I love food. When I try to stir up a conversation with new people that I meet, I find food to be the best ice breaker. I can talk all day long about food. Good food, not so good food, home food, orgasmic food, and so on. Of late, I have been cooking a lot, and one day I decided that I should put down my gastronomic journey somewhere, to be chronicled. And just like that, this diary was born.
This is my first post, and I wanted to cook something simple yet earthy, and the first thing that came to my mind was Lau Chingri. This is a dish from my childhood that I used to relish a lot. It's been about 5 to 6 years since I had this. It's a very simple, unpretentious, dish which takes very little effort to make and is healthy at the same time.
What You Will Need To Make This.
Small Prawns - About 250 gms
Bottle Gourd - One small (or about 3 - 4 cups when chopped)
Bay Leaves - 2 of any size
Dry Red Chillies- 2
Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1 tsp (about 2 pinches. I don't really like sticking to measurements)
Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin/Jeers powder - 1 tsp
Salt To Taste
Turmeric Powder - A bit
Green Chillies - 2
Mustard Oil (you can use sunflower oil too).
Wash the prawns, soak out excess water, marinate it with salt and turmeric and set aside. Pour about 2 tbsp of mustard oil in a cooking pan. I prefer using mustard oil because it's low on fat, and brings that authentic bong flavor to food! You don't need to stick to using this oil though. You can use any oil you are comfortable with. Remember, good cooking is all about experimenting.
Fry the prawns in the oil until they are nice and curled. Now, mustard oil can be a bitch when it comes to frying. It splutters and hisses and throws big tantrums. It has always been my childhood nemesis, and I am still a little scared whenever I have to fry anything in mustard oil. However, the trick is simple. All you have to do is ensure that you lower the prawns gently into the oil so that it does not hiss. Just be gentle, and the oil will behave itself.
Once the prawns are fried, set them aside. In the same oil, add the red chillies, cumin, methi, and the bay leaves. Bay leaves are not actually a part of this recipe, but I like adding them to some dishes, as I find it brings out a beautiful and warm taste. Once the spices start giving out a toasty aroma, add in the chopped bottle gourd. Make sure the bottle gourd is chopped into tiny pieces. If you like your men and your food a little spicy like me, go ahead and add a tsp of red chilly powder and mix it up so that it's coated evenly. Cover and cook this for a while. Don't add any water as bottle gourd has a lot of it's own water, and gives it all out when cooked.
When you are cooking watery vegetables like bottle gourd or ladies finger, make sure you use a little extra vegetable than you expect to have. These things always shrink to half their amount when cooked, and this is a constant cause of disappointment. Once the bottle gourd seems to have reduced, add the salt and cover and cook for some more time. After a while, add the cumin powder, turmeric, and the green chillies and cook until all the water is evaporated. A good Lau Chingri is neither dry nor moist.
When everything seems set, add the prawns and a tsp of sugar and stir it in well. Adding a tsp of sugar to any dish is essential in all Bengali cooking. It adds a sense of balance to the dish, and honestly, I think it makes the dish yummier. So all you Non-Bengali know it all's, who gape and throw dramatic fits whenever they see me add sugar to a dish, please try it first. It's an awesome way to make your food even awesomer!
Is your Lau Chingri cooked? I know mine is! I'm going to enjoy it with some good, thin grain, Andhra rice. What are you going to have it with?
Bon Apetit!
