My 100th post : Lau chingri ( shrimp/prawn with white gourd)

Hi friends!! I'm back from my break. I missed blogging and peeking to other blogs to see what they are creating in their kitchen. Thanks friends for all of your wishes, my kids are fine now and recovering slowly. My toddlers suffered the most, after 6 days with viral fever, they've lost their appetite and energy. Now it's another hard job to bring back their appetite.

My last post was my 100th post, which I didn't really notice. So I want to celebrate my achievement of reaching first 100 post with this post. And let me thank my blog followers, readers, visitors from around the world, because of whom this blog is still running. Not to mention all the wonderful blogs around me gives lots of inspiration too. So pl. do continue visit my blog and encourage and support me. I thought, why not I post a delicacy for this memorable post from my native cuisine, Bengali cuisine which I feature mainly in my blog. OK, I'll share today a delicacy with shrimp and white gourd, i.e.,
LAU CHINGRI, lau is white/bottle gourd in bengali and chingri is shrimp or prawn
Bengalis love all kinds of fish, but they adore seafish especially Shrimp/Prawn. Lots of our fish delicacies are with shrimp. It is because shrimp makes any dish much tastier when cooked alone or with anything, like with vegetables or with rice like in Pulao or biriyani..

This green bottle gourd is widely used in bengali households during summer. It's a very low caloric vegetable and because of its high
water(96.1%) contain, has a cooling affect, is light on the stomach and aids digestion. It is high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Zinc, Thiamin, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese. This dish can be substituted with other vegetables like radish or green papaya, too. Use any sizes of shrimp, from small to medium. So now to the recipe....



Ingredients :
Lau/lauki/white/bottle gourd : 1(medium)
Shrimp(small/medium) : 14-15 pieces
Tomato : 1(small-chopped)
Ginger : 1"(grated)
Green chillies : 2(slitted)
For tempering :
Bay Leaf : 1
Cinnamon stick : 2 (small)
Jeera/Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp.
Spices :
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Red chilli powder : 1/2 tsp or adjust to your test.
(I prefer to make this dish and also taste at its best with only green chillies, but can be combined both or even with only RC powder)
Jeera/cumin seed powder : 1/2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Sugar : a pinch
Oil : 2-3 tblsp.

Method :

• Wash and marinate shrimp pieces with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Keep them aside for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut peel lau/lauki and chop in very small pieces. Large chunks won't taste great in this dish. So take your time and chop finely.
  
• Heat 1 tblsp. oil in a pan, shallow fry the shrimps lightly on both sides in medium flame. DO NOT fry longer than 2 minutes on both sides. Keep them aside. Do not make the curry in the same oil where you fried the fish.
  
• Take another pan, heat rest of the oil, temper with the ingredients. When cumin seeds start to splutter, add finely chopped tomatoes and slitted green chillies. Saute for a minute until tomatoes get pulpy, then add chopped lauki or gourd. Gourd can release some water, so wait until all water evaporates.
  
• Then add salt, all powdered spices and grated ginger. Stir to mix everything evenly. Add fried shrimp pieces and coat well with the spices. Add little water, about 1/2 a cup, as lau cooks real fast and it also releases water while cooking. Then cover the lid and let it cook in medium flame.
  
• Open the lid and check time to time and give it a stir. When water almost dries up and vegetables are well-cooked and kind of mushy, add a pinch of sugar, adjust seasoning. Dry up all the moisture stirring continuously. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Enjoy with hot hot rice and dal.................it's just a real comfort food
This authentic bengali food delicacy will be a part of my event Spotlight:Fish, which going to end on 31st August,'09....friends, waiting for your enthusiastic participation from my fellow foodie bloggers

Check out other recipes with Shrimp/Prawn
1. Chingri mach bhape(Steamed shrimp in mustard sauce)
2. Potato & Shrimp fry