Health Zeal says that “The bottle gourd is low in saturated fat and cholesterol yet high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamin, iron, magnesium and manganese. It also contains moderate amount of vitamin-B complex. Its high water content makes it very cooling. Medicinally, it is used as a purgative, an antidote for certain poisons and a cure for cough. An infusion of the seeds can be drunk to cure chills and headaches “
Yet this humble vegetable is neglected and people consider it as a vegetable for elder generation or have a notion that this vegetable is eaten only during illness
I do agree that when kadhoo is cooked simply, like chopped and cooked in tomato gravy,or stir fried with dry masalas, kids make faces and youngsters run away (yes you can be strict with kids to eat kadhoo, but youngsters would definitely flee) coz, the dish doesn’t look appetizing to the people who are not used to the flavour of this sweetish veggie
So in these circumstances I always stick to my tried and tested method of camouflaging veggies, so that kids can’t recognize what they are eating (cheating…….yes…..but necessary to develop liking in kids for such healthy veggies)
So here is one recipe which is bit high on calorie content, but wise ladies …you can trim off calories by baking koftas in microwave (if u have one) or shallow fry with minimum oil
This is again a recipe for dual entries …One is for dear Pooja of My Creative ideas who is hosting an event of Bottle gourd as Vegetable of week
And another one is for sweet Sia of Monsoon spice hosting a lovely event called WBB-Summer Feast.
Sia this would not be a recipe for breakfast, but for brunch, it’s a sure relish
Rating
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3
- Bottle gourd (Kadhoo) 1 medium sized
- Gram flour 2 tbsp
- Oil 2 tsp
- Salt
- A pinch of baking soda
- Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
- Coriander powder 1 tsp
- Garam masala powder ½ tsp
- Cumin seeds 1 tsp
- Annardana or dried pomegranate seeds (optional) a spoonful
- Green chillies 3-4
- Coriander leaves
- Ginger as much preferred
- Garlic 3-4 cloves (or if available use 2 tsp of chopped saayi thoom or spring onions)
- Oil for frying
- Onions 2
- Tomato 1 large sized
- Green chillies 2-3
- Ginger about an inch
- Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
- Coriander powder 1 tsp
- Garam masala powder ¼ tsp
- Salt
- Oil 1-2 tsp
- Kitchen king powder and kasuri methi powder (strictly optional) ¼ tsp and 1 tsp respectively
- Peel and grate lauki, rinse with water and boil in salted water for 2 minutes
- Let it cool,then squeeze out water (you can use this water as vegetable stock for gravy) add very little salt, turmeric powder,chopped green chillies, garlic, coriander leaves and garam masala powder. Taste and adjust the seasoning
- Then add two heaped tablespoons of gram flour (besan), one spoon of oil, a pinch of baking soda, cumin seeds and mix properly
- Grease palms of your hands and take a small portion of this mixture and make a round or oval shape
- Fry it properly on medium flame in hot oil, till crisp brown.Repeat the procedure for rest of mixture (If koftas tend to break, then either oil is not properly hot or you need to add some more amount of besan)
- Fry chopped onions in little amount of oil, till brown
- Add grind-ed tomato, green chillies, ginger and turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, kitchen king and kasuri methi and fry till thick paste is obtained. Alternatively one can fry the onions, then grind them to attain a smooth gravy
- Add salt and little water to achieve gravy like consistency. Let it boil for few minutes and simmer it till the rawness of masalas is gone (if using pressure cooker wait for 4 whistles)
- While serving, place few kofte in bowl, pour hot gravy over it and garnish it with coriander leaves. Never boil the kofte in gravy, as they are very soft and would crumble and get mashed easily.
- Tastes best with phulkas or Rotis
Oooh yum yum yum yum!!!!! Luv ed it..
Hey your recipes are just great! Learnt quite a bit of cooking from here :). Tried the lauki kofta recipe and it was delish! Keep posting :)!
wow alka it is very tempting to me, its awesome, i will try this receipe definitely to my family. And one more thing please advice me how to make rasmalais.
thank u
regards
vidhya
Ooooh…very tempting! I like the garlic and anardana in the koftas…very curious now!
Hi,
Have you posted you version of Makhani Dal. Have few things for you on the blog. Hope everything is working now…:)
I just finished having some dhal, rice and bittergourd, but you have me feeling hungry all over again! 🙂
Hi Sia,
I m glad that i am able to participate in an event held by u….waiting for the roundups!
Hi sri,
Thanks for ur appreciation..it really keeps me going!
Hey pooja,
I wish food could be passed thru net,like recipes,it wud be such a lovely idea to share food with felow bloggers like u all !
Hi rajitha,
I too love lauki,but like it only if its made with lots of spices;-)
Hi sowmya,
I m glad that u liked them !
hi Maheshwari,
If possible share that recipe wth us,i wil love to make some variations!
Hi kalai,
Surely try these out,and pls let me know what was the outcome!
Hi Medha,
I m anxious to read ur version of making them,coz till now u had surprised me wid some real twists in the recipes!
Hi Kalva,
Thanks !
Hi TBC,
And if u bake them,pls let me know how they turned up and about the time taken and texture ,coz i never had tried to bake them.
Hi Tehmina,
Thanks for ur appreciation,i will really feel good,if kids will start eating neglected veggies like this
its unimaginable to see lauki kofta made so perfect,looks like those who hate to eat lauki will simply relish it ,irresistable, thank to shareur dish,
The koftas look good. I’ve never used lauki like this. Baking the koftas to cut down the fat is a nice idea.
Wow koftas look beautiful…
Look at you, inspite of being sick and all you managed to create these beauties and beat me to it too…:) I was too planing to make these, but yours are so round and golden browned evenly, yumm yumm
These koftas look beautiful, Alka! Love this way of using bottlegourd. Will try this out! 🙂
Love your koftas..ne of my friend used put these in kadhi…
they look gorgeous…so tempting..love these koftas..
love lauki ke kofte..but i love lauki period…urs look delicious
Such a nice entry. those koftas are brown beauty :). Pass on some here too 😛 .
Thank you Alka for nice entry .
Alka..thats one lovely picture!..looks awesome!
thanks alka. the link is working fine 🙂
i had very light lunch as i had to dash to attaend another meeting. now i come bk and see these golden beauties in ur blog… very unfair alka…
thank u for thsi delicious entry… can u plz chk the link bk to WBB announcement page as its not working.