Bengali New Year/Baisakhi Bengali Recipes Breakfast Breakfast Veg Durga Puja/Bijoya/Navratri Festival Special Indian Bread Janmashtami Main Snack Video Recipes

How to make Perfect Bengali Phulko Luchi | Loochi | Maida Poori | Luchi Alur Torkari

dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">

Soyon e, swapan e, jagoron e Bangali jibon er omogh sotyo Luchi Torkari, Robibar er jol-khabar!

~ The ultimate dream and truth in a Bengali’s life is luchi-torkari (poori-bhaji) on Sunday’s breakfast.

Luchi is the inseparable part of Bengali life; you can take out a Bengali from Bengaholal but you can never remove luchi from a Bengali’s life! We need this small dose of pleasure on breakfast, lunch or dinner with our favourite Alur Torkari or Cholar Dal and a bowlful of Bonde (Sweet Boondi). We can eat this maida poori all day long without any hesitations. If you are in doubts, all you need to do is send me an invitation! I’m always up with the ‘try me’ option! (Only for luchi, okay?)

If you have no clue about what luchi is and might be thinking what’s all this fuss about, let me clear the air for you. Luchi or Loochi is a deep fried Indian yeast free flatbread which gets puffed up during frying. It is a breakfast staple in Bangladesh and few states of eastern zone of India like West Bengal, Orissa and Assam.

Luchi step by step Recipe Food Photography

Though luchi seems to be a very simple dish it requires high technical skills. Even years of practice and expertise can fail sometimes. And thus again I have realized how talented cooks are our moms and grandmas to cook these sort of complex dishes perfectly neatly on daily basis. They surely deserve a stand up salute for their awesome job. As far I remember I have never seen my mother to cook an uneven flat or hard luchi, ever; on the contrary I keep my fingers crossed whenever I cook luchi. Sometimes I simply have no control over this tiny monster.

There are loads of people who are facing similar or different troubles to achieve that perfectly round golden puffed up luchi. Finally after years of struggle I’ve narrowed down to few crucial points which I have borrowed from experiences of my mother and aunts (now I miss my granny most). So I’m penning down those points and a proper video tutorials with all the steps for making perfect Fulko Luchi, each time!

Traditionally luchi is made of maida or all-purpose flour but sometimes whole wheat flour is also combined with maida to turn it to easily digestible and comparably healthy. There is couple of reasons why I have mentioned loochi as a technical dish earlier. It begins with kneading the dough correctly which requires the balance of flour and moyan with right amount of water. Moyan is little amount of fat, mostly ghee (clarified butter) or while oil is used to coat flour. Then it comes to kneading smooth pliable dough; not to lose not to dry. Next is flattening and rolling out luchis; all of them should be cloned meaning look alike, round petite.

And finally the biggest task, frying perfectly puffed up loochi in gallon of oil. The correct temperature of the oil plays a vital character of your puffy soft luchis and trust me it is nothing less than rocket science! The oil shouldn’t be cold or sizzling hot. To maintain the oil temperature turn the flame to high, add loochi, fry on high flame and once puffed up turn the flame to simmer and remove luchi immediately. Only that’s how you can have complete control over oil temperature and chances of getting puffed up luchis are high! Again, experience speaks a lot!

Luchi or Loochi is typically known as breakfast staple on weekend mornings in any Bengali household. But lunch or dinner equally embrace this little puffy happiness; the only difference is the side dishes to enjoy with it. If breakfast is complemented with luchi-alur torkari, the lunch will mostly include Alur Dom or Kosha Mangsho and the supper will be with cholar dal. Personally I don’t prefer oily/fatty food on breakfast or early morning. So when it comes to luchi or Kochuri or even Radhaballabhi I push my breakfast time to little further so that my stomach can adjust the heaviness. And yes, don’t you dare to miss the sandesh (dessert) or mishti doi (sweet yogurt) at the end of the meal!

Here you go with the recipe on how to make perfect Bengali Phulko Luchi or Indian Fried Puffed Bread which is more known as Maida Poori in other parts of India.

Read the entire recipe and notes carefully before you start cooking.

Do make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (unless mentioned) and weighed or measured correctly in appropriate weighing machine or measuring instruments such as cups or spoons. Remember these are not our regular cups or spoons which we use in our daily life.

Begin with kneading the dough.

Sieve the flour & salt together in a large bowl.

Make well in the center of the flour and pour oil/clarified butter (ghee) in to the well. (See Notes)

Mix everything together with your palms in such a way that it looks like crumble.

Again make a well in the center. Pour cold water little by little to make soft dough. (See Notes)

Use a damp kitchen towel to cover the dough once you are done and leave it for 30 mins. (See Notes)

Next is rolling or forming luchi.

Make small balls from the dough. Keep them in a line. (See Notes)

Take each ball at a time in hand and seal the edges by gently pressing and stretching the dough.

Make sure there is no crack at all around the dough. Try to give it a round flat pattie shape. Follow same procedure for rest of the balls. (See Notes)

Pour few drops of oil or flour on the clean kitchen counter or rolling board (or wherever you are planning to roll the dough) and place one dough ball at a time.

Roll it with a rolling pin carefully. Stretch it as much as possible but don’t make cracks on the surface. If crack appears stop stretching. Otherwise all your hard work will go in vein. (See Notes)

It should be in size of ordinary whole wheat poori but bit thicker.

Finally (and most important), frying the luchi.

Take a nonstick wok, filled 1/3rd of it with oil or clarified butter (ghee) and heat it on high flame. Once the oil turns hot, simmer the flame. (See Notes)

Add one luchi slowly in the hot oil. Be careful not to split the hot oil.

Remember it should be one luchi at a time in the oil. Firstly, it will go down to the bottom of the wok and immediately will float on the top.

Increase the flame to medium-high at this point. Keep pressing the luchi in the middle very gently with the ladle and at the same time keep rotating it.

Once you can spot the luchi is changing its color to golden, immediately turn over the luchiand keep doing the same way on the opposite side too. (See Notes)

Within few seconds this side will also change the color and it will turn to pale red. This is the time to remove your luchi from oil. (See Notes)

Follow the same way to make all the luchi and serve them immediately.

Luchi Alur Torkari Halua Sunday Bengali Breakfast

Luchi should be served hot, always. It pairs best with Alur Torkari (Potato Curry), Alur Dom (Dum Aloo), Cholar Dal or even with Kosha Mangsho (Bengali Mutton Curry). And follow up with Doi (Sweet Yogurt) and Mishti (Sandesh/dessert)is a must! Don’t forget that, ever!

It is not advisable to store Luchi for later consumption. Always serve freshly cooked though the dough can be stored in any air-tight container for 2-3 days in refrigerator. Try yourself now and you can always thank me later.

Luchi is the best compliment to Bengali Sada Alur Torkari aka Potato Curry with asafoetida & black pepper. Don’t forget to add Pesta Sandesh or Komolabhog. And by any chance if you are having this on your Sunday breakfast, Bonde or Sweet Boondi is a must thing to lick off your plate.

Variations:

1. Unlike traditional luchi recipe whole wheat flour can be combined in 1:1 ratio with maida or all-purpose flour.

2. Use ½ tsp of sugar while kneading the dough if you want a slight touch of sweetness in Luchi.

3. Use roasted chili powder or black pepper powder to create a spicy variation in luchi.

4. Use any white flavourless oil instead of ghee or combine both as per your personal preference.

How to make Perfect Bengali Phulko Luchi | Loochi | Maida Poori | Luchi Alur Torkari

Save Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

Author: Rimli

Recipe type: Breakfast, Main

Cuisine: Bengali, Indian

Serves: 22-25 pcs (3”-3.5” diameter)

Ingredients

All-purpose flour: 2 cups
Warm water: ¼th -1/3rd cup
Salt: ½ tsp
Oil or clarified butter (ghee): 1 tsp + 2 cups for deep frying

Instructions

Begin with kneading the dough with flour, salt, ghee and water.
Take Out small balls out of dough and roll into a roti like circular disc using rolling pin.
Deep fry in hot oil/ghee until puffed up.
Drain on paper towels to discard excess oil.
Serve hot with curries.
Enjoy!

Notes

1. Moyan (adding fat into flour) plays an important role in kneading dough for luchi. It will ensure soft pliable dough.
2. The right amount of water is required to knead perfect dough. While too much water can turn it into a muddy mess, little water can also make dough hard and tough.
3. Always allow the covered dough to rest for enough time. It will help the gluten to make dough super soft.
4. It is definitely not necessary to maintain the dough balls in a line but it will help you to complete the job neatly and without any trouble.
5. Turning each dough balls into pattie will ensure even rolling later.
6. If there are any cracks at all on the surface of the luchi, when added in the oil it will turn into all oil soaked hard flat bread, more like papad.
7. To check the temperature of the oil: add a tiny particle of the dough in the hot oil, if it sizzles immediately it is the right temperature.
8. To maintain the oil temperature turn the flame to high, add loochi, fry on high flame and once puffed up turn the flame to simmer and remove luchi immediately. That’s how you can have complete control over oil temperature and better chances of getting puffed up luchis!
9. It is important that you take out the luchi from oil at correct time, otherwise luchi/kachori will get browned and crisp; not soft, how it should be.