Lauki/Dudhi Kofta

Tired of eating same old regular boring lauki sabji? Then you definitely need to try this recipe.

This kofta recipe is being used by me for past 25 yrs. If you ask my son what is the one veg curry he wanted to eat, this will be on the top of the list. We all absolutely love it ❤.

Many of you already know that lauki is known as bottle guard but in North America it is known as long squash. Recently I saw fresh lauki in the store and first thing that came to my mind was kofta. My son was so happy to see lauki after a long time and he knew exactly how I am going to use it :). Because I don’t see fresh long squash in the store very often, I use zucchini instead. I use the same recipe to make zucchini kofta. This recipe serves 3 people as a side when you eat with naan/paratha and rice.
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Product recommended:
Appam patra

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Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For Kofta
1 big fresh lauki/long squash
3 tbsp – besan or gram flour
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tbsp grated ginger or ginger paste
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

For Sauce
2 big onion finely chopped
2 big tomato finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

For Garnishing
Fresh cream
Chopped coriander leaves

Procedure

1. Grate bottle guard using grater. Squeeze out all the excess water using two hands or using dry cotton cloth. Do not add salt at this point or it will create more water. We just want to make grated bottle guard dry.

2. In a pan. Do not add oil.Dry roast grated mixture on high for 1 minute stirring continuous. Turn the heat off and let the mixture cool on side for few minutes.

3. After 5 minutes, add 3 tbsp. besan or gram flour, ginger paste, black pepper powder and salt to the mixture. Make little larger than marble size balls. You need to handle this very delicately because mixture is still very soft. Do not add more flour or kofta will be hard when ready.

4. At this point you can either deep fry these kofta. I choose healthier option and cooked kofta in appam patra/paniyaram using very little oil. Here is the picture of the steps. Follow clockwise direction. If you are deep frying kofta, fry 5-6 koftas at a time, do not overcrowd the pan.

5. When kofta is ready, prepare for the sauce. Heat a pan with 2 tbsp of oil. When oil is hot, add finely chopped onion, saute for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Then add garlic and saute for another minute. Now add finely chopped tomato or tomato puree and saute for 4-5 minutes on low to medium heat. Add around 1 1/2 cup water, turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and salt to taste. Simmer on low for few minutes till everything is blended properly. Turn off the heat and then add kofta which is already cooked before. You don’t need to cook kofta in the sauce. If you are not serving it soon then prepare kofta and sauce, keep it separate. Then when you are ready to serve heat up the sauce and add kofta at the end and turn off the heat. Follow the picture clockwise direction.