Nutmeg and Coriander: Down Memory Lane to My Mom's Kitchen and Beyond

Luchi, the cousin of Poori is a fried flat bread is a favorite in Bengali cuisine. It can be a part of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snacks. A good luchi is soft, round (well almost) fluffy, light, golden in color, and not greasy. To make good luchis we need to have a low gluten all purpose flour or maida. I have gotten the best result when used the flour available in Indian Grocery Stores brands such as Lakshmi, Deep or Royal brands. Ingredients: All purpose flour or maida 1  cup Ghee 1 tbsp Oil for frying (depends on the size of the kadhai or frying pan) 2 cups Salt 1/2 tsp Water as needed to make a not too soft not too stiff dough Place flour in a mixing bowl Add the salt and ghee. The fat makes the luchi soft and crispy. Incorporate the ingredients nicely. Use lukewarm water for best result. Add little water in to the flour mixture. Add little at a time to avoid getting a runny dough.   ...

When our dearest friend Marilyn requested an Indian breakfast for her hands on experience cooking on Indian cooking, it immediately took me back to my childhood in my mom's kitchen in Kolkata on a winter day. I wanted to show her how a typical Bengali morning begins my childhood days. Oh the aroma, the visual, and the yummy taste are still fresh in my memory. The soft round goodness of the "luchi" (do not mistake it as a poori) accompanied by "fulkopir chachchari," a veggie medley of potatoes, cauliflower, peas make me drool when even to think about it. So the menu we decided was "luchi with fulkopir chachchori." We started cooking the f"ulkopir chachchori," the potato and cauliflower sabzi first.  We had all the ingredients in our hands. We washed and diced the potatoes and the cauliflower in to 1" cube got some peas from the freezer, a whole ripe tomato, handful of coriander. For the spices and seasoning,  I used 3 whole red chi...