Lauki ka Kofta is a gravied vegetarian version of minced meat ball made with Bottle Gourd (also called Sweet Gourd).
The ingredients of this dish for 6 persons are:
Half a Bottle Gourd.
Half cup of gram flour (besan).
2 medium size tomatoes
2 medium size onions
3 to 4 cups of water
Half cup mustard oil
Spices : One teapsoon each of garlic paste and ginger paste, half teaspoon coriander powder and quarter teaspoon each of garam masala, turmeric powder and chilli powder. Half teaspoon cumin seed. Salt to taste.
Method:
Peel the Lauki and grate it. Squeeze the moisture out of the grated lauki. Take it in a bowl, add besan, salt to taste, part of the turmeric powder and chilli powder that you have set aside. Mix well the besan, grated lauki and spices. Heat a pan or small wok and add the half cup of mustard oil in it. Heat the mustard oil. Make 15 to 20 small balls of the lauki mixture and fry it till they are golden brown.
Make a paste of the onions and tomatoes. In the wok which contains the hot oil add cumin seed until they make a cracking sound which signals that they are well fried. Add the onion-tomato paste, the ginger-garlic paste and the remaining spices. Add additional salt to taste. Stir it until it becomes a thick golden brown paste. Add three to four cups of water. Add the vegetable balls (koftas) to the boiling gravy. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and wait for 5 minutes.
Pour the gravied lauki kofta into a bowl and garnish with green coriander leaves. The Kofta is ready to eat. Serve with rice or chappatis.