Lauki Kofta - लौकी कोफ्ता (Bottle Gourd Balls in Tomato Gravy) for Blog Hop

Hello Friends,


Another week of Blog Hop, love it, get to try different blogs and different recipes. Please check out what all this is about.


This got I am paried with Santosh of Santosh's Kitchen. She has an amazing blog and on top of it, she has very helpful things like Glossary, Tips etc. for all of us. Please visit her blog and enjoy more of her recipes.

When I visit blogs for blog hop, I try to make dishes that I have not tried before and I always wanted to. This is one such. First time I ever ate Lauki Kofta - लौकी कोफ्ता  (Bottle Gourd Balls in Tomato Gravy) was when I was in my 10th grade, my mausi (mom's sister) got married and she had tried it learning from a friend. I still remember that taste (20 years ago, good memory right). i have never eaten it since then, but always wanted to try it out. When I saw this recipe on her blog, I jumped right on it and made it.

My hubby loved the kofta themselves and ate some. So, that tells me that we can serve koftas too as a snack or appetizer with some ketchup. Now, let's get on to the recipe.


Update: Someone requested me to post the pic of Bottle Gourd, so here it is, courtesy (Nandyala.org). Hope that helps.

Lauki Kofta - लौकी कोफ्ता  (Bottle Gourd Balls in Tomato Gravy)

Ingredients
For Kofta
Lauki (Bottle Gourd) - 1 medium one (after grating, I got about 2.5 cups)
Sooji (Semolina) - 1/2 cup
Besan (Gram Flour) - 1/4 cup
Green Chilies - 2 finely chopped or more per your taste
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - per your taste
Cilantro - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
For Gravy
Onion - 2 medium ones, roughly sliced
Tomato - 3 medium ones, roughly sliced
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Salt - just for the gravy
Oil - 1 tsp
Preparation

• Wash, peel and grate lauki.
• Squeeze the grated mixture well with hand and remove all excess water (save the water for gravy)
• Add everything under "For Kofta" in a bowl and make balls of desired shape and deep fry them till golden brown. Drain them on paper, till the gravy is ready.
• Meanwhile, take oil in a pan and add onion to it.
• Fry till onion is translucent and add ginger-garlic paste to it and fry for a  min.
• Add rest of the ingredients under "For Gravy" and fry till onion is cooked and tomatoes are mushy.
• Grind this mixture to smooth or coarse paste (as per your liking).
• Pour the ground mix in the pan again and add upto 2 cups of water.
• Cook this gravy for about 5-10 min.
• Switch off the heat and dunk the koftas in it for about 5 min. (no need to cook them) before serving.

Serving
Serve it with roti/paratha or naan.

Please do check what other blog hoppers are cooking.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.