My Notes on Phulko Luchi

• Traditionally, luchi is made with all-purpose flour only. It’s called Maida’r Luchi in Bengali.
• However, in many homes these days the use of maida has been toned down. 
• What I do is, mix 1 cup wheat atta with 2 cups of maida and knead the dough with about two tablespoons canola/vegetable oil.
• The dough for luchi has to be hard and not soft like the kind we knead for chapatis.
• I knead my dough and keep it covered for about an hour and then knead it again to tighten it up and smoothen out any air bubbles.
• Poke a finger to your dough, if you see a dimple form, you know your Luchi’r dough is perfect. 
• In other words, your dough should be like a baby's bottom!
• Divide the dough into slightly smaller-than-a-lime-size balls.
• Round each ball by rolling it between the palms of your hands.
• Roll out each luchi by slightly contacting the ball of dough with the warm oil from the karhai/wok. Luchi should be evenly rolled out and thin.
• Luchi should be made in a round karhai. Usually it was a cast iron wok, large enough to fit a couple of luchis at one time. Modern day kitchens have replaced the traditional kodai/karhai with non-stick woks which work fine as well.
• Heat vegetable/canola oil until almost smoking, and slide in the luchi. One at a time. 
• With a jhanjhra/slotted spoon, press lightly to fluff up the luchi. 
• Turn the luchi before it gets brown. Many families also add a pinch of sugar to their dough to get extra caramelization on their luchi, as sugar burns up quickly. You can do away with it.
• It takes just a few seconds to deep fry a luchi.
• Keep each puffed up luchi on paper towels for the excess oil to drain off.
• Serve as you make them or immediately. 
• Luchi is best eaten with chholaar dal, mota-mota alu bhaja, begun bhaja, shada alur chorchori, kosha mangsho, ghugni, payesh, or kheer.
• Jam, chini, jhola gur, bonde, doi, jilipi come a close second! ;-)

Koraishutir Ghugni

I haven't yet made Koraishutir Kochuri this season. Which means I have to make my peas offering with a peas-y alternative.

This is a green peas ghugni, something which can pass off an evening snack or as a brunch with phulko luchi.

Ingredients for Koraishutir/Green Peas Ghugni are:

500 grams shelled peas (frozen or fresh)
2 medium size potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 medium ripe red tomatoes, chopped
Half teaspoon cumin seed
Half teaspoon garam masala powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
Half teaspoon black pepper powder
1 small stick of cinnamon
1 cardamom
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
Half cup fried onions, crushed
2-3 tablespoons mustard oil
Sugar
Salt

Heat oil in a pan and sauté the cubes of potatoes till they are lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

In the remaining oil, add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Immediately add the chopped onions.

On a low heat-medium heat, sauté the onions till they are lightly red in color. Add the ginger, tomatoes, red chili powder, black pepper powder, turmeric, garam masala powder, salt and half a spoon of sugar. Sweat the onions with the spices and tomatoes till they are cooked. Keep it covered. This should take about 6-8 minutes.

Once this mixture is cooked, add the green peas and the sautéed potatoes.

Add half a cup of water, cover and cook the peas for 5-6 minutes. The peas and potato will release some moisture of their own, make sure you don’t overcook them and make them mushy.

Now add the crushed fried onions to the ghugni and mix well. Do a taste check and see if it has the right balance of everything.

Have the Green Peas Ghugni on its own as a snack or team it up with some luchi or parotha. Some of you may even like to top it with some muri/puffed rice and enjoy it with some hot chai.

Always a Hit, Alu Kumror Chokka

At my home, a kumro always swings between a Chenchki and this Chokka. Both are traditional Bengali ways of cooking pumpkin with other ingredients.

A Chokka is usually made with Alu (Potato), Potol (Parwal) and of course, the Kumro (Pumpkin). A handful of Red Gram (Lal Chola) is added to give it more personality.

A Chokka pairs well with porotha or phulko luchi, I chose to serve it with the latter today, since P favors them over the triangular parathas.

Ingredients for Alu Kumror Chokka are:

300 grams pumpkin/ butternut squash, cut into two inch cubes
2 medium size potatoes, quartered
Handful of red gram, soaked overnight
1 medium size ripe tomato, coarsely chopped
2-3 green chilies, slit
2-3 dry red chilies
1 teaspoon panch phoron
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
Generous pinch of asafoetida/ hing
Quarter teaspoon garam masala powder
Half teaspoon ghee
3-4 tablespoons mustard oil
Sugar
Salt

Heat the mustard oil in a deep pan. Add the panch phoron, dry and red chilies and hing in no particular order. Sauté them for a minute before adding the diced potatoes.
Toss the potatoes around in the oil for a couple of minutes and see them getting slightly golden yellow at the edges. Throw in the handful of red gram then. Stir continuously for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

Now add the pumpkin. Sauté for a minute or two before adding the turmeric and red chili powder. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, mix all the ingredients. Add half a cup of water, cover and cook till the potatoes are done. The pumpkin gets mushy quickly so it helps to add them a little later than the potatoes.

Finish the Chokka with quarter teaspoon of garam masala powder and a spoonful of ghee.

The sweet, fragrant Alu Kumror Chokka is ready to be served now.

And its no coincidence that Soma of eCurry too made the Kumror Chokka today. Its an abundance of the mishti kumro.

Kumror Chenchki and a Cut Above the Rest

“Cut the kumro and the potato into thin matchsticks,” that was the instruction my Mother gave me over the call I had with her to brush up my Kumror Chenchki recipe.

Now, chefs and cooks all over the world will tell you that cuts in cooking matter. Those who say cut/chop any which way you want to, have no inkling how dicing is different from chopping, and chopping from slicing, and juliennes from slivers.

For each style of cutting and slicing, the world of vegetable weaponry has also contributed well.

Some of which could even possibly feature in the top 10 most useless kitchen gadgets. Including a certain garlic peeler I have.

We Bengalis love to separate and categorize our vegetables by the different styles of cutting. The dalna will have diced vegetables, while the jhol should have them cut lengthwise. The alu bhaja ought to be little juliennes while the eggplant for beguni should be sliced thick, thick enough to be deep fried crisp. The lau for lau chingri should be kuchi kuchi, while the same lau which goes into making chholaar dal should be cubed!

While most of us now rely on our obedient kitchen knife, traditionally the bothi was the weapon of mass destruction in a Bengali kitchen. It could peel, dice, julienne, slice, shred, roll cut, parallel slice, you name it!

That ubiquitous bothi stayed on the cutting edge for many generations. The last to use it in our family is of course my Mother, who would peel the paka kumro with it first, then cut thick slices of it to cut into think matchsticks for the Kumror Chenchki. Next the potato was angled in a way that even peeling it with eyes shut seemed doable. From a long distance only.

I did not inherit bothi workmanship from my Mother. So I think I am more like my Father, who couldn’t do fine things. Except for the times when he was taking a catch in fine leg. He was a fine cricketer in the 1970s, who went on to captain his University and play Ranji Tropy matches. The story is that he used to go my Mother’s home (before they got married) to eat Luchi and Kumror Chenchi cooked my by Mother’s Grandmother.

Ingredients for Kumror Chenchki are:

250 grams paka kumro/ pumpkin
2 medium size potatoes
4-5 green chilies, slit
4-5 whole dry red chilies
2-3 tablespoons mustard or Canola oil
Sugar
Salt

Peel the skin of the pumpkin, and cut it into matchstick shapes. Do the same with the potatoes too.
  Mine of course were far from being “matchstick-like”. But this really is my upper limit. Pushing me further would have resulted in a chenchki disaster and a very teary-eyed 30-something.

Heat oil in a wok, add the green and dry red chilies. Let them pop and splutter for a few seconds. Add the pumpkin and potatoes, season with sugar and salt. Mix well, cover and cook till the vegetables are tender.

My kumro cooked in pretty much no time. It was a tad too paka for a chenchki, so when you pick your pumpkin, make sure you don’t use an over-ripe one.

I served my Kumror Chenchki with Phulko Luchi. Something which would make a great breakfast for Mahalaya.
What is your most useful and your most useless kitchen gadget?