Lau Chingri recipe (from the pages of Gopal Bhnar storybook)!

Lau Chingri (Bottle Gourd cooked with Prawns) is a quintessential Bengali delicacy cooked with no onion and no garlic. This is a typical "Ghonto" (Ghonto is the Bengali term depicted for a mushy vegetable dish cooked with a little bit of ginger, ghee, and sugar, at least this is how it was referred to by Bengali food Writer Prajna Sundari Devi).

However, the recipe I am going to share is prepared with Prawns. This dish is a bit on the sweeter side and is generally served in the former part of the Bengali meal, before Daal. Before going further with the recipe I would like to share a folktale related to this particular dish!

Lau Chingri from the pages of Gopal Bhnar storybook!

Pasta enjoys watching the "Gopal Bhnar" series on TV a lot. In fact, she enjoys her restricted TV time for that matter 😛 .  While on the other hand, I didn't watch TV for the last 3 long years! You probably are wondering why I am talking about "Gopal Bhnar" instead of "Lau Chingri!" Well, Gopal Bhnar, the famous Bengali Historical character, was the "Bhand" or the court jester from Raja Krishnachandra's regime, in case you are not aware of who he was or you, are not a Bengali or have not grown up reading his stories. I still remember that particular story where Gopal mixed a few pieces of fried Prawn or Chingri Mach Bhaja with his widowed aunt's Lau Ghonto ( vegetarian bottle gourd preparation) and the consequences later on.

Lau chingri story

As the story goes, Gopal was to eat at the place of his widowed aunt once. The Aunt was very strict about not having non-veg and even onion and garlic like the other Bengali widows then. The aunt cooked Lau Ghonto for Gopal. He just for fun mixed some Fried prawns into the Lau ghonto turn that into Lau Chingri. This made the Aunt horrified about the consequences of a widow serving and having Prawns! The story, however, ended on a funny note and not to mention Lau Chingri a strong member of the Bengali cuisine.

Here's how I make Lau Chingri at Debjanir Rannaghar!

Bengalis are known for their love of non-vegetarian food. However, our vegetarian cooking is equally rich and influenced by the cooking of Bengali Widows who were not permitted to eat non-veg years back and even now at times. The story of Gopal indeed was funny, and the Bengali vegetarian food is rich but alas I cannot say that everything was good with the widowed women back then!

I follow my mother's recipe for Lau Chingri. I have always seen her adding a little Ghee while making Lau Chingri. In fact, Sugar is another important ingredient. Others though don't opt for the Ghee. In general, small to medium-sized Prawns or Shrimp are used for Lau Chingri however, I prefer Prawns over Shrimp. This dish goes amazingly with steamed rice.

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Lau Chingri

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• Author: Debjani Chatterjee Alam
• Total Time: 35 mins
• Yield: 5 People 1x

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Description

Lau Chingri (Bottle Gourd cooked with Prawns) is a quintessential Bengali delicacy cooked with no onion and no garlic and is a comfort dish

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 Lau / Lauki / Bottle Gourd (medium size, 750g)
• 250g Prawns
• 1 Tbsp. Ginger Paste

To temper:

• 1 Tsp. Cumin Seed
• 2 Bay Leaf
• 4 Dried Red Chili

Spices:

• 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Salt

Other:

• 3 Tbsp. Mustard Oil
• 1 Tbsp. Ghee / Clarified Butter

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Instructions

1. After peeling the skin, cut Bottle Gourd or Lau into small rectangular pieces ( for size, refer, to the picture)
2. Clean and devein the Prawns with the outer shell intact.
3. Marinade Prawns with Turmeric Powder and little Salt.
4. Heat the Mustard Oil in a deep pan and fry the Prawns on medium heat until those turn lightly brown.
5. Strain fried Prawns from the Oil and add Ghee to the same Pan.
6. Temper the Ghee and Oil mixture with Cumin Seed, Bay Leaf, and Dried Red Chili.
7. Now add chopped bottle gourd along with a little turmeric powder and salt and cover the pan with a lid.
8. Cook for around 10 minutes on medium flame and stir in between.
9. Bottle gourd will release lots of water/juice and hence no need to add extra water.
10. Once the water dried, add sugar to the bottle gourd.
11. Adjust the salt if required.
12. Finally, add fried prawns and give the Lau Chingri a thorough mix.
13. Cook for a minute or two to get desired consistency.
14. Serve Lau Chingri with steamed rice.

• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: cooking
• Cuisine: Bengali

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 75g
• Calories: 185
• Sugar: 2.6g
• Sodium: 797mg
• Fat: 12.2g
• Saturated Fat: 2.9g
• Carbohydrates: 7.4g
• Fiber: 0.4g
• Protein: 12.2g
• Cholesterol: 112mg

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Have you tried the Chingri diye lau ghonto Recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!

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About Debjani Chatterjee Alam

I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.

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