Small, pale, puffed breads of white flour and ghee, deep-fried in seconds — Bengal's breakfast and festival bread, eaten with potatoes, dal or kosha mangsho.
What makes it luchi
Maida — fine white flour — not wholewheat.
Ghee rubbed into the dough.
Rolled small and round, fried in hot oil until it puffs, and kept pale.
Where it comes from
Where north India's puri is made with wholewheat, Bengal's luchi uses maida, fine white flour, and comes out pale and soft, ballooning as it hits the oil.
It's the bread of Sunday breakfasts and festivals, eaten with a dry potato dish, cholar dal of Bengal gram with coconut, or begun bhaja — slices of fried aubergine — and at Durga Puja with everything.