Lauki ka kofta

As kids, I remember we often hosted dinner parties at home. It would either be dinner parties hosted at home or get-together at a company club house. Parties would be hosted by dad's bosses or colleagues or by us. These parties were quite common at our home.

They meant bouts of excitement and preparations, from discussions over menu to preparations and stocking of ingredients, from bringing out the best crockery sets to laying the table cloth, from circulating the drinks and snacks to arranging the buffet table, from serving food to ending with desserts, every bit of it would incite us. It meant chirpy laughs, giggles over talks, hearty jokes over home cooked food posed to liven up the evening.

This brings back my memories on how amma's food would be loved and appreciated in these gatherings for the care she took in cooking, dressing and decorating them and finally coax to eat beyond they could! One of her mastery was over Koftas and they were always a hit among all. I tried recreating that magic in my kitchen recently. They were simply too good! My hubby dislikes lauki and when I served him these koftas, he wasn't aware of what went into it's main ingredients ;) As he was indulging in these, he quaintly asked me what it was made of. When I replied that lauki went into it, he was zapped! He never expected that lauki could taste this good! I think I managed to change his resentment towards bottle-gourd since then.

Lauki ka kofta

INGREDIENTS

1 medium sized lauki/bottle-gourd
1/4 cup besan/chickpea flour
2 medium sized onions
2 tomatoes pureed
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp Kashmiri mirchi powder
2 tsp dhaniya/coriander powder
2 tsp jeera/cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 elaichi/cardamoms
2 laung/cloves
1 dalchini/cinnamon stick
2 green chillies
2 tsp of malai/cream
Salt to taste
Few almonds and cashews soaked in warm water for 15 mins
Coriander leaves to garnish

DIRECTIONS

Prepare the kofta:

Wash and clean the lauki/bottle-gourd. Grate it. Squeeze as much water as possible out of lauki. Save it aside as it can be added later in the gravy. Add the chickpea flour, little ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp of coriander cumin powder and salt. Mix well and shape into lemon sized balls. Flatten them if you like. Deep fry the koftas to golden brown over medium high flame. Keep the koftas aside so that it can be added to the gravy as required at the time of serving.

For the gravy:

Pulse the green chillies, onions, cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms, almonds and cashews in a mixer to a fine paste. In a pan, heat the oil. Add the ground paste and fry for few mins. Next add the tomato puree and fry for some more time till the oil floats. Add the dry masalas like the cumin coriander powder, garam masala, red chilli powder and fry for some more time. Add a cup of water and adjust the thickness of the gravy depending on you taste. Once the gravy comes to a boil, simmer it for about 5 mins and allow the flavors to blend well. Finally add in the fresh cream. At the time of serving, arrange the koftas in a serving dish and dress it with the prepared gravy on top of these koftas. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve it hot.

I served mine with hot parathas.