Chingri diye lau ghonto

Debjani Chatterjee Alam’s Chingri diye Lau Ghonto, also called Lau Chingri, combines bottle gourd and prawns in a soft Bengali vegetable preparation. Her mother’s version includes ginger paste, sugar and ghee, and she describes it as slightly sweet and served early in a Bengali meal.

The bottle gourd is peeled and cut into small rectangles. Prawns are cleaned and deveined with their shells left intact, then marinated with turmeric and some salt.

The prawns fry in mustard oil until lightly brown and are lifted out. Ghee is added to the same pan, and the combined fats are tempered with cumin seeds, bay leaves and dried red chillies.

Bottle gourd, turmeric and salt cook under a lid, with occasional stirring. The gourd releases its own liquid; once that dries, sugar is added and the salt adjusted if needed.

The fried prawns return and are thoroughly mixed through the cooked bottle gourd. The ghonto cooks briefly to the desired consistency and is paired with prepared steamed rice.