BottleGourd / Lauki / Dudhi Kofta Curry

In the past few weeks, I have made several sabji's with Bottle Gourd (also known as Ghiya / Dudhi / Lauki).  Yesterday, I made Lauki ke Chilke ke Sabji... (the Skin of the vegetable) (this was an experiment) and the outcome was a new sabji which tasted good and I packed it for lunch for all of us :).  I very rarely got this at home as no one of us knew the health benefits of this Vegetable. 

Did you know that consuming bottle gourd juice has many health benefits. This simple vegetable is full of minerals and water. Bottle gourd helps fight many small problems keeping you healthy. It helps in easing the problem related to constipation. The water and fiber in the bottle gourd make the digestive system free and active.  The bottle gourd/lauki belongs to cucumber family; the tender one is consumed as vegetables and mature ones are used to make utensil or music instruments. It was cultivated for making utensil than as vegetable in the past.  In my father's home in Kerala, you will find these vegetables growing in large numbers and it was not consumed by anyone... Time has changed now as people have got to know the value and benefits of this vegetable!

This Vegetable is not  popular in every household but it makes one of the best Indian curries – Lauki Kofta Curry in which deep-fried koftas (round shaped deep fried spicy dumplings) are cooked in a gravy and can be served with Roti's / Rice / Paratha's etc.

I was planning to make Lauki Kofta Curry for lunch box the other day and since I have to leave home around 7:55 am  in the morning, I would not have been able to make this dish if I did not make preparations the previous night.  I got all the ingredients for the Masala ready and kept them in the fridge.  I got up 10 minutes early that day so that I could complete the mission of making this dish.  I also clicked step by step pictures for my viewers / followers :)

Once the curry was ready I packed it for lunch with Roti's for all of us.   At the lunch table, I shared it with few colleagues and they said that it tasted like the Kofta curry served in restaurant .  This compliment made my day :)

Try this out and you will be happy with the end result. Here a recap of the Recipe...

Ingredients for the Kofta :

Grated Bottle Gourd / Lauki - 1 cup

Green Chilli paste - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Besan / Gram Flour - 1/4th Cup

Oil - 1 tbsp

Soda - 1 pinch

Turmeric Powder - 1pinch

Oil for frying the Kofta

Ingredients for grinding :

Onion - 1 big

Tomato - 1 medium

Green Chillies - 2

Grated ginger -1  tsp

Garlic Cloves - 4 to 5

Ingredients for the gravy :

Oil - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander - Cumin powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Salt and Sugar to taste

Fresh Cream - 1/4th cup

Fresh Corriander leaves -1 tbsp

Method :

Wash and de skin the vegetable and grate it with the help of a grater. ( You can use the skin of this vegetable to make Sabji too). Squeeze out the water and keep the water  aside as you can add it to the gravy.  Add all ingredients for the Kofta and make small balls and fry them in oil till golden brown and keep them aside.

Grind all the ingredients  in a mixer to a fine paste.  Heat oil in a pan and add the ground paste into it and saute well.  Cook this till all the moisture evaporates and oil starts to leave from the sides.  Now add  rest of the ingredients for the gravy and saute well. Now add the fresh cream.  Add 1 cup of hot water and boil this gravy.  To this gravy add the Fried Koftas and garnish with Corriander leaves.  Serve hot with Roti / Paratha / Rice of your choice.