LAUKI KE KOFTE/Bottlegourd dumplings in spicy gravy

I was not aware of Doodi / lauki /Bottle Gourd/ Sorekayi { in Kannada} for long time as it was not used in the house at all..It was kind of not bought/brought home I am not sure why??? It seemed so delicious a dish when I first ate it.Well.. it was my good friend Sunitha who made me lick my fingers whenever she made lauki ke kofte... got hooked to it when she was around..I never tried it though.
Soon forgot all about it , was happy trying out new things.This week when i spotted Lauki in the Indian store, all memories rushed back and I ended up making Kofte with what I remembered she had told me about the procedure and ingredients..

We enjoyed it with some Takda dal and Coriander Naan ( I bought them) , made some Matar pulav too.

Lauki Ke Kofte ( dumplings in spicy tomato gravy)

Ingredients

To make Koftas
Half a kilo (500 gms) lauki peeled and grated

2 table spoons besan / gram flour

2-3 green chillies

grated ginger

Salt to taste
1 tea spoon red chilli powder
Finely chopped few coriander leaves

Ingredients for gravy

2 medium sized onions

3 medium sized tomatoes grated / puree
2 green chillies

1 inch ginger

2-3 flakes garlic
Few chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp jeera powder

1 inch dalchini / cinnamon

1-2 bay leaves / tej patta

1 big cardamom / badi elaichi
3-4 cloves/laung

oil for frying

Juice that is extracted from lauki and kept aside

and water if required.

Method

Grate the lauki,sprinkle some salt and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Now squeeze out water from it completely. Store the extracted water/juice in a bowl separately.
To this grated lauki add grated ginger, chopped green chillies, chopped coriander leaves, salt, red chilli powder and mix well. Add besan/gramflour to bind it well into round or oval balls..
heat the Oil in a Kadi or Deep pan. Deep fry these koftas simultaneously to golden brown colours. Keep the flame medium as the koftas get cooked outer side very fast and the centre will remain uncooked...Store the deep fried koftas on to a tissue paper..

To make Gravy:

Heat 2 table spoons of oil in a kadai or heavy bottom pan. Grind Onions, ginger, garlic together to a fine paste...
Put dalchini, crushed elaichi, tej patta, cloves let it splutter in oil then add green chillies, garlic, ginger, onions and cover the pan for few minutes on medium flame, Now add the ground paste and let it cook till the raw smell of garlic is gone and onions turns to a pinkish colour. Now add tomatoes or tomato puree salt and turmeric, red chilli, jeera, coriander powders and mix well.

Keep stirring for sometime and check if the gravy is even and well blended add the extracted water from lauki now. Let the gravy boil for about 5 to 8 minutes...
Sprinkle garam masala.
The gravy should neither be too thick nor too thin but medium.
At the time of serving heat the gravy, transfer in serving dish add the koftas now and garnish with coriander leaves.

This gravy dish goes very well with Rotis ....

Have a great week ahead...