Jo Cooks: Lau er Khosha Bhaaja

In every Bengali kitchen , vegetables like Potato, Banana, Bottle gourd, Ridged gourd, Pointed gourd and many other such vegetables and every part of them are cooked to make delicious dishes. Even the peels are not discarded into bins but turned into vegetarian dishes. The peels of Potato, Pointed gourd ,Ridged gourd, White pumpkin(Ash Gourd) are together chopped fine and then steamed together.Then the peel is cooked into a delicious vegetarian dish !!

Here, I have prepared a dish with Bottle Gourd peel. Save the Gourd peel and cook up this dish this week. But I must warn you if you want to make this dish, peel the bottle gourd a bit thick or else you wont have enough in quantity. I mixed Potato, not the peel but the potato itself . Cut bottle gourd peel and peeled potato real fine. Add Onion slices if you want to.

This is a vegetable that's eaten for good health. Bottle Gourd is light green on the outside and white on the inside. It is said to be very nutritious. It has a cooling effect and in the coming summer months here in kolkata we will see a lot of bottle gourd being eaten as it gets really very very hot . In order to peel the bottle gourd, first of all remove the stem. Peel the bottle gourd, keep the thick peel aside for lau er khosha bhaaja and cook the rest.

Ingredients :

Bottle Gourd Peel..............................................................1 bottle gourd
Potato................................................................................2,medium size
Green Chilly,Slit..................................................................4
Onion,Sliced.......................................................................1,medium(Optional)
Turmeric Powder................................................................1 pinch(Optional)
Oil......................................................................................2 tbsp
Salt....................................................................................as per taste
Sugar.................................................................................1 pinch

For Garnishing :

Poppy Seeds......................................................................1 pinch(Optional)

For the Tempering :

Nigella Seeds (Kalo Jeere).................................................1 pinch
Dry Red Chilly....................................................................2

Preparation :

Chop the bottle gourd and potato fine and into equal size pieces. Steam the bottle gourd peel to soften them a bit.

Procedure :

Heat the oil (Refined Or mustard) and when hot, add the tempering. When they splutter add the sliced onion and stir fry on low flame.We want the onion to become transparent. If you want to avoid, then please omit .

Next, add the finely chopped Potato, slit green chillies and stir fry a bit. Add the steamed bottle gourd peel after discarding the water. Add salt, sugar and turmeric (If desired) at this stage and mix well. Cook stirring as it doesn't take very long .When the potato and all soften , put the flame off and remove to a dish. Sprinkle lightly roasted poppy seeds as garnish or avoid if unavailable. Serve.