An Ode to Luchi

I wrote my first blog on breakfast and asked my friends to comment on it. My friends are very honest and generous people but some of them are livid that I insulted our Bengali tradition. That there is not a word written on Luchi is a terrible omission. This blog is therefore dedicated to Luchi as an attempt to smooth a few ruffled feathers and a simple attempt to describe the Bengalis' love for Luchi or Nuchi (as my significant other says lovingly).

Luchi is quintessentially Bengali or Eastern Indian delicacy. We even raise our young in a way that they can pay their due respect to it and carry on the tradition over the generations. I am no poet and have no talent in writing verses. There are many wise men and women who have sung praises of Luchi but even a simple person like me is mesmerized by the sheer beauty in it. A perfect Luchi is like a fair virgin's cheek which hasn't yet been kissed even by the sun. There, I have said it!

Granary of Harappa

Before I delve any deeper into the discussion, we must study a little history on Luchi. Where and when did we start eating Luchi? The earliest mention of anything close to Luchi is what we read in the stories of Purana and probably in the Upanishad. These ancients used to eat something called Purodash which is a wheat dough baked or fried on fire. To me it sounds more like Roti or Paratha, at best. It is a shame that we haven't got a clue about what the native Indians before the Aryans wrote! A part of me wants to think that they would have known a better delicacy than Purodash.

Let me try to explain why. The people of Harappa and Mohenjedaro knew a thing or two about grains. They were civilized people (who had probably better sanitation than us!) living in agrarian society who stored their grains in well constructed granaries. Remember those text book pictures of the ruins? They would have known how to powder the wheat and spend time in making a delicacy fit for a king unlike the roaming herds of Aryans. I have nothing against them. After all, the Aryans knew a thing or two about their meat!

Now, getting back to our present era, my friends might ask what is so special about Luchi when we have Puri and Bhature from the west of India? My dear friends, it is beneath a Bengali to knead a Luchi dough using the slightest trace of wheat flour. It must be made using the most refined Maida, as fine as Pond's talcum powder. The amount of oil and water to knead the dough has to be perfected as has to be the kneading time. A good cook will make a perfect circle of a Luchi with only a few deft strokes of his or her rolling pin. Then you plunge that beauty in a hot bubbly bath of oil and 'voila', a perfect spherical being is born.

 Luchi emerging from hot oil

Luchi with sada aloor chochhori

My good friends asked to include Luchi for breakfast but my heart does not let me shackle this delicacy to only that hour. Sure, Luchi is eaten for breakfast and my mother insists that the breakfast side dish with Luchi needs to be as white and pure as the Luchi itself. Hence, a white potato curry (sada aloor chochhori) with a fresh green chilli and a white rajbhog or rosogolla (rosobela as my son says!) are it's perfect companions in the morning. People who fast also have Luchi during lunch. Back in the days when the Brahmins used to be gluttonous, they were treated with Falahar (a feast of fruits). The fruits used to come along with the Luchi and it's accessories. My significant other says that Luchi is also served as a snack with afternoon tea, for example, Luchi and Mohanbhog. Luchi is eaten at dinner too! It was served as the first food in the by-gone era of wedding feasts which used to be eaten on banana leaves. I myself love to have Luchi as dessert. The presence of Luchi ups the ante when eaten with Rabri or Chenar payesh. 

My father told me the stories of his childhood when his grand mother would serve him Luchi for breakfast early morning everyday before he left for school. I have read stories where the sick were asked to consume Luchi fried in ghee as a diet to recuperate. Bengalis did not know Roti or Paratha before the famine of 1943 which was beginning of the era of food shortage and rationing. Roti is now considered healthy and eating Luchi is now frowned upon by the health enthusiasts. Oh Bengal, how far have we fallen! Even so, with all the brow-beating from the inspectors of high-blood pressure and polices of cholesterol, Bengalis are not deterred from worshipping the Luchi. The Bengalis are ultimate traditionalists and tradition entails that we eat Luchi in all shapes and forms and at every meal. Love you Luchi.