Lau Bori (Bottle Gourd with Lentil Dumplings) - A Bengali staple

I am going to keep this post short and sweet because I just want to share this easy beautiful recipe with all my readers. Now Lau or Lauki or Bottle gourd whatever you call it is a very simple vegetable with not much complications in its texture or taste so it adapts very well when added to another ingredients - be it moong dal ( Lau moong) , shrimps (Lau Chingri) or in this case lentil dumplings - bori as we Bengalis call it. In Assamese cuisine we would even put it in our simple sour fish curry - Masor Tenga. I love this vegetable in all its forms and try out different dishes in my kitchen every now and then. It hardly needs too many spices,just a few basic ones and your are good to go..err eat I mean.Its a perfect summer vegetable because of its high water content and cooks in its own juices. Find the Lau Bori recipe below.

Ingredients:

Lau /Lauki /Bottle gourd - 1 medium sized - finely chopped

Lentil dumplings/Bori - a handful - I used the mini masoor dal ones but any variety can be used.

Paanchphoron - 1 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp - grated

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp + ! tbsp. for frying the dumplings/bori

Green chillies - a few

Ghee - 1 tsp

Method:

In a pan add the 1 tbsp oil, once the oil heats up, add the bori and fry on medium flame till they turn golden brown in colour. Remove from pan and reserve for later use.

In tha same pan add 1 tsp oil , splutter the paanchphoron till it releases a mild aroma.

Add the finely chopped gourd/lau and the ginger. Give it a mix, cook for 2 mins.

Add the turmeric powder. Cover and let it cook on low flame for 10 mins till all the water is released and the gourd is cooked in its own juices.

Once all the water dries up , add the salt,sugar,green chillies and the dumplings/bori. Cover and let it cook for another 5 mins.

* One tip I learnt from my Maa is that..always add the salt and sugar at the end or else the gourd would take a longer time to cook and get a bland taste.

Remove from heat , pour the ghee on top and serve hot with rice. Goes well with rotis too.

 

Launch of Sunday Brunch at Durbari @ Swissotel

To begin with Durbari at the Swissotel, Kolkata is my actually my son's most favourite restaurant. So whenever we find ourselves craving for that creamy Dal makhni and soft fluffy Naan we head there. The fact that it is close to where I live only adds to the cause! In the last 2 years we have lost count on the no of times we've been there. So when KFB got an invite from Swissotel asking us to be a part of the launch of their Sunday Brunch there was no saying no. On a Sunday afternoon, myself along with  fellow bloggers Kamalika, Amrita,Anwesha, Sayantani,Pritha and Sammya Brata, we found ourselves comfortably seated in the private dining area of the restaurant ready to sample to delicacies on offer.

We started with the usual fresh lime soda and soon the array of dishes started arriving at our table. The very first dish served to us was the Dahi ke Kebabs. Crunchy on the outside with cold youghurt mix oozing out from inside did wonders to the taste buds.I have tried this out a couple of times on my earlier visits and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Dahi ke kebabs
 

From now onwards there was a steady trickle of dishes - appetizers and starters and each dish stole the show. Chef Pranay and Chef Aditya was constantly by our side explaining the essence of the dishes. The Gondhoraj Mahi Tikka was the show stealer for sure. I am not much of a fish eater but totally loved this dish. Soft pieces of bhetki delicately flavoured with quintessential Bengal's gondhoraj lime and its Asian counterpart Kaffir lime leaves was a perfect match. Or take the Naaza ( Naan - Pizza) so innovative,so tasty! Butter chicken spread over naan base topped with some generous dollops of cheese - my god it was fantastic. Next time I am going to go back for just this!

 

Gondhoraj Mahi tikka

Naaza

Another of Chef's creation for the afternoon was the Murgh Balai Kebab( Chicken breasts stuffed with cheese,onions and pomegranate) grilled to perfection. Personally I would have liked a little less onions as the stuffing but it was good nonetheless. A special mention of Aashish - the restaurant manager here who shared his vision of the food they present at Durbari. You will find a little of everything here - Mughlai , Bengali as well as South Indian. They ensure that they are open to feedback and customise the dishes to suit the palate of business travellers mostly visiting the city from other countries. To make sure that they get a taste of India they are open to modification which is a wonderful gesture.

Murgh Balai kebab

No my friends this was not the end! The entire buffet spread replete with more starters, salads and main course awaited us. The spread was awesome and they would have a new menu every sunday. How could I go to Durbari and not eat their Dal Durbari and Cheese Naan(stuffed with swiss cheese). I was full up till my neck but the greed got better of me! In the meanwhile I will leave you with some images.

Dalcha Kebab
 

Cheese Naan

All these yummy dips are in house made

Well what more can I say. The dessert counter was calling out to me and my love for Indian desserts got the better of me. So I promptly filled up my plate with Mango Ras malai , Rabdi and my most favourite Mihidaana. For the uninitiated what mihidaana is, please refer to the picture below! There was a balanced mix of traditional and modern desserts as you can see.

So there! Once again the food ( not to forget the hospitality) at Durbari stole my heart away and I ended the meal promising myself to be back very soon with the son and husband in tow.

Functional from Tuesday to Sunday between 1900 hrs to 2300 hrs,the restaurant is open for lunch from 12:30 hrs to 15:00 hrs on weekends as well. Mondays are closed.
 
The Sunday Brunch is available every Sunday and the packages start at INR 1000 plus taxes.

For people living in New Town/ Rajarhat and Salt Lake it is imperative that you visit them atleast once for their Dal Durbari - they make it the best in town. And for those of you who live in the other side of the city - one trip can surely be made soon!

Disclaimer - This was an invited review and no compensation monetary or otherwise was involved.

Poila Boisakh Feast with ITC Sonar

Poila Boisakh or Bengali New Year is the time for hogging! We welcome the new year with sumptuous feasts and spread the love and cheer for better times ahead.When I was a kid this time of the year brought in a lot of happiness - new clothes and lots of good food. My family being the traditionalists one day before Poila Boisakh - that is on Sankranti we would be served pure vegetarian food - Enchod er Dalna( Jackfruit curry),Aam Dal( Lentils with raw mango) and Shojna Chorchori(Drumsticks cooked with mustard). This was basically done to cleanse the palate so that we could gorge on the non veg delicacies the next day! The tradition continues in my household. But with times certain things do change and now one has the luxury of taking the day off from kitchen on this auspicious day and still indulge in such traditional delicacies! With the emergence of speciality restaurants and the concept of fine dining taking the foodie world by storm one has so many options to choose from. All you need to do is dress up pretty and head to your favourite restaurant to relish the delicacies. KFB was invited by ITC Sonar to preview their brand new POILA BOISAKH MENU that has been specially designed by Chef Gaurav Lavania Sr. Sous Chef at the hotel. The interesting thing here is that Chef hails from UP and is married to a Bengali so that kind of influences his take on authentic Bengali cuisine.He brings in some subtle twist of taste to his dishes and as he rightly said that there has to be something different from the everyday home cooked meals. I couldn't agree more.

Our meal started with Gondhoraj Lassi. Very mild flavours of gondhoraj lime surely added to the taste and in this awful weather that we are experiencing here in Kolkata it was the perfect start to a wonderful afternoon.

The starter platter was a very interesting mix - something new and something very very rooted. It had Bhetki paturi (Fish fillets with mustard steamed in banana leaves) - quintessentially served as a main course I quite liked savouring it as a starter. Then there was Triguna Chingri Bhaja( crispy fried prawn) which had this quirky coating of posto,til and kalojeere! Crispy outside - soft inside - it was my most favourite item on the menu. And then there was our  good old Jhuri Aloo Bhaja.

Triguna Chingri

Bhetki Paturi

 As is the rule whenever we have such meets  - there was endless chatter and non stop flow of food. The main course had an extensive spread of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes served along with Luchi and Ghee Bhaat.

Aloo Posto ( Potato with poppy seeds), Narkel Diye Cholar Daal, Mochar Ghonto( Banana blossom curry) and Thor ( Banana stem curry) it was all there.I personally love vegetarian Bengali dishes so you can guess how happy I was to sample these.

Chingri Malai Curry

The non veg fare had every bangali's favourite dish - Chingri Malai Curry(Prawns cooked in coconut milk) Rui Kalia ( Rohu fish in a onion gravy ) and Kosha Mangsho( Spicy lamb curry). The Malai curry was nice a creamy, would have liked it a bit more sweeter though (blame my Dhakai genes, we put a pinch of sugar in every dish we cook) but I can understand that it was controlled keeping in mind varied taste of the customers.

Rui Kalia

The Kosha Mangsho was spicy and robust and full of flavours from slow cooking. The meat was succulent and juicy and was a match made in heaven with the Phulko Luchis! Got to know from Chef that it was more of a Murshidabadi preparation.

Kosha Mangsho

We finished off our meal with Aam Khejurer Chutney ( Raw mango and Dates chutney) and Papad just like we would do in a Bangali Biye Bari ( Wedding feast).

Aam Khejurer Chutney

I was totally full by now but my love for Indian/Bengali desserts took over me. I cannot resist Indian sweets - give me a sandesh or a rosogolla over chocolate truffle anyday. The dessert platter had Nolen Gurer payesh ( Date palm jaggery rice pudding), Rajbhog( a kind of rasgulla) and Chhanar Jilipi ( sweet made of cottage cheese). My favourite was the payesh - not too sweet and very flavourful. Relished on the Rajbhog and Chhanar jilipi too!

So that was the end to a great Bengali meal. Am leaving you with few more images to drool over. This is sure to make you crave for this meal this Poila Boisakh.If you are looking to take a break from savouring home cooked Bengali food and enjoy a selection of dishes with a subtle twist of taste - then this is surely for you.

All you have to do is head over to ITC Sonar and indulge in some great food which as they say is the soul of any ITC hotel.They believe that a hotel is a spirit of the city in which it stands and they work with this philosophy.

The Bengali Fare Buffet is on at the Eden Pavilion from 11th to 19th April (dinner buffet) and on 15th April traditional Bengali delights would be showcased both for lunch and dinner buffet).This would be in addition to the live action stations at the Eden Pavilion. The spread would include an array of Bengali veg and non veg delicacies.

Its priced at Rs.2000 plus taxes with soft beverages and Rs.2750 plus taxes for unlimited premium brands of select alchohol.

There is a Special Menu planned at Peshawari too if you crave for some North west frontier cuisine

For reservations and further details call - 033-23454545