Punjabi Lauki Kofta Curry | Lauki ka Kofta | Doodhi Kofta| Bottle gourd kofta in red gravy | No meat balls in red gravy | Low Calorie Koftas

It's Zini's vacation time again and it makes me think that she is perpetually on vacation!! One of the side effects of having her at home all the time is that I can't really blog or photograph much. But today she went to her friend's place and I immediately clicked the photos of this curry I had made for lunch..
Talking about this curry, it's really simple yet satisfying curry.. Something that is liked by almost all the Punjabis I've met (and I've met quite a few including my hubby :) ).. And what more it goes well with rotis and rice!! In case you don't have bottle gourd, you can substitute it with Zucchini or Courgette.
It's comparatively healthy and a great way to eat your lauki AKA bottle gourd. Before hubby started eating Muthiya, Handvo and Thepla, this was the only way he consumed his bottle gourds...
I am sharing our day to day no frills recipe that I learnt from my MIL, if you want you can make it rich by adding cream to the gravy and potato/bread to the koftas..

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Ingredients:

For gravy
2 big onions
2 medium sized tomatoes
1 green chili
1/4 teaspoon ginger paste
3-4 garlic cloves peeled
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (curry powder - in case you don't have it mix black pepper, cloves, corriander seeds, a little cardamom powder, star anise and cumin seeds and churn in mixer to get yours)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil

For koftas
1 medium sized bottle gourd peeled and grated (If you don't have a bottle gourd then use Zuchhini or Courgette)
3-4 tablespoon besan (garbanzo bean flour/ chick pea flour)
salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon red chili powder
pinch of hing (Traditional recipe doesn't call for this, but I add hing to anything that has besan)
Oil for deep frying or shallow frying

Method:

For Koftas (no meat balls)
1) Squeeze water out of the grated bottle gourd.
2) Add besan (chick pea flour), salt, red chili powder and turmeric powder and hing to it. Mix well.
3) Make small lemon sized balls and deep fry in hot oil in a wok. If you don't want to deep fry then you can alternatively use pancake popper/ Paniyaram pan to get the balls. Or you can shallow fry them like cutlets on a tawa/skillet.
4) Take out on a tissue paper and let them cool down.

For gravy
1) In a mixer or food processor, churn onions, tomatoes, green chili, ginger and garlic to get a paste.
2) In a kadai (wok), take oil and heat it. Add the prepared paste to it and mix well.
3) Keep cooking (and in between stirring) till all the water evaporates and the oil separates.
4) Now add garam masala (Curry powder) and turmeric powder. Mix well.
5) Cook for 1 minute while stirring continuously.
6) Add 1 cup water, mix well and add salt to taste.
7) Let it boil. You can add koftas if serving immediately.

Assemble it when ready to serve otherwise the koftas will get soggy.
To Assemble
1) Heat the gravy and add the prepared koftas to the gravy.
2) Let them cook for 7-10 minutes. Don't stir vigorously, else your koftas will break.

Notes:
1) You can adjust masalas as per your taste. If you like it spicy, add red chili powder. If you are not a fan of hot food, taper down chili (Green/red).
2) As I said, you can make more rich version with cream and potatoes/bread.

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

+techie ZM

Malai Kofta Curry

I have this childhood memory of going to the Collegian restaurant with my parents and nicely place the napkin on my lap acting like a grown up and ordering my own food and enjoying our dinner together...But what i remember most from those days is the Malai Kofta...Every time we went there, i would order Malai Koftas. But sadly the restaurant closed down and i could not find that amazing taste of Malai Koftas anywhere else even at the reopened Collegian...

But then i bought this book from Neeta Mehta and in that i found the recipe of Malai Kofta (or rather i bought the book because it has the recipe of Malai kofta :) oh and BTW of Jalebi also) and i made Malai Kofta following the recipe (well almost!!!) and we found it delicious!!!! But i was not completely satisfied, so i decided to make a few changes suggested by hubby and do things the way i do for the Shaahi Paneer recipe...And Viola, i found the perfect taste!!!!

My only problem with this recipe is that i have to stop myself and my family from "tasting" the gravy and kofta before the actual meal, and believe me it's very difficult to stop!!!!

So without further ado, here is the perfect Malai Kofta Recipe....

Yummy Malai Kofta....

Ingredients:

For gravy

3 Onions peeled and cubed
3 tablespoons fresh cream
2 handfuls of cashews
1 small pinch of saffron strands soaked in warm water
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/4 teaspoon Red chili powder
1 big pinch of kasoori methi
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup milk

For Koftas

2 Boiled potatoes
100 gm paneer
1 brown bread (white will also do)
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon Garam masala
1/4 teaspoon Chili powder
Chaat Masala to taste
Oil for Frying Koftas

For Filling in Kofta

1 small onion, finely cut
5-6 Cashew finely cut
2-3 pinches of finely cut ginger
salt
2-3 pinches garam masala
15 Kishmish (raisin) (Optional)
chaat masala to taste
1 tablespoon oil

Method:

1) For making Gravy, in a mixy (and not in a hand blender, it doesn't give the required smooth texture) take onions, cream and cashew and create a smooth paste. If needed add a little milk.

2) For gravy, in a kadai add oil and then add the paste, stir continuously till the oil separates. Also soak Saffron strands in warm water.

3) Then add Salt, Garam masala, chili powder and sugar, saffron strands and kasoori methi. Mix well.

Gravy for Malai Kofta

4) Add the milk and a little water and mix well. Gravy is ready...

5) Now for the Koftas, in a big plate, mash the boiled potatoes, paneer and the bread nicely together and mix well.

6) To this add salt, garam masala, chaat masala and chili powder and mix well.

7) For the filling in the koftas take a kadai and add oil and the finely onion and ginger. Saute till it turns brown. Then add the finely cut cashew, salt, garam masala and chaat masala. mix well. your filling is ready.

8) Now make balls of kofta (using the potato, paneer mixture), then using your finger make a cavity in the center and fill the prepared filling and Kishmish and seal the ball. Flatten it like a tikki.

9) I made it like Tikki by shallow frying it on the tawa. You can deep fry them, but carefully while deep frying because, the koftas are so soft, they tend to break if handled roughly. And if you are planning to deep fry then it will be advisable to keep the kofta shape round rather then the disc like tikkis.

Koftas....

 Or you can bake/grill the koftas as RM did for her kela koftas. I tried baking, and they were tasty but not very soft, so next time i grill them i will brush them with a little more oil, that should solve the problem.

10) When ready to serve, check the gravy, if it needs to be made thin then add little water to the gravy, mix well and simmer. Take it out in the serving bowl, add the koftas (carefully otherwise they may break). Mix and serve...

Goes well with the tandoori rotis, naan or parathas...Enjoy...

+techie ZM