Bottle Gourd like never before: Lauki Kofta Recipe

Kofta is one of those recipes that has such simple ingredients and are so easy to make and yet taste heavenly. The Koftas are made with bottle gourd and then duked into a spicy rich gravy. This is that one dish that will complete change your mind about bottle gourd. Bottle gourd is one of the most common summer vegetables and one of our favourites too. And this Kofta recipe will take bottle gourd up a notch. Let’s get started shall we?

To make kofta:

The bottle gourd is washed and peeled. then to make the Koftas, it is grated in a bowl.
After grating the bottle gourd, squeeze out the excess water. This step is really important. Bottle gourd is rich in water content, and squeezing out water is important so that the kofta batter is not runny.

Once you have squeezed out the water from the grated gourd, add chickpea flour, salt, grated ginger, turmeric powder to form a batter, almost like a semi-solid dough. Take small portions of the dough to make round Koftas. Then deep fry them in oil. Mustard oil works best because it adds an aroma to the Koftas. Deep fry them on a medium heat so that they get cooked evenly on the inside as well. Deep fry them will they are golden in colour and then take out on a tissue paper.

Now, If you don’t want to deep fry the koftas, then there you can either airfry/bake them.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

• Make sure you squeeze out the water first, else the mixture will be too runny and the Koftas will not hold shape. Or you will have to add more chickpea flour, which doesn’t taste as good.

• Do not add a lot of salt because we are also going to be adding salt to the gravy.
• Always cook the Kofta on a medium heat, so that it gets cooked on the inside and doesn’t get burned from the outside.

• Allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes before adding them to the gravy.
• Once you have added the Kofta to the gravy, let it simmer for about 10 minutes, allowing the koftas to absorb some of the spicy gravy. This will help in integrating all the flavours together.

To MAKE THE GRAVY:

Heat oil/ghee in a pan/wok. Make sure you place it on a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add chopped onions and saute them until they are golden brown in colour.

Once the onions are translucent, add the pureed tomato, green chill and ginger garlic paste. Then add coriander powder, garam masala, Dried Methi(Fenugreek) leaves(optional), turmeric powder and salt to taste. Saute for about 5-10 minutes or until the oil separates from masala.

Once the oil has separated, add water to adjust the consistency. Let it come to a boil and then turn the flame on medium and add the Koftas.

Let it simmer for about 10 minutes and then add cream. This is completely optional. If you like tangy taste of tomatoes, the you don’t need to add cream. however, if you like softer and richer taste, then add cream.

If you have no idea, try adding a little cream in a small bowl of kofta curry and decide which one do you like better.

If you want to make a vegan version of this, add cashew paste to make the gravy creamy and rich.

Garnish with fresh finely chopped coriander leaves and serve with rice or chapati. It also goes really well with a plain paratha or poori. So basically with anything, because it’s that good!

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

• One thing that you always need to keep in mind is that you buy fresh bottle gourd. You can usually tell as it’s pale green in colour and not really thick.
• Another important thing to keep in mind is to squeeze out excess liquid from the grated bottle gourd.
• Instead of deep frying the koftas, you can bake them or air fry them for a healthier option.
• If you decide to deep fry, do so on a medium heat, so they don’t burn on the outside. Also, you can then dip them in water for a minute and squeeze out the water before dunking them in the gravy. This step helps remove excess oil from the koftas, thus making them comparatively healthier.