Dudh lau/Bottle gourd cooked with milk

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Tring…. goes the alarm. I wake up to the buzzing sound of the fan.

Am I late? I check the time in my alarm clock. No, on time.

It is 6:30 a.m. in the morning. The sun is already high in the sky and I am sweating….In despair, I check the weather report. The weather report predicts the temperature to reach 38 degree C today. uhhhh!!!!!

Hastily, I enter our kitchen to prepare our meals for the day. I open our refrigerator and there lies a lau (bottle gourd). With this heat outside I realize that, I need to prepare something which is light on the stomach and yet great on the palette.

I look for my bottle of bori on my kitchen counter. Luckily, find a few of the boris remaining from my last batch of homemade bori. So, I decide to prepare dudh lau with some kolai daal er bori.

This recipe is yet again from my grandmother’s kitchen as exactly told to me by my mother. Also, she particularly mentioned not to add turmeric and green chilies or red chili powder while cooking. Dudh lau is particularly a summer dish and is just suitable for everyday summer meals. All the ingredients required for cooking this dish is easily available in anyone’s pantry.

Dudh Lau

Cuisine: (Bengali)Indian

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lau peeled and cut into julienne
10-12 kolai daal r bori
1 cup of milk
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 inch cinnamon broken into pieces
3-4 cardamom pods
2-3 bay leaves
2-3 whole red chilies
½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of ghee
3 tablespoon of oil

Directions

In a pot take the julienned lau. To it add the salt. Cover the lau and let it cook.
Do not add water as the lau releases lot of water.
Now, let the lau cook till almost all of the water has evaporated.
In a kadai add oil and heat it.
Now, fry the boris and keep them aside.
To the remaining oil add the cinnamon, cardamom pods, bay leaves, whole red chilies and cumin seeds.
As the aromas of the spices fill the air, add the steamed lau to the kadai and saute for a couple of minutes.
Now, add the milk to the kadai along with the fried boris.
Cover and cook the lau along with the boris in the milk on medium flame.
After about 3-5 minutes reduce the flame, add ghee and sugar to the kadai.
Turn off the flame. The dudh lau should not be jhol jhol “watery” or completely dry. It should be somewhat “makha makha” (creamy sauce) kind of.
Serve the dudh lau with steamed rice.

Step by step instructions to prepare dudh lau

In a pot take the julienned lau. To it add the salt. Cover the lau and let it cook.

Do not add water as the lau releases lot of water.

Now, let the lau cook till almost all of the water has evaporated.

In a kadai add the oil and heat it. Now, fry the boris and keep them aside.

To the remaining oil add the cinnamon, cardamom pods, bay leaves and whole red chilies and cumin seeds.

As the aromas of the spices fill the air, add the steamed lau to the kadai and saute for a couple of minutes.

Now, add the milk to the kadai along with the fried boris.

Cover and cook the lau along with the boris in the milk on medium flame.

After about 3-5 minutes reduce the flame, add ghee and sugar to the kadai.

Turn off the flame. The dudh lau should not be jhol jhol “watery” or completely dry. Serve the dudh lau with steamed rice.

Thank you for stopping by. If you like the recipe do not forget to hit like. If you prepare this dish and publish your photos on Facebook and Instagram do tag #theepicureanfeast. Also for queries, you can mail me epicureanfeast2019@gmail.com