar and ghee to enhance taste of Bengali Luchi Recipe. I know that Soft fluffy luchi and spicy hot dum aloo is a deadly combination.

Hot puffed up luchis are served with a myriad of dishes according to ones liking and also the time of the day. The perfect fluffy, crispy and moist luchi will surely become your favourite dish. Luchi is traditionally made of ghee. I have used ghee for making dough and refined oil for frying. If, you want to make typical Bengali Luchi Recipe, use ghee in place of refined oil. Ghee enhances the taste and aroma of luchi but definitely not for me. looks like it’s puri season…last week whole wheat flour puri  with potato masala and now all purpose flour luchi…Oh God!!!… no more fried items for some time!!

I didn’t have any hesitation about switching from whole wheat to all purpose flour for Bengali Luchi Recipe, I realised that if I am deep frying them, I can as well skip out the wholegrain factor.

Off to Bengali Luchi Recipe!!

Steps to follow for Bengali Luchi Recipe:

1. Preparing the dough:

• In a mixing bowl add maida (all purpose flour), salt, kalonji and melted ghee (or oil).
• Mix all ingredients well and rub the mixture using your fingertips.
• Add little water at a time and knead to a soft dough.
• Cover the dough with a moist cotton cloth set aside for at least an hour.

NOTE:

• The dough should be soft, but firm. It shouldn’t be soggy. In case it is, add a little bit of flour and knead again.
• I’m using kalonji (nigella seeds), you can just skip to make plain luchis or ajwain (carom seeds) is also another option.

2. Rolling the dough balls:

• Make small balls out of the dough.
• Using a rolling pin roll each dough ball into circles, about 4 -5″ in diameter.
• Make a thick Puri like shape.
• Roll out the rest of Luchis in the same way.

NOTE:

• Dust very little flour to roll the Luchis or use oil.

3. Deep-frying Luchis:

• Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep pan/kadai over medium high heat and once oil is hot enough put the heat on medium.
• Gently slide each luchi/puri into oil.

• Press a little bit in the centre with a slotted spatula so that Luchi puff up.
• Flip and fry on both sides.

• Usually luchis are not fried to golden brown but I like it slightly brown.
• Remove them to a plate with absorbent tissue paper.
• Fry rest of the Luchis in the same way. Turn off the heat.

Serve luchis with dum aloo or with your favourite sides. Today I have served with a spicy cauliflower curry. Luchi also tastes great with Kosha Mangsho/Mutton cooked on slow fire. Will definitely cook that some day but for now, you can try out with mutton curry on the blog.

Print Recipe

Bengali Luchi Recipe | Luchi Recipe | Maida Poori

Bengali Luchi Recipe to make Luchi, a deep-fried flatbread made with Maida/All Purpose Flour. It is the most cherished breakfast of the Bengalis.

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Servings: 5 to 6

Author: Padma

Ingredients

• For the Dough:
• 2 cups maida/all purpose flour
• A pinch of Salt
• 2 Tablespoons ghee or oil
• 1 teaspoon Sugar optional
• 1 teaspoon Kalonji nigella seeds
• Water as required to knead the dough
• To deep-fry:
• Ghee or oil for deep frying I have used oil

Instructions

• Preparing the dough:
• In a mixing bowl add maida (all purpose flour), salt, melted ghee (or oil), sugar and kalonji.
• Mix all ingredients well and rub the mixture using your fingertips.
• Add little water at a time and knead to soft dough.
• Cover the dough set aside for at least half an hour.
• Rolling the dough balls:
• Make small balls out of the dough.
• Using a rolling pin roll each dough ball into circles, about 4 -5″ in diameter.
• Make a thick Puri like shape, do not roll too thin.
• Roll out the rest of Luchis in the same way.
• Deep-frying Luchis:
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep pan/kadai over medium high heat and when oil is hot enough put the heat on medium.
• Gently slide each luchi into oil.
• Press a little bit in the centre with a slotted spatula so that Luchi puffs up.
• Flip and fry on both sides.
• When both the sides get cooked, remove them to a plate with an absorbent tissue paper.
• Fry rest of the Luchis in the same way. Turn off the heat.
• Serve luchis with dum aloo or with your favourite sides. Today I have served with a spicy cauliflower curry.

Notes

1. The dough should be soft, but firm. It shouldn’t be soggy. In case it is, add a little bit of flour and knead again. Do not over knead the dough.
2. You can make sure that your dough is perfectly kneaded by pressing it with a finger. If it springs back right away, you are absolutely ready to go.
3. I have used kalonji (nigella seeds), you can just skip to make plain luchis or substituting with ajwain (carom seeds) is also another option. You can also add a little garam masala powder powder to make masala luchi.
4. Dust very little flour to roll the Luchis or use oil. Don’t roll a very thin Luchi, it will not puff.
5. It is even better to use lukewarm water in the dough in place of normal cold water.
6. Be very careful while preparing the oil for deep-frying. It should actually be piping hot. However, if you end up making it smoking hot, your flatbreads will get burnt. The luchis will puff up only if the oil is of the right temperature.
7. You can also use ghee and oil in 50:50 ratios for frying Luchi. Traditionally it is fried with ghee.

Check out other recipes from the culinary hopper’s team:

• Ghugni chaat by Jayashree
• Sweet potato curry by Parvathy
• Bengali cuisine by Shuba
• Aloo kumroo by Shobana
• Aloo dum bengali curry by Swati
• Dhokar dalna by Poornima
• Nimki by Vani
• Shorshey-dharosh and bengali thali by Piyali

Happy Cooking 🙂

Cheers!!

Padma.