LAU SHAAK DIYE MOTOR DAL

This seems to be a distant, sweet, memory to me. I got home "lau shaak", bottle gourd leaves with stems last January. Thereafter, I was not getting it. I am pretty sure if the situation had been normal, I would have got "lau shaak, bel, pat shaak" a couple of times by now. Off course, my not so much of a Bengali men drink "bel er shorbot" if done beautifully adding milk or yogurt, adding ice cubes to it. I play every possible trick, I try hard to keep them stay tuned to homely Bengali Food. The man is not a big concern, he has grown up eating traditional Bengali. Only that, he left home at a very young age, sailed in a ship that housed different nationalities; his food habits got changed but he never refuses Bengali Food. He is not fond of vegetables because his mother is not fond of it, neither she had time to cook variety. She had to go out every day for community service, party with friends , a big bowl of fish & meat & a "panch torkari" worked good for her and the family.

Coming to our son, at his age did I at all take interest in authentic Bengali food or knew how important it is to preserve one's own culture including food? Because mine is a very middle class, traditional family who still stick to being homely Bengali, because I love food and watched the family from close, because the father made me read different Bengali genres since middle school, I eventually started taking interest in everything Bengali. I always try that on the son, he has to take interest too. We never force him; he has something else in his head now; to build a career. Even we will not be happy if he loses focus. A Partha Dey is a Partha Dey not for the amount he has in bank, it's his position where few Indians within India can reach. Not for his intelligence alone, he never lost focus in life. My man so respects his wife, always says Chutu sacrificed her career for Partha.

I owe a lot to this Chutu who is a university rank holder, according to my husband she spends half of her salary in different kinds of charitable works. You will never see them boasting about who they are in public. Off course, they are proud, they will never exhibit it. I am hopeful, very hopeful that one day our son will value what his mother wants from him. Whichever part of the world he be in, he will carry his land of origin in his heart; contribute a little bit towards  it's development. Happiness is they do not say a no to a fish or meat curry, peyazkoli bhaja, LAU SHAAK DIYE MOTOR DAL; which is young stems & leaves of bottle gourd cooked with yellow split pea lentil.

Look my breakfast has arrived. Yesterday, for lunch we had chicken & chapati, this is a roti from the left over dough. Yesterday night, I prepared those instant, vegetarian pancakes. They were really heavy. You need no science to know why Southern Indians & Bengalis are largely obese. The idiotic me had two yesterday night, now having half. I shared the same breakfast with Cristine.

The thing is I had got the season's first litchi yesterday, along with it mangoes & 1/4th of a watermelon.

I never buy fruits in bulk, our home or refrigerator cannot accommodate. Now look at this! This morning, the owners visited us and gifted these.

Why? It is because he is happy & surprised that T has repaired the shower taps of the attached toilet like an expert plumber; and saved a lot of the owner's money. Every two months they come to collect their letters, they never come in for a cup of tea. So, I need not get tensed needing to treat them  at lunch with this Bengali vegetarian lentil curry with bottle gourd leaves, stems & yellow split pea dal LAU SHAAK DIYE MOTOR DAL.

INGREDIENTS :

MOTOR DAL / YELLOW SPLIT PEA LENTIL : 1 SMALL TEA CUP [alternatively use pigeon pea]
BOTTLE GOURD LEAVES WITH THE YOUNG STEM : A BUNCH
GINGER PASTE : 1TSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
HALVED DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
OIL : 2TBSP [I usually use Mustard Oil for cooking lentil curry]

PROCEDURE :

Wash the motor er dal / yellow split pea lentils and soak in hot water for an hour. After an hour we will pressure cook it at minimal heat up to 2 whistles adding 2 coffee mugs of water, little of turmeric & salt. {Boiling the dal on stove top takes a lot more time, the result is a tastier dal I feel.}

Meanwhile we will dress the bottle gourd leaves & young stems.

We have chopped the leaves, we have cleaned the fibres from the stem and have cut them finger length.

We have washed them taking in a colander. We have taken them in a microwave proof bowl, added water to it and a little of salt & turmeric. 

We have microwaved it at high for 3-4 minutes and strained.

We have tempered the heated oil with cumin seeds, bay leaf and the halved dry red chillies. 

We added the partially boiled bottle gourd leaves & stems. We have added the turmeric and stirred for a minute at low heat.

We have added the boiled dal now and 1-2 coffee mugs of water. We will keep the heat level between low & medium, bring it to boil.

We will add the ginger paste, salt to adjust, sugar & the slitted green chillies. 

We will boil it at low heat for about 7-8 minutes.

You can have it either with steamed rice or chapati. You can see, we also had "doi potol & peyazkolir torkari" on the side.