Lauki (bottle gourd) kofta curry

• Servings: 6-8
• Preparation time: 15 minutes.
• Deep frying  kofta time: 5-6 minutes(each batch).
• Preparing gravy time: 20-22 minutes.
• Total time: 43 minutes. 

The origin of lauki (Bottle Gourd) is from south Africa, but now  grown in all warm climate  around the world. I remember a special afternoon when I was with my mom in Bihar, we had  “Lauki  kofta” with Dost Paratha prepared by her. 

Although it is a traditional  punjabi dish; which is  being  cooked and relished  since ages and still  being cooked all over Indian houses.

This is deep fried lauki ball dipped in onion and tomato gravy; you can sallow fry too, but dip fried version’s goes better with “Steamed  plane rice” or “Cumin Rice”. You can  pair with “Tandoori Roti “or “Naan” or any other Indian bread also, in that case you have to keep  gravy thick.

Ingredients:

For making kofta:

• Lauki (bottle gourd): 500 gm
• Besan (chick pea flour): 2 tablespoon
• Ginger: 1 teaspoon (chopped)
• Green chilli: 2-3 no. (Chopped)
• Fresh coriander leaf: 2 tablespoon (chopped)
• Salt: 1 teaspoon (as per taste)
• Oil: for deep frying

For making gravy:

1. Onion: 2 no. (Medium size)
2. Tomato: 2 no. (Medium size)
3. Ginger: 1teaspoon (paste)
4. Garlic: half teaspoon (paste)
5. Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
6. Turmeric powder: half teaspoon
7. Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
8. Cumin : half teaspoon
9. Bay leaf: 2 no.
10. Cinnamon: 2 inch stick
11. Black cardamom: 1 no.
12. Clove: 3 no.
13. Curd: 2 table spoon
14. Butter: 20gram (optional)
15. Oil: 3tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Peel and grate the Lauki; squeeze out the water. Store the water in a separate bowl.
2. Combine all ingredients of making kofta in a bowl, and mix well to make dough.
3. Shape it in small ball.
4. Chop onion and tomato and keep aside separately.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a kadhai and deep fry the kofta (ball)  on medium flame till it turns golden brown in colour (about 5-6 minutes) from all sides. Keep aside.
2. Take a fry pan. Put 2 spoon of oil; add chopped onion, stir fry on high flame for couple of minutes or till it gets golden in colour.
3. Add chopped tomato, continue to fry for 2-3 minutes or till gets messy in appearance, keep aside.
4. Let it be cool; grind the fried onion and tomato to fine paste.
5. Heat one table spoon of oil; add cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon, black cardamom and clove. Sputter for few seconds; add ginger and garlic paste, stir fry for few seconds.
6. Add fried onion and tomato(paste) along with salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, and coriander powder; continue to fry on medium flame for couple of minutes.
7. Add whipped curd, continue to fry on lower flame. (2-3 minutes); add butter (optional), continue cook for another couple of minutes.
8. Add the extracted water from the Lauki and a cup of water; boil the gravy. Lower the flame for 2-3 minutes.
9. Add fried kofta; let it boil for couple of minutes; put off the flame.
10. Garnish with chopped green coriander.

Note:

1. Just before serving, heat the gravy and place the kofta in it.
2. Lauki kofta is ready to serve with Roti or Rice.

Lauki (bottle gourd) kofta curry by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.