Niramish Lau Ghonto / Lau Bori / Bengali Style Pure Vegetarian Bottle Gourd Curry

The more you move out of Kolkata and enter deep into the suburb and village area..you will see a stark change in their food habitat and and of course cooking style. I have seen my in-laws being very heavy handed with mustard oil, mustard seeds and poppy seeds. In their breakfast they are more likely to eat muri or puffed rice with some potato curry and sweet. Sweet is a must for my husband and in-laws. They are crazy for the particular “makha sondesh” that is available in most of the sweetmeat shops in that area.

Breakfast with muri (puffed rice), potato curry, omelette and sweets.

DDLJ anyone??

One day in the afternoon 4 monkeys came through our main door!! Thank god they came, they saw and they left!!

The sweet is quite dense and rather coarse in texture. It does not come in any shape and rather looks like a giant mash of cottage cheese, jaggery and sugar. The price comes at per kg basis and it varies from village to village and the taste differs as well. The best I have tasted so far is from my husband’s village shop.

Apart from cooking fabulous Sorshe Maach and Alu Posto, my mother-in-law cooks some of the best pure vegetarian dishes I have ever had. Today’s recipe is just one of them. Earlier I tended to eat bottle gourd only with prawns but she made this beautiful niramish lau ghonto and I was just blown away. Although the taste is a little too much on the sweet side...but it tastes awesome!!! And after adding crunchy boris...it became the tastiest veg dish I have ever eaten. I just love this dish!!

My mother-in-law's specialty Sorshe Maach

Abandoned Kartik idols beside Ganga- Ghat.

Heat the oil.

Fry the boris and keep aside.

Heat some more oil and temper with panch foron, dry red chilli and hing / asafoetida.

Add the ranga alu / sweet potato, potato, turmeric powder and salt. Fry until golden.

Now add the boiled bottle gourd.

Add sugar and salt as per taste and cook until all the water evaporates.

Now add the fried bori and green peas.

Simmer on medium flame until the peas are cooked and finish off with a little ground dry roasted cumin powder.

Niramish Lau Ghonto / Lau Bori

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 small / 1 medium bottle gourd

1 medium potato – peeled and cubed

1 medium sweet potato / ranga alu – washed and cubed

A handful of green peas

A handful of bori / sun dried dumplings

1 – 1 and ½ tbsp mustard oil

1 tsp panch foron / Bengali Five Spices

1 dry red chilli

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ground dry roasted cumin powder

A pinch of hing / asafoetida

Salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

Method:

In a pressure put together the grated bottle gourd, 2 cups of water and some salt. Cook them until the cooker blows 2 whistles. Put off the flame and keep aside to release the steam naturally.

Then open the cooker and pour the boiled bottle gourd in a bowl. Keep aside.

In a kadai heat the oil and add temper it with the panch foron, dry red chilli and hing / asafoetida.

Saute for a minute or so and then add the cubed potato and sweet potatoes to them.

Sprinkle the turmeric powder and salt over them.

Fry them for 2 minutes or until they become a little golden.

Now pour in the prepared boiled bottle gourd.

Stir them in and add in the sugar.

Put cover and cook until the potatoes are done.

Once the potatoes are nicely cooked from inside wait for  all the water from the bottle gourd to evaporate.

In a separate pan heat some oil and fry the bori / sun dried dumplings until golden.

Add this fried bori / sun dried dumplings and green peas to the bottle gourd.

Taste and adjust the seasoning. The taste should be more on the sweeter side.

Simmer on low to medium heat until the green peas are cooked nicely.

Finally sprinkle the dry roasted and ground cumin powder over them.

Put off the flame and serve hot with some lentils / dal and rice.