If you are looking for a tasty lauki recipe, then you have come to the right place. Lau Bori is a delicious Bengali style curry made with bottle gourd and sundried lentil vadi. It is an easy to make vegetable side dish that is perfect to serve with steamed rice and dal.
In this recipe, bottle gourd is cooked in its own juices with minimum spices. Homemade or store bought lentil dumplings add both flavor and texture. A simple niramish or vegetarian curry that takes less than 30 minutes to make.
Table of contents
About the recipe
Bengali cuisine is one of my favorite Indian cuisines. I have quite a few Bengali recipes on the blog that I really love. Like this sweet and sour begun-er-tok or this bitter gourd curry or this amazing malpua.
What I truly love about Bengali cuisine is the bold flavors. They do not shy away from combining sweet with sour, spice with bitterness and so on.
But this bottle gourd curry known as lau ghonto or Bengali lau is a simple and easy to make dish with just a few ingredients. There is no onion or garlic in this curry. It is flavored with some whole spices.
Focus is on the vegetable, lauki aka bottle gourd. If you are a veggie lover like me, then you will enjoy the simple flavors. Do give this lau bori recipe a try, I am sure you will enjoy it.
Ingredients
For the details of the exact quantities of each ingredient and the list of ingredients needed, check the printable recipe card below.
You need the below to make this lau ghonto with bori recipe:
Lau, bottle gourd, lauki - choose a tender, green gourd free from any blemishes and spots. Peel and chop them into small pieces.
Bori or sun dried lentil dumplings aka vadi - traditionally vadi made of urad dal are used in this recipe. But the ones made with moong dal can also be used. If you don't have any on hand, simply omit and make lauki ki sabzi Bengali style.
Other ingredients you need are:
- Tomatoes
- Whole spices - cinnamon, bay leaf, cumin seeds
- Spices - red chili powder, ground cumin, turmeric
- Flavoring - ginger, green chilies, salt
Instructions
For the detailed instructions on how to make the recipe with exact timings, check the printable recipe card below.
To make lau bori, start my frying the bori or vadi. In a medium size pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add the vadi and cook till they are golden brown. Remove them onto a plate and set aside.
To the same pan, add bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the green chilies and tomatoes. Cook covered until tomatoes are mushy.
Add chopped bottle gourd, turmeric, ground cumin, red chili powder and salt. Sauté uncovered for 2~3 minutes. Then cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bottle gourd is tender, about 10~12 minutes.
Turn off the heat and crumble the fried vadi on top and serve with steamed rice.
Tips
- Make sure to chop the lauki into small-ish pieces.
- You can par cook bottle gourd in the microwave for a few minutes to expedite the cooking process.
- Add the fried vadi on top just before serving, otherwise they will get soggy.
- You can use either urad dal vadi (preferred) or moong dal vadi. I used homemade ones that my mom made.
You might also like
Here are a few more delicious recipes with bottle gourd
I love hearing from you!! If you’ve tried this and liked it, then don't forget to let me know. Give a star rating and let me know in the comments below. Also tag me in your creations on Instagram @cooks_hideout. I love sharing photos when people make my recipes. You can use the hashtag #cookshideout too.
Lau Bori
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- ½ cup Urad or Moong dal vadi
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1" Cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 2 ~ 3 Green chilies, slit
- 2 teaspoons Grated Ginger
- 1 Medium Tomato, finely chopped
- 1 Small Bottle gourd, peeled and chopped into thin pieces
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Red chili powder
- To taste Salt
Instructions
- In a medium size pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add the vadi and cook till they are golden brown, about 2~3 minutes. Remove them onto a plate and set aside.
- To the same pan, add bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the ginger, green chilies and tomatoes. Cook covered for 2~3 minutes or until tomatoes are mushy.
- Add chopped bottle gourd, turmeric, ground cumin, red chili powder and salt. Sauté uncovered for 2~3 minutes. Then cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bottle gourd is tender, about 10~12 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and crumble the fried vadi on top and serve with steamed rice.
Notes
- Make sure to chop the lauki into small-ish pieces.
- You can par cook bottle gourd in the microwave for a few minutes to expedite the cooking process.
- Add the fried vadi on top just before serving, otherwise they will get soggy.
- You can use either urad dal vadi (preferred) or moong dal vadi. I used homemade ones that my mom made.
Suma Gandlur
Loving the addition of moong vadis. I love minapappu vadiyalu with greens and hopefully would like this as well. I will surely give it a try.
Harini
Interesting addition of the wadis! I plan to make some wadis this summer, lets see!!
Aarthi
i dont often like bottlegord..but this looks tempting..will definetly give a try
Priya Suresh
Omg, love the addition of moongdal vadis, fabulous curry..
jayasree
I saw a similar recipe in a cookery show. I will have to make my own vadis to try this dish.
Hari Chandana
Interesting recipe.. looks simply awesome and perfect !!Indian Cuisine
Priti S
I make gravy style while adding wadi ...this looks yum
vaishali sabnani
this combo is made in Sindi homes with a variation of spices and wadis.
Kalyani
looks delicious and lovely clicks .....
notyet100
have some baris,will try this sometime,
Jayashree
The addition of crisp wadis is interesting.
Sunanda
Lau bori is my all time favorite specially when the bori is made pf urad dal..U have a nice blog with varieties of wonderful recipe.Sunanda's Kitchen