Bottle gourd Curry

Ghontos should be called Ghontos and nothing else. So Lau Ghonto, in no possible way should be called Bottle Gourd Curry. My sincerest apologies for that.

This is a quintessential Bengali vegetarian dish. We grew up with Lau Ghonto popping up frequently in the weekly menu, specially in the summer months and to my amusement every time this dish is served, it comes with Ma’s perennial words “ Lau gorom er somoi khete hoi, pet thanda thake” .
I am looking forward to this summer Ma, when I would cook this dish and serve you with those tender and comforting words “Lau gorom e khete hoi……..”

Anyway, here is the recipe for Lau er Ghonto. And do you know where does this recipe come from? Yes,from the recipe book below. Its name is “Abhinabo Randhon Pronali”.



And you are right; it indeed is an old recipe book (kind of someone’s treasured possession). And do you know who entrusted me with that book? It’s A’s grandma, (I believe I have mentioned about her here before).


Whenever I glanced at the cover page, it reminds me of those “Sharodiya Ashabari”s which used to come in Hardbacks. The cover pages of those Sharodiyas have same kind of old-worldly visuals.

Anyway, as I was saying, the language used in this book is so different from the regular recipe books. I won’t be amazed if I find out that it had been published before independence. When A’s grandma handed it over to me, it already had a good many pages missing and over the years its pages are becoming more and more brittle.
But you know what, it always make me feel loved, when I browse through the “holud” smeared pages of this book.
So here is the recipe of Lau Ghonto straight from the book “Abhinabo Randhan Pronali"


The small changes I have made in my version of Lau er Ghonto recipe.

1) Peel off the Bottle Gourd, take out the seed and cut it down into considerable chunks.
2) To make life easier, instead of braving the ordeal of chopping the Bottle Gourd down into thin slices, put the Lau chunks in blender and gave it a coarse grind (since we are making Ghonto, ultimately it won’t matter whether you are cutting it down in small bits, or coarse grinding it)
3) Now add chilly powder, desiccated/fresh grated coconut, salt, milk, sugar to the Bottle Guard and mix properly.
(I did not use flour and sesame seeds though, as they are not in stock)
4) Now heat oil and temper it with cumin seeds and bay leaves and then add the mixture, we have prepared in step 3 to oil.
5) Stir the mixture for quite some time in medium flame till the bottle gourd is totally cooked.
6) Now mix Garam masala (cinnamon and small cardamom powder) with water and add it to your dish and serve with rice.
7) You may add fried “Bori” to the “Lau Ghonto”, to give the dish a crunchy twist.