A Bong's Kitchen

It is often said (and with good reason) that the way to a man's heart goes through his tummy. That is so true. Because I remember though initially my husband's family weren't too keen to take me as their daughter-in-law (mine was a love marriage and being somewhat old-fashioned, my in-laws didn't like it that his son hadn't gone with their choice and instead got married to me, whom they didn't know) but I succeeded to create a good impression on my father-in-law because of my cooking. The magic recipe was actually something very simple - luchi er alur dum - a combination that is so commonly made in almost every Bengali household. But what impressed him the most that my luchis were soft and as per him, perfect. Since that day, luchi- alur dum happens to be a regular breakfast item in my home. Both my father-in-law and my husband love the combination very much. Even my MIL loves and appreciates my prepared luchis.

Luchis are both very easy to make but need to be paid attention whether we are kneading the dough nicely or not.

Ingredients :

Maida - 2 cups
Ajwain - 1tsp
Refined Oil - For deep frying
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Water - 2 cups

Method :

In a big bowl, take the maida, ajwain, salt and adding 2 tbsp of cooking oil to the mixture, mix all these ingredients nicely. Now pour in half the water and knead the dough to almost dry. Once again add the rest of water and knead nicely, until the dough doesn't stick to your palms. We will then know that it's ready. Now covering the dough with a wet, thin cloth, leave it aside for about 45 minutes or an hour.
After that make out small balls out of the maida dough, brushing a few drops of cooking oil on their surface, flatten them and then roll them out to small puris (of about 4-5 inch diameter).
Heat oil for frying in a deep wok till it is smoking hot. Then reduce the flame and slowly add the rolled puris into the hot oil. Using the back of the frying spatula, slightly press the puris into the hot oil, this helps in making the luchis fluffy. When they are done frying, take the luchis out from the oil onto paper napkins so that all the excess oil gets soaked up by the napkins. The luchis are ready to be eaten. You can serve these luchis with any thick gravy curry (veg or non-veg) but it is mostly eaten with alur dum.