Luchi ( লুচি ) and Bengalis

1.picture courtesy @Kolkatafoodgrapher.
2.📸@hungriee_bird.
3.collected from Bong Mom’s CookBook.
4.collected from jiyo Bangla fb page.
5.📸@ON_ MY_PLATEEE
6. 📸@maya_yummyoyummy

——–Avidha Goswami

From the beginning ,we Bengalis are known as ‘vojonrosik’ (food- loving), we all are food lover so among us it is hard to find such people who do not like to eat.
World famous Bengali cuisine vapa ilish or ilish paturi (steamed hilsa in mustard sauce or steamed in banana-leaf parcels) ,
chingri malaikari (coconut -prawn curry) ,
and just like rosogolla, every cuisine of us will make your mouth watered
and here I present one of the favourite food of Bengalis , which is none other then ,our mr. ‘luchi’. It is also called Puri in many parts of India.Although Luchi and Puri are very much the same,but there are some differences.
Basically the luchi is a soft , thinn ,deep- fried ,puffy flatbread made with wheat flour ( Indian name , maida ) salt , sweet , ghee and warm water . The dough is kneaded and rolled into a flat circular bread . It is deep fried in ghee or cooking oil until it takes little golden and when the luchi takes crispier ,golden brown version then it’s called puri.

We Bengalis never let Luchi be alone.Breakfast to dinner in every meal of Bengalis there is a place of luchi. Usually luchi is served as main course but we serves it’s also as starter as well.When a guest comes to a Bengali’s house, it is customary to give him hot luchis,torkari and misti (curry and sweets) as a snack.
The Bengali house is incomplete without Luchi at any holiday’s breakfast, Whether it’s Sunday morning or any festival like durga puja or independence day, luchi is must.

In our homes ,when our mothers sift out the warm luchis ,from ghee or oil ,
Just then everyone picked up one by one from the pot and start eating,believe me that freshly made juicy hot luchis gives you a different heavenly feeling.
Mainly luchi is a immerse stuff in Bengalis life , it’s pairs with many many things like normal sada alu torkari (white potato curry) , cholar daler torkari ( gram pulses curry) , begun vaja ,alu vaja ( fried eggplant and potato), kumror chokka( pumpkin jeera curry) ghugni (dried white peas or chickpeas curry), fulkopir torkari ( Cauliflower curry), kosha mangsho (sautted mutton or chicken curry) and it tastes great with sweets like payesh(kheer), boondii etc, also Some peoples here dips the luchi in milk tea and eats it,they says it’s taste like ambrosial.
In Bengal luchi have two Avatar also , one is kochuri and another is motorsutir kochuri.
Basically stuffed luchi of baked mixture of yellow moong dal or Urad Dal (crushed and washed horse beans), besan or chatu (crushed and washed gram flour), black pepper, red chili powder, salt and other spices is kochuri and it’s served with spicy potato curry, green chilli and mango pickle.
In winters, the luchi gets another avatar, the much-loved koraishutir kochuri (stuffed with a paste of green peas), which is served with alur dom(slow- cooked red spicy potato curry) and chutney (handmade spicy meant ,tomato or chilli sauce).If Once you accomplish this taste, you can’t forget this , for the rest of your life.

So, from the Portuguese poi to the Persian sheermal, this bread play a quintessential part in the everyday lives of Bengalis,as well as Indians and it also showcases India’s multicultural history.
Although luchi originated from the Bengal region but especially it’s popular in the Indian states of West Bengal , Assam, Odisha, Tripura and in the neighbouring country Bangladesh also.
I hope that every Bengali will maintain their relationship with Luchi for the rest of their lives without fear of acidity
and this adage will alive forever
“ওগো লুচি তুমি অরুচিরও রুচি”

“Dear luchi you are penchant also for repugnant person”