Bottle Gourd is very common winter vegetable in Bangladesh. We call it Lau (Bangla: লাউ) and the scientific name is Lagenaria siceraria. Bottle gourd is also known as Calabash Gourd and the flower is white, fruit is bright green and as it is under pumpkin family, the plant is climbing vine type.

The best thing about Lau is, the whole plant and fruit are edible. We Bangladeshis are so amazed by this that we even have a folk song about it. In this song, it says you can even make a musical instrument Ektara from it! There are many versions of this song now, but the original was composed and sang by Bidit Lal Das, a BANGLADESHI BAUL singer. The Baul (Bangla: বাউল) are a group of musicians who sings about mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism. I will write a detail about it in my blog!

Enough of the introduction, lets get into cooking. As I have mentioned before, the whole plant is edible, so today I will write about how to eat the leaves of bottle gourd. Soon there will be more posts about the fruit itself.

The leaves are soft and velvety, unlike the pumpkin and squash leave. The stems or stalks are bit thick and chewy, so we have to prepare them differently.

First, we need to separate the stalks, big leaves and small leaves. Its the tedious process, so we have to be bit patient too.

To clean the stems, first make a cut in the stem (not through) and then pull off. You will see the fibers are coming off. You have to clean in this way as much as possible. Well, if you want, you can totally skip this part and only eat the leaves.

Clean the leaves in same way. Pinch a small part at the join of leaf and stem and pull of again. You will see the fibers coming off. Removing the fibers makes the leaves so soft and easy to cook.

Now I have cleaned all leaves and stems, its time to start actual cooking. Remember to wash them very well before cooking and strain extra water.

The ingredients are pretty common, almost similar to Spinach recipe. However, since we have the stems of bottle gourd leaves, we need to cook it bit differently.

Take a deep pan, boil some water (around 100ml) with salt and pinch of turmeric. When water starts to boil, add cleaned stems. Cook the stems until they are soft and changes color from dark to bright. You can dry out the water completely but be careful with the temperature, as you don’t want them to burn.

While the stems are getting cooked, lets chop the leaves. Take the leaves in similar size, I started with the big ones, place on top of each other and roll them. Then chop the leaves fine. Repeat the same with small leaves.

Add the chopped leaves with boiled stems. Now we have to steam everything in low heat. You add little water just to be safe, around 50ml. The leaves will release and get cooked eventually in its own water. Don’t be afraid with the volume of the leaves, they gonna get shrunk anyway!

When leave and stems are boiled, set them aside in a bowl. Now what we have to do is called “BAGAR” that means we will fry onions and garlic and add them in the cooked leaves. So, slice and chop onions and garlic.

In the same pan, add vegetable oil and heat under medium temperature. Add sliced onion, crushed garlic and chili. Fry everything until golden.

Now, its time to add your boiled leaves spinach. It will release lots of water, so stir fry in between. Check and add your salt at this step. You can turn your heat little high but it is also important to stir them often.

The Lau Shak aka bottle gourd leaves will start to get dry and oil starts to get separated from pan. You can fry them extra to make it tastier. But I like it dark green, not brown! So I would take them out of stove at this point. It will be something very new to a non-Bangladeshi, so its good to know that you only chew the stem, do not swallow it. That’s why you can completely leave the stem and cook the leaves only, if you are a new to this recipe! So enjoy LAU SHAK with warm rice!

Recipe: 4 Serving Prepping time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: 400 gram of Bottle Gourd Leaves /Lau Shak 2 cloves of garlic 1 Large Onion Spice and Condiments 20ml Vegetable Oil 1 tsp fine Salt 2-3 Chili – dried or green(optional)

Instructions: 1. Clean stems and leaves as described above in the pictures. 2. In a deep pan, boil water with salt and pinch of turmeric. Add cleaned stems and cook until soft. Add chopped leaves and 50ml water and cook until they are lessened in volume. Set them aside. 3. In the same pan, heat oil over medium. Add crushed garlic, sliced onion and chili. Fry until golden brown. 3. Add cooked lau shak. Increase the temperature and stir them often. Cook until waters are gone and Lau Shak starts looks darker in color and oil starts to get separated. 5. Turn of heat and take them out of stove. Serve the LAU SHAK with rice!