Lauki ke Kofte- vegan meatballs is one of the best Indian curries.Serve fried vegetarian meatballs in spicy gravy with flatbread or rice.Surely wins hearts and tummies.A great curry for a party.Also vegan and gluten-free.
Tip: You can also prepare the meatballs before hand.Keep it in freezer.Use it for a dinner anytime mid week.
Thus,avoid takeaway and eat healthy.
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Benefits of bottle gourd
Lauki also known as 'Ghiya'/'Dudhi'/'Opo'/long melon.Cooling, calming, diuretic and anti-bilious.Most people think eat it during sickness,but it is highly nutritious.
How to use lauki?
It is also a great substitute to potatoes in many gravies.
You can even add a piece to pav bhaji or to tomato soup.
Excellent during pregnancy and post-partum.
Diet watchers as it is very low calorie.Some people also add a bit to their juice.However,you need to check it is fresh and not bitter when eating raw.You should add only a small quantity to your juice as it is di-uretic and might upset the stomach.
You can also make a lot of recipes from it.Make a barfi or sweet or make a thepla,gluten-free flatbread out of it.You can make simple curries with lentils like lauki channa or enjoy it as a simple curry or sabji.
read the recipe of lauki ke kofte below:
Lauki ke Kofte-Bottle gourd dumplings
Ingredients
For koftas:
- 2 cups grated Bottle gourd/lauki/doodhi
- 1/2 cup Besan gram flour
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp Coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 Green chilli finely chopped
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
For gravy:
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 medium Onion chopped finely
- 4 medium sized Tomatoes pureed
Spices for gravy
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds/jeera
- 1 tsp Red chili powder/lal mirch
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder/haldi
- 1.5 tsp Coriander powder/dhaniya
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 cup Water
For Garnish:chopped coriander
Instructions
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium flame for deep frying.
- Peel and grate bottle gourd. Squeeze out the water completely.Use it to make gravy.
- Take squeezed grated gourd in a bowl.
- Add all other ingredients except salt and mix well.
- It should have a thick consistency to make round shaped balls.(If the mixture is too loose,add 1-2 tbsp of chickpea flour and mix well.)
- Take a handful of mixture in a separate bowl. To this add salt and mix well.
- Grease your palms with oil and divide the salted mixture in 4-5 portions.
- Turn them into round balls.
- Fry these balls in the hot oil. Stir occasionally and deep-fry until they turn little brown and crisp.
- Take them out, drain excess oil and place them over kitchen tissue in a plate.
Method for gravy:
- Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat.
- Add onions and stir-fry until it turns light pink in color.
- Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, and coriander powder in the fried onions.Mix well and cook for another minute.
- Add tomato paste, salt & garam masala.
- Fry until material leaves the sides of the pan.It takes 7-8 minutes.
- Add water (drained out from the grated gourd initially) and 1/2 cup water.
- Stir, simmer and cook for 10-12 minutes more. Don’t cover the pan with any lid.
- Drop the fried koftas in the gravy and cook for 5 mins.
- Make sure that the koftas are fully submerged in the gravy.
- Turn off the heat and transfer it to the serving bowl.
- Garnish with chopped coriander.
- Serve hot with rice or flatbread.
Notes
1. Drain out the excess water from the lauki by pressing the mixture between your palms. If the water is not drained out then it will make the mixture more loose making it difficult to make round balls.
2. Do not add salt to the mixture initially. Add it in batches as salt makes the mixture more loose and soft.
3. Add just one kofta in the hot oil to make sure if it breaks or does not break. If it breaks then add little chickpea flour.
4. Adding extra chickpea flour as it will make meatballs hard.
5. Make sure that the kofta is fried on medium flame. If you fry them on high flame then it will turn the balls dark brown quickly but will remain uncooked from inside.
5. You can make the gravy with tomatoes only. But if tomatoes are sour then it is recommended to add onion to reduce the sourness.
6. Add the koftas right before the serving, otherwise kofta will absorb almost all the gravy and becomes soft and soggy.
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