Lauki kofta with roti
Grated lauki bound with besan into soft koftas, fried golden and slipped into an onion-tomato gravy: how many mothers get bottle gourd into children who won't touch lauki sabzi. A weekend dish, eaten with rotis or jeera rice. The water squeezed from the lauki goes into the gravy. A Jain home leaves out the onion and fresh ginger, uses hing and dry ginger powder instead, and makes the gravy with tomatoes alone.
- 1 h 25Time
- 1 h 17Hands-on
- 4Portions
- 15 gprotein per portion
- 620kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 700 gBottle gourd, peeled and grated
- 80 gBesan
- 2 tspGinger, grated
- 2Green chillies, finely chopped
- 3 tbspCoriander leaves, chopped
- 3 mlRed chilli powder
- to tasteSalt
- 4 tbspRefined oil, for deep-frying (what the koftas soak up)
- 2Onions, finely chopped
- 3Tomatoes, puréed
- 2 tbspRefined oil, for the gravy
- 1 tspCumin, seeds
- 1Bay leaf
- 3 mlTurmeric
- 1 tspKashmiri chilli powder
- 1 ½ tspCoriander powder
- ≈ 200 mlWater, hot
- 3 mlGaram masala
- 1 tspKasuri methi, crushed
On the side
- 300 gAtta
- ≈ 200 mlWater, for the dough
- 1 tbspGhee, for brushing (optional)
Method
- Put the atta in a bowl and add the water little by little, kneading to a soft, smooth dough. Cover and let it rest.
- Peel the lauki, cut out the spongy, seedy core if it is large and grate the rest. Squeeze out the water with your hands and keep it for the gravy.
- Mix the squeezed lauki with the besan, half the ginger, the green chillies, half the coriander leaves, the red chilli powder and salt into a soft mixture that holds together (add no water). Shape it into 16 small balls.
- Heat oil for deep-frying in a kadai on medium heat. Fry the koftas a few at a time, without touching them for the first minute, until deep golden all over, 4–5 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Finely chop the onions and purée the tomatoes in the mixie.
- Heat the oil for the gravy in a pan and add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Add the onions and fry until golden, about 8 minutes. Add the rest of the ginger and fry for a minute.
- Add the tomato purée, turmeric, Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and cook until the oil separates, about 6 minutes.
- Pour in the lauki water and the hot water, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes to a medium-thick gravy. Stir in the garam masala and crushed kasuri methi and turn off the heat.
- Divide the dough into 12 balls and roll them out thin, dusting with a little atta. Cook on a hot tawa, flip when small bubbles appear, then puff them up over the flame. Brush with ghee and keep them wrapped in a cloth.
- Reheat the gravy, slide in the koftas just before eating and let them soak for a couple of minutes. Scatter over the rest of the coriander leaves and serve with the rotis.
