Bottle Gourd Kofta or Lauki Kofta or Dudhi Kofta is a tomato onion delicious gravy recipe dipped with kofta made with bottle gourd. People call Bottle Gourd as Lauki or Ghiya in Hindi and Dudhi in Gujarati. It is a popular recipe in every household and one of the best Indian curries. There are many types of Kofta which we prepare from different vegetable. Among them Lauki Kofta is the easiest one to make since it involves less effort compared to other kofta recipes.
There are people who do not love to have lauki vegetable in their meal, but when you ask them about the kofta made from it, water starts coming out of their mouth. This is what happens with me also. I am also not fond of bottle gourd, but Lauki Kofta Curry is one of my favourite kofta recipes. This dish has become regular recipe in my kitchen menu. Today I am going to share this recipe only.
The first time that I had this dish was when my office colleague brought it in lunch tiffin. It was awesome and delicious. It was then that I thought to make in my own kitchen. I went for it and you will not believe how tasty it came out. Lauki, the main ingredient to make Lauki Kofta has large amount of water content, so we have to squeeze out the water and then make the kofta. We can use the left out water to make the curry for the Lauki Kofta which makes it even more tasty.
Lauki Kofta is made by simmering the kofta in tomato onion gravy. Kofta is made by deep frying the lauki mixture balls in pre heated oil where the mixture of Lauki is made from Grated Lauki, Gram Flour and different spices. We must keep in mind that before making the mixture we need to completely squeeze out the water from the grated lauki. Also the consistency of the mixture should be appropriate so that kofta balls can be made easily. Do not keep the mixture idle for longer time or else it will become watery and make it difficult to bind the mixture to make the kofta. Remember to add Gram Flour in appropriate amount. More gram flour will make the kofta hard.
Apart from kofta balls, tomato onion gravy is also the most important part of the Lauki Kofta Curry. To make curry, prepare the tomato and onion paste first. Fry the paste along with different spices till it starts leaving oil. When the spices start leaving oil, add water and Kofta balls. Stir gently and simmer it for few minutes. Add Coriander Leaves and Kasuri Methi into it. Lauki Kofta is ready. Serve it with your favourite rice, roti, naan or parantha. To make delicious and tasty curry, add more tomatoes to make the paste. It brings sourness in the curry.
If you looking for more Curry Recipes, do try …
Also try our various Paneer Recipes.
Lauki Ka Kofta/Lauki Kofta Curry/Dudhi Kofta
Ingredients:
For Lauki Kofta:
- 500 gm Bottle Gourd (Lauki/Ghia/Dudhi) 1/2 kg
- 6 tablespoon Gram Flour (Besan)
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
- 1/8 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
- 2 piece Chopped Chilli
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
- Salt to Taste
- Oil to Deep fry
For Curry:
- 2 medium Onion Paste
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 4 medium Tomato Paste
- A pinch Heeng
- 1.5 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 2 tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon Kasuri Methi
- 1-2 piece Slit Green Chilli
- 3 tablespoon Oil
- 1/2 cup Water
- Salt to Taste
Instructions:
To make Lauki Kofta:
- Take the Bottle Gourd and peel off the outer skin with the help of a peeler. Wash it and cut into 2-3 pieces so that it is easy to grate.
- Take a large bowl and grate all the pieces with the help of a grater. Grate the Lauki as thin as possible so that it is easy to bind and make kofta.
- Squeeze out the water completely from the grated Lauki and shift it into different bowl. If required you can squeeze out the water for the second time also.
- Now add Gram Flour (Besan), Turmeric Powder, Chilli Powder, Cumin Powder, Garam Masala, Black Pepper Powder, Ginger Garlic Paste, Chopped Green Chilli, Coriander Leaves, Ghee and Salt to the grated Lauki.
- Mix all the ingredients uniformly. If required you can add extra Gram Flour so that it is easy to bind and make kofta. Keep it aside.
- Heat Oil in kadai over medium heat. Make small balls of the Lauki mixture and drop 4-5 balls into the oil.
- Deep fry them till it becomes light golden in colour. Keep it stirring in between so that it is cooked uniformly and does not burn.
- In the similar manner make kofta for the remaining mixture. Keep the kofta over paper towel so that it absorbs excess oil. Keep the kofta aside.
To make Lauki Kofta Curry Recipe
- Heat 3 tablespoon Oil in Kadai over medium heat. Add Heeng and Cumin Seeds. Allow the cumins to crackle.
- Add the Onion Paste and sauté it for 3-4 minutes. Now add Ginger Garlic Paste. Cook the paste till the colour changes to light golden.
- Now add the Tomato puree and mix it uniformly. Cook it for another 2-3 minute.
- Add the spices such as Turmeric Powder, Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder and Garam Masala. Also add Salt to it. Mix the spices properly.
- Cook the spices till the oil starts separating. When the oil separates from the spices, add water to it. Add water as per the consistency required for the curry.
- Cook the mixture by covering it with lid. Cook till the oil starts floating at the upper layer. Kofta gravy is ready.
- Now add the kofta to the gravy and mix it properly. Also add slit green chilli to make it spicy.
- Add Chopped Coriander Leaves and Kasuri Methi. Mix them and cook for a minute.
- Now add water as per the consistency required. Close the lid and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
- Lauki Kofta is ready to be served. Serve it by garnishing coriander leaves over it. Lauki Kofta taste good when served with Rice, Parantha or Roti.
Notes:
- If you want, you can also add Chopped Onion to the grated Lauki mixture to make the kofta’s.
- While making kofta, you must keep in mind that the water present in grated Lauki should be completely squeezed out or else it will be difficult to bind the kofta.
- While making the mixture for kofta, add the besan as per requirement. If required you can add extra besan. Do not add too much besan to the mixture. It will make the kofta hard after deep frying.
- To deep fry the kofta, you can directly pour the Lauki mixture in small amount into the oil instead of making kofta balls.
- After the mixture is prepared, do not keep it idle for long. It will make the mixture watery since Lauki releases water.
- If you want you can prepare the paste of onion and tomato together and then cook it in oil. To make thicker gravy you can also add small amount of besan to the tomato onion paste.
- We have added Ghee to the mixture to make the kofta softer. Also cook the kofta over medium flame so that it is cooked from inside also.
