Kheerer Luchi / Bengali stuffed sweet puri

    Kheerer Luchi ,as the name suggests, is a luchi (puri) stuffed with khoya stuffing and then soaked in thick kheer gravy. In Bengal, by Kheer, we usually mean, thickened milk. 

I have been planning to try this recipe since long,but was a little apprehensive at first, that the luchis might not come out well. 

But then somehow mastered the courage and decided to give it a try. The result was more than I expected. The dish came out really really tasty with soft luchis soaked in thick kheer. 

Believe me, it was not as difficult to make, as I was thinking at the begining 😄. The process,of course, is a bit elaborate. But,I have tried to make it as simple as I could. Just follow my recipe, and you can easily make those divine tasting Kheerer Luchis at home. 

The original recipe, as the name suggests, calls for mava/ khoya stuffing. In did not have khoya at home. So, I made my own version of khoya 😃, which tasted no less than the mava stuffing. You can,of course, go with the traditional method of mava/khoya stuffing.

Without wasting more time in describing it, let us start preparing the dish. I will describe the recipe step by step, making it easier to comprehend.

 Things required : yields about 18 to 20 luchis

1. Full cream milk -  3 litres plus 1 cup
2. White vinegar - 2 tbsp
3. Maida (All purpose flour) - 2.5 cups 
4. Sugar - 2 cups ( adjust according to taste )
5. Milk powder - 2 tbsp
6. Oil - to fry and 2 tbsp extra for kneading
7. Cashew paste - 2 tbsp (gives the kheer a nutty and thick texture )
8. Pista - finely chopped or ground - 2 tbsp (for garnishing )
9. Green cardamom - 2/3 (powdered) to add to the milk,while boiling

Process :

1.  in a deep saucepan, bring 2 litres of milk to a boil. Let it boil on a low flame and reduce it to a condensed milk like consistency. Add crushed green cardamom (choti elaichi) while boiling.
2.  For the stuffing. In another saucepan, bring the rest 1 litre of milk to a boil. When it boils, add the vinegar and let the milk curdle. Switch off the flame. 
3. in a clean cotton cloth, strain the curdled milk, wash it a little and hang for at least 3/4 hours in order to get your chunk of paneer without any extra moisture.
4. Mash the paneer with your hands. Blend it in a blender jar along with 3/4th cup of sugar and a cup of milk. You will get a smooth thick paste.
5. Heat a non stick pan and cook this paneer paste on it over medium flame. Cook till all the liquid evaporates and you get your crumbly stuffing ready. 

 This will be your stuffing for your Kheerer Luchi and as I mentioned earlier,this is equally good in   taste. You can always go for mawa stuffing,if you like. You can prepare the stuffing one day prior,so   that you can make the dish faster.

While the milk is boiling, keep stirring it occasionally. 

Let us prepare the maida in the meantime :

1. In a big mixing bowl, add 2 and a half cup of maida and 2 tbsp oil and knead with your hand,till it is crumbly.

 Make a smooth and firm dough by using warm water,little by little. When the dough is ready, rub a little oil over it and keep aside for an hour.

    

 Check the consistency of the milk. When it is reduced to about a third of its original quantity, add the sugar ,cashew paste and milk powder, stir well and mix. once it is ready, switch off flame and let it cool.

You can understand from this picture...the upper mark of milk shows,how much it has been reduced to.

Now for the luchis...knead the dough once again for a minute and make small balls from it. There should be about  18 to 20 luchis from this dough.

Start rolling each Luchi, put a teaspoon of stuffing on it, fold it like momo and then again roll it to the size of Luchi /Puri. 

  In the meanwhile, start heating oil in a kadhai. You have to deep fry the luchis. When the oil is hot enough, start frying the Luchis one by one. When luchis are light brown on both sides, take them out and keep in a wide serving bowl or tray. Try not to stack the luchis one above the other. Or else, when soaked in kheer, they tend to get stuck to each other . 

 

Getting fried.

The fried luchis, before adding kheer.

When all the luchis are done, arrange them well on a wide dish or serving tray and pour the kheer over them. See that all the luchis are soaked equally. Garnished with chopped pista. Refrigerate for 2/3 hours and serve.