Lau-koi er morich kata jhol – bottle gourd and climbing perch broth

We all have a few dishes that we ran fastest from and with age we crave for them. It isn’t any surprise that most of these are dishes were fed to us in the name of health and nutrition! Which young mind ever thinks it will get sick and old one day!!! But nostalgia and age are strange bedfellows. We forgive the harshest of tastes and fall in love with them for memories sake.

Lau-koi er morich kata jhol is that one dish for me.

It was a summer staple at home. The bottle gourd stood tall (quite literally, if you are in Assam) on its claim of cooling the body against the summer heat. The climbing perches were small, yellowish and sweet, not the big, black, meaty ones that go into making tael koi in winters. I have no clue what I didn’t like about it. May be the fact that it was considered ‘healthy’ or may be the monotony of having it very frequently throughout the summer till Dids or I rebelled against it! Something about it ticked me off.

Till a few months back when I started craving for it. Quite an exercise in futility since Delhi markets yeilded neither those tender, melting bottle gourd nor that particular variety of climbing perch. And I wasn’t going home anytime soon. Then as if on cue the universe conspired to land both the ingredients into my basket. The perfect plump tender, bright green gourd and the dainty, golden necked climbing perch. Both sourced from Assam.

And there it was…the very Bangal, very summery, purely nostalgic – Lau-koi er morich kata jhol.

Small koi: 4, bottle gourd: 750 gm, diced into small even pieces, mustard oil: 1 tbsp+1 tsp, bay leaf: 1, small, nigella seeds: 1/4 tsp, green chillies: 4 or more, depending on heat tolerance, dry red chillies: 2, salt to taste, turmeric powder: 1 tsp, Coriander: finely chopped, to garnish

1. Marinate the fish with turmeric and salt.

2. Heat one tbsp of mustard oil in a wok. Temper with two green chillies, nigella seeds and bay leaf.

3. When the oil is smokey and fragrant, add the chopped gourd, add some salt and saute till the gourd starts releasing water.

4. Cover and cook till half done.

5. Add the fish and the remaining green chillies. Cover and cook till the fish and gourds are well cooked. The turmeric from the fish should just be enough to colour the gourd lightly yellow but the curry should not smell of turmeric.

6. Once it is cooked, heat one tsp of mustard oil in a separate pan, add the dry red chillies to it and pour it into the curry.

7. Taste and adjust salt.

8. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice and a piece of lemon.