June 17, 2008

Lucchi (Bengali fried bread) and an award!


Poori-masala is one of the most welcomed food combo in our house. Infact it is JM's one of the favourite foods (and he doesnt have that many favourites!). But we make them at home less often. That actually make them all the more special. After coming to US, I stuck to just the basic Indian recipes like rice and a curry or something. But later on I started making most of our Indian specialities. But only recently did I REALLY know that JM loved this combo A LOT!! This time I decided to try out Lucchis which I came across in a cookbook. Lucchis are basically pooris with semolina added to them, which actually gives them a slight resemblance to baturas. The semolina also helps to hold the puffed up shape of the pooris longer than the regular pooris would. The lucchis also have fennel added to them for fragrance. And they taste phenomenal! It would go well with any curry, we had it with some beef curry and onion salad. Enjoy!


Recipe (Makes 8 lucchis) :

All-purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Fine semolina - 1 tbsp
Fennel - 1 tsp, dry roasted and ground
Oil - 1 tbsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Oil - for frying

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.

Add the semolina and fennel and mix well.

In another bowl combine water and oil.

Mix together with the dry ingredients.

Knead well to make a smooth dough, adding more water if necessary.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and set the dough aside for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into eight balls, flatten slightly and then roll them out in the shape of disks (4-5" diameter).

Heat the oil in a wok/kadai until very hot.

Fry the breads one at a time, flicking the hot oil over the top so that it puffs up.

Turn and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels.

Serve hot with Indian curries.

Source: Authentic recipes from India by Brinder Narula.

Tips:
  1. I made 1 1/2 recipe to get 12 lucchis.
  2. While frying the pooris, push down the bread under the oil so that it will easily puff up.

Once again, I have an award to cherish and share! Neha of Tasty recipes passed me the Nice Matters award. Thank you so much Neha, I am happy to know that I am in the thoughts of a few blogger friends. It feels great to be appreciated, and thanks for being nice and for making my day!! :-)


"Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I would like to pass this onto

Purnima of Cook
Roopa of My kitchen treats
Hetal of Isha's kitchen
Vani of Illatharasi

Enjoy your awards! :-)



I am sending this to the Roti mela hosted by Srivalli at Cooking 4 all seasons.

22 comments:

Finla said...

Wow they have puffed up so good and congrats with the award

Unknown said...

Wow I love this pic , and as Happy cook says they have puffed up very well:) Congratulation on the award:) You definitly deserved it:) Thank you so much for considering me for the award :) Hugs:)

Anonymous said...

hey so no atta in this one?shoudl def give it a try sometime

Cham said...

Lucchi and puris are same? They look yummy :) Congrats on your award

Uma said...

lovely lucchis! So soft and puffed up! Congrats on the award.

ranji said...

wow JZ!!!these puris have puffed up so beautifully..semolina in pooris give a nice crunch..i add little bit of that in bhatura too...nice entry:)

Mansi said...

nothing like hot puris, bhaaji and shrikhand on a riany day! thanks for bringing back fond memories J!:)

Trupti said...

Lovely entry JZ. nicely puffed lucchis ..wow

Dori said...

I will have to try this as I never made them with the semolina added.

Illatharasi said...

Thank you so much JZ!!!! These awards encourage me a lot...... YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY:)

As usual, your Lucchi looks yummy, feeling hungry when I saw this....;)

Payal said...

Oh my.. this reminds me of home! My mouth is watering! Pics make such a huge difference!

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Happycook, I was also happy abt the way they puffed up!!

Enjoy ur awards Roopa! Hugs to you too!!

Yeah, its without wheat but still is soft and tasty and puffed up pretty well!!

Cham, the knowledge that pooris and lucchis are the same is from the book. I hope that is the case. The main difference being that one is made from wheat flour and the other using al-purpose flour!

Thanks a lot Uma and Ranji!

Glad to help you recollect ur fond memories, Mansi!

Thanks a lot for visiting Trupti!

Meeso, do try these out, they are yumm!!

Enjoy your award, Illatharasi, and thanks for visiting!

Thanks for the enthusiastic comment, Payal..come again! :-)

Rachel said...

Nothing like a plate of hot pooris and beef curry...yummy combo..semolina aids in the puffiness..this I should try...

Srivalli said...

thank you for the wonderful luchis..yes they are the same as pooris...and I had made these for RCI bengal...loved every bit of it...

FH said...

Love Love Luchis, yum!:)

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Rachel, Srivalli and Asha! Yep, so its official, lucchis are just like pooris ;-) Thanks again, Srivalli!

Anonymous said...

JZ Congrats on your award!
and those lucchis are so soft and puffed up. I wud love to have some :D

Suganya said...

Hi JZ.... The name is new to me... Never tried this before. Looks great. Does is taste like bhatura....

@the_whisk_affair said...

Thanks Skribles and Sukanya! Comeover Skribles, I'll make you some! Sukanya, my husband was mentioning that it tastes like batura! But I am somewhat a poor judge of those things and i trust his palate! ;-)

Swati Raman Garg said...

perfect luchis haan ....

dui teen luchi ta phadaoo tada tadi ... ok am sorry suddenly i heard my frens mommy all busy serving luchis...

ur hubby needs many more awards for those pics JZ

Hetal said...

Hi dear,thanks for the award,sorry for the late reply...was not in town...

J said...

Love luchis...yummy!