Well, the name may sound to be pretty big and daunting, but this is yet another of my Quick Cooks. It takes five ingredients, ten minutes of preparation and another ten minutes in the microwave to be ready.

Kakrol or teasel gourd is a vegetable that I am particularly biased towards. But tired of having it in the fried format, I made up this recipe sometime last month. As I was strolling through Gariahat market one weekday evening, after office, I picked up a dozen vegetables, in random. But the spongy bottle gourd leaves on vines was the ingredient which made me come up with this recipe. As soon as I saw those big, bold leaves, I knew I had to make some sort of a parcel with it. My first idea was to fill them with chicken mince, and steam them. But by the time I reached home, the Kakrol had replaced the chicken, in my head.

Steps to make my Lau Pata mora Shorshe-Narkol Kakrol:

– Halve the teasel gourds and scoop out the seeds

– Slather them with Kasundi. I almost never measure out my ingredients, but I approximately used a teaspoon of Kasundi for each half.

– Wrap them in the bottle gourd leaves and place them neatly in a microwave safe dish, with the leaf neatly tucked below the halved vegetable.

– Pour over thick coconut milk. I wanted a creamy texture and hence used the thicker version. I am not a big fan of soluble coconut milk powders, as the resultant liquid is too runny and light for my liking.

– Finish off with a few slit green chillies and a splatter of mustard oil.

– I did not add any extra salt as Kasundi in itself has a good amount of it. However, salt may be added as per taste.

– Cook it in the microwave oven, in convection mode, for ten minutes, with a gap of one minute after the first five minutes.

I had it without any accompaniments, and it tasted amazing. But if you aren’t running away from carbs, then this will go beautifully well with warm, steamed rice. If it is to be had with rice, then salt may be added as per taste. And thinner coconut milk may be added to have a gravy to go with the rice.

Do let me know if you tried making this!

P.S. Sorry for the not so good pictures. I had cooked this for dinner on a week night, hence didn’t have sunlight or the energy to take out the camera.