This summer I grew a lot of bottle gourd leaves in my balcony and I am so thankful for this! Today I am making the second vegan recipe of bottle gourd leaves, recipe received from my beloved niece Nova. The recipe is called Lau patar bhorrta or the spread of bottle gourd leaves. It is very easy and simple recipe, often done in rural areas.

The ingredients are easy to find, at least in a Bangladeshi kitchen, onion, green chili and of course mustard oil.

To begin, we need to wash the leaves well with cold water, as the leaves gather lots of dust.

Well, there’s a special way to make this dish. According to my niece, the leaves has to be boiled/steamed with rice, otherwise the real taste won’t be there. So I was cooking rice, I put a colander on top of boiling rice, put the washed leaves on top and covered with lid.

As you can see, the leaves are cooked in rice water and already shrunk in volume. Cook the leaves as long as they are soft, but you also need to keep an eye on the rice to be not overcooked.

Meanwhile I am preparing the other ingredients. I cut and sliced the onion and mashed with salt. Then I pound some green chili in a mortar.

I took all the ingredients in a large plate, mashed steamed leaves, onion and chili together until they combined. Then I added a dash of mustard oil and mashed again.

This simple yet wonderfully tasted fresh leave spread are best with white rice. So enjoy the vegan Bangladeshi bottle gourd leave spread (Lau pata bhorrta)!

Recipe: Bottle Gourd leaves Spread

Bottle Gourd leaves Onion – 1 Green chili – as per taste Salt – as required Bangladeshi Mustard Oil

1. Wash leaves until dirt free and discard unwanted parts. 2.Cook rice and on the halfway, put a colander on boiling rice water. Put washed leaves and cover with lid. Steam leaves until wilted and softened. 3. Slice an onion and mash with salt. 4. Pound green chilies in a mortar. 5. Mash everything with hand in a bowl- all steamed leaves, onion,chili and mustard oil. Serve with rice. Enjoy!