How to Make Lau Ghonto/Lau Chingri/Bottle Gourd Curry (with Vegan Recipe) #272

Bottle gourd/Lau is a vegetable grown on a vine, super healthy and low in calory. Lau Ghonto is a curry made with minimal spices and is very light on the stomach.

Coriander leaves play an important role in dish, so recommending not to skip that… Skipping the prawns makes it a vegetarian/vegan recipe- the curry goes well with some plain rice and dal. Lau Ghonto for me is like home, very simple and comforting.

Things you need

1. 1 medium size bottle gourd/lau
2. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3. 2 bay leaves
4. 4 green chilies
5. 2 tbsp ginger-cumin-green chili paste (with 2 green chilies )
6. 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
7. Salt
8. 200g small size prawns (to be skipped for vegan/vegetarian recipe)
9. 1 Tsp sugar
10. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
11. 2 tbsp cooking oil
12. Lentil fritters/dal er bori

Preparation

1. Peel the bottle gourd and chop into small pieces.
2. Marinate the prawns with salt and turmeric.(This step is to be skipped for vegan/vegetarian recipe)

Procedure

1. Heat oil in a pan and temper with cumin seeds and bay leaves and fry the ‘dal er bori’ and set them aside.
2. Next fry the small prawns and set them aside as well (skip for vegetarian/vegan)
3. Add the chopped bottle gourd/lau, cumin-ginger-chili paste and pinch of salt.
4. Cook the bottle gourd on high heat with lid on, usually the bottle gourd gets cooked in the water released from it. If not, add some water. Add dal er bori (and fried prawns) at this stage.
5. When the moisture is almost dried up, sprinkle the sugar and chopped coriander on top.
6. Lau ghonto/bottle gourd curry is ready!! Enjoy it with plain rice and lentil soup/dal.

Pro tip:

• If bottle gourd releases too much moisture, a small spoon of rice flour can be added to reduce it.
• This curry is expected to be whitish color, only turmeric powder is added in prawn fry. For vegetarian one add the turmeric powder along with dal er bori.

If you like this, you can also check out my other posts-

How to Make Chal-kumro’r Ghonto/Ash Gourd Curry #276

Feel free to try this recipe out and share it with friends and family as more such recipes are on the way!