Lauki ke Kofte : Low cal Healthy curry | The Veggie Indian
Lauki ke Kofte : Low cal Healthy curry June 25, 2013 by Nupur 25 Comments So the stall last weekend was a total hit. We made Misal Paav and Toasted Sandwiches which were swiped off in less than 2 hours. Misal Paav, of course was not prepared by me but my good friend who has lived and studied in Maharashtra for a long time. And that remained the highlight of the day, the mere fragrance and sight of it inviting people to come back again for some take away too. It was totally unexpected, and an amazing feeling when people came to us asking if we do it professionally and if we could give them our Card for future Catering contacts or so. Quite an overwhelming sight it was, and we enjoyed every moment of it.
To know what exactly a Misal Paav is, you may visit Preeti’s Blog here. It’s a traditional street food from Maharashtra, made by mixing Farsaan, Moth beans sprouts, very spicy & runny gravy and Paav ( buns ) on the side. It’s extra hot in terms of spices and uses a lot of oil in preparation, much more than what’s used in normal gravies. And that spiced oil brings out that tingling taste which really does evoke all your senses 😛 I loved it nevertheless, and since most of people in crowd were from Maharashtra, they were just too happy to find something traditional in Pardes.
Coming to the recipe for today which is Lauki Kofte, this is one of my most fav dish. Bottle guard being the power house of nutrition and light on stomach has always been my fav vegetable. My roomie, when in college used to have bottleguard sabzi every day, for dinner, like All week long ! It was only on weekends that she had something else, other than Bottle guard. And it was not at all due to the fact that she loved the taste or so, it was simply because she was too prone to acnes and eating bottle guard every day helped her keeping her skin healthy and acnes at bay. It’s a true story, and if you don’t believe me you may start with having Lauki just twice a week and you are sure to see results in a few days. The method and the long ingredients list below does look tiresome in itself, but trust me this is the best Kofta recipe I have ever got. I have made Koftas with a lot of variations, but now I am just hooked to this one. Its low in fat and tastier than most of the recipes I have had or tried in past. You can easily skip the Ginger-garlic from this recipe, and even onion too and it will still taste great. Mind you, no cream or butter is used in this recipe but you won’t find that missing at all. I have used cornflour in the Kofta mix, but that is only to be used if you are deep frying the balls and not when you are shallow frying or cooking in a paniyaram pan otherwise the koftas will get all soggy from inside.
For Kofte:
2 cups grated Lauki – almost a kg
1 tsp red chili powder, garam masala each
A generous pinch of Heeng ( asafoetida)
1 tbsp Cornflour – optional, only to be used if you are deep frying the balls and not
1 tbsp sesame seeds – optional
Oil for frying – quantity depends on your method of frying. I fried in Paniyaram Pan hence hardly 1 tbsp oil was used.
¼ cup yogurt + 1 tsp of corn flour
4 medium tomatoes – chopped roughly
2 medium Onions – chopped small
4-5 garlic pods, minced or made into paste
1 piece of ginger- grated or chopped as per your liking
A pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon each
1-2 bay leaves 1 tbsp Kasuri Methi
1 tsp Garam Masala – optional, just to make it more spicy
First of all squeeze the juice out of Lauki and keep it aside, we will use this same water in the gravy preparation
Now mix all the ingredients given above in the “Kofte” list except Sesame seeds and Salt and mix well. Add salt at the end, else the mixture will release water very soon.
Make small equal sized balls out of the mixture and roll them over sesame seeds. This is only to give the koftas that rich and lavish look, and also to impart extra crunchiness. It stotally optional, my koftas in the picture are not rolled over sesame
Heat oil in a wok if you are deep frying the balls and test the temperature by frying a small ball. Deep fry all the balls on low-medium temperature till the outer shell turns brown. Keep them on a kitchen towel to soak extra oil
If you are frying them in a paniyaram/ appam pan, then just use the method as you do with the usual appams and keep aside. This way the balls will take more time to get cooked, and will not be as crunchy and when they are fried deep. But then, since they have to go into the gravy any way to get all soaked up I really don’t think it does matter. Unless you have some guests coming over whom you want to impress with your cooking skills, this Appam frying method is perfectly fine for a family meal.
Anyway, coming to the gravy: Heat oil in a pan, throw cardamom pods, bay leaves, dried red chilies and cumin seeds together and fry for half a minute.
Add in minced garlic, ginger, chopped tomatoes and onion and add salt, cinnamon and nutmeg ( if using ) to it. Cook covered for 5-7 minutes on medium flame stirring in between
Tomatoes should be really mushy and mixed up by now, if the gravy is getting dry add some water to it till tomatoes get all mashed up into a thick gravy. You may use the same water which we squeezed out from bottle guard
Now add the yogurt- cornflour mix into it and simmer for next 4-5 minutes, don’t increase the flame at this point and keep stirring in between
When the masala is all done, add cups of water ( including the one we squeezed out ) and let it come to a boiling point on a medium flame.
Turn off the flame, add koftas balls into the gravy and cover it up. Garnish with garam masala or coriander leaves just before serving.
Don’t keep the grated bottle guard out for long, it will lose its colour and texture too.
Don’t use sesame seeds, if the weather is very hot since they are of warm taseer and might give you stomach problems
Don’t let the Kofta balls kept in the gravy for too long, not more than 30 minutes else they will start breaking up absorbing all the water from the gravy
While re heating, you may have to add more water to adjust the consistency of the gravy
I have noticed that the Koftas cooked in Appam Pan are less likely to break apart easily than the ones those are deep fried. The Deep fried ones are obviously softer and lighter in texture
While making gravy, you may use a dash of butter with the oil for that extra rich flavour
Filed Under: Bihari / UP Cuisine, Curries / Gravies, Healthy recipes « Chettinad Pakora Curry : Pakoda KozhambuMoong Dal Khasta Kachori – Deep fried stuffed bread »Like this? Share with your friends
SJs Food Court says	June 25, 2013 at 10:54 pm	It works great!!! I’ve tried and tasted 🙂
Shri says	June 25, 2013 at 11:35 pm	Nupur very tempting snapshots.
Rasi says	June 26, 2013 at 1:10 am	one of my all time fav dishes.. in fact its my dad s trademark dish 🙂 looks fantastic.. & yay! for such a great response to the stall!
Rekha Vengalil says	June 26, 2013 at 1:58 am	Wow looks delicious and so creamy.. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the recipe Nupur
Wer SAHM says	June 26, 2013 at 4:26 am	delicious kofta curry and healthy too…
Veena Theagarajan says	June 26, 2013 at 6:24 am	yummy and healthy curry
Rafeeda AR says	June 26, 2013 at 7:22 am	looks absolutely creamy…
Priya Anandakumar says	June 26, 2013 at 8:41 am	One healthy and creamy curry….
easyfoodsmith says	June 26, 2013 at 9:28 am	Lauki koftas are indeed a healthy dish. And quick to dish up too.
Priya R says	June 26, 2013 at 12:04 pm	very different recipe Nupur, love the way you have cooked the koftas to make it more healthy 🙂 never knew they keep acne in control… good tip
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm	Thanks Priya ! Yes, bottle guard is natural cleanser, and keeps skin alive.. But you dont need it sweety, you already have a glowing skin 🙂
Sadaf Afshan says	June 26, 2013 at 12:05 pm	My sister tried lauki ke kofte sometime back and has been raving about it. Your pic looks really tempting. I should give it a try.
sushmita pandit says	June 26, 2013 at 12:16 pm	just now i ve been mentioning about koftas in my blog nd see wat a coincidence , u have this superb kofta recipe here with mind blowing shots. Wonderful. Thanks a lot for dropping by my space. Keep in touch 🙂
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm	Great minds think alike Sushmita 😉 .. Good to meet you too 🙂
Sapana Behl says	June 26, 2013 at 12:27 pm	Hi!You have a nice blog with awesome clicks. I have just started following you and it may be highly encouraging if you may follow me back.http://cookingwithsapana.blogspot.comThanksSapana
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:56 pm	Thanks Sapana, am following you back too dear 🙂
Princy Vinoth says	June 26, 2013 at 12:41 pm	This looks super good!love the clicks!!!!
PT says	June 26, 2013 at 1:28 pm	so cute and adorable dear 🙂 i love this recipe.. tried it many times..
Shree Kanneppady says	June 27, 2013 at 8:33 am	Yummy.. 🙂
Shreehttp://easycooknbake.blogspot.co.uk/
Priya Suresh says	June 27, 2013 at 5:46 pm	Who can resist to this beautiful bowl of kofta curry,inviting dish.
divya says	June 27, 2013 at 8:19 pm	Beautiful pictures..looks delicious…
Vineetha says	June 27, 2013 at 9:36 pm	Oh the stall sounds like a fun thing to do..I hope u had a great time selling it 🙂 this curry with koftas looks super tempting…
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:53 pm	YEs Vineetha ! The stall experience was a wonderful one and we made profit too… Yayy !! 🙂 Wish you guys could come over, London is just too far off 🙁
Chitz says	June 28, 2013 at 8:39 pm	Cool.. It’s would had been a wonderful experience na to sell the food u make & get rave reviews about it.. Kudos to u & ur friend 🙂 And the koftas look awesome.. Great tip to fry it without using much oil 🙂 And very happy to know it’s great fro acne.. I need some help on that badly 🙁
Charul @ Tadka Masala says	June 29, 2013 at 7:12 am	Congrats for the stall hit. The misal pav does look tempting and so does the kofta curry. Yumm! 🙂
Lauki ke Kofte : Low cal Healthy curry | The Veggie Indian
Lauki ke Kofte : Low cal Healthy curry June 25, 2013 by Nupur 25 Comments So the stall last weekend was a total hit. We made Misal Paav and Toasted Sandwiches which were swiped off in less than 2 hours. Misal Paav, of course was not prepared by me but my good friend who has lived and studied in Maharashtra for a long time. And that remained the highlight of the day, the mere fragrance and sight of it inviting people to come back again for some take away too. It was totally unexpected, and an amazing feeling when people came to us asking if we do it professionally and if we could give them our Card for future Catering contacts or so. Quite an overwhelming sight it was, and we enjoyed every moment of it.
To know what exactly a Misal Paav is, you may visit Preeti’s Blog here. It’s a traditional street food from Maharashtra, made by mixing Farsaan, Moth beans sprouts, very spicy & runny gravy and Paav ( buns ) on the side. It’s extra hot in terms of spices and uses a lot of oil in preparation, much more than what’s used in normal gravies. And that spiced oil brings out that tingling taste which really does evoke all your senses 😛 I loved it nevertheless, and since most of people in crowd were from Maharashtra, they were just too happy to find something traditional in Pardes.
Coming to the recipe for today which is Lauki Kofte, this is one of my most fav dish. Bottle guard being the power house of nutrition and light on stomach has always been my fav vegetable. My roomie, when in college used to have bottleguard sabzi every day, for dinner, like All week long ! It was only on weekends that she had something else, other than Bottle guard. And it was not at all due to the fact that she loved the taste or so, it was simply because she was too prone to acnes and eating bottle guard every day helped her keeping her skin healthy and acnes at bay. It’s a true story, and if you don’t believe me you may start with having Lauki just twice a week and you are sure to see results in a few days. The method and the long ingredients list below does look tiresome in itself, but trust me this is the best Kofta recipe I have ever got. I have made Koftas with a lot of variations, but now I am just hooked to this one. Its low in fat and tastier than most of the recipes I have had or tried in past. You can easily skip the Ginger-garlic from this recipe, and even onion too and it will still taste great. Mind you, no cream or butter is used in this recipe but you won’t find that missing at all. I have used cornflour in the Kofta mix, but that is only to be used if you are deep frying the balls and not when you are shallow frying or cooking in a paniyaram pan otherwise the koftas will get all soggy from inside.
For Kofte:
2 cups grated Lauki – almost a kg
1 tsp red chili powder, garam masala each
A generous pinch of Heeng ( asafoetida)
1 tbsp Cornflour – optional, only to be used if you are deep frying the balls and not
1 tbsp sesame seeds – optional
Oil for frying – quantity depends on your method of frying. I fried in Paniyaram Pan hence hardly 1 tbsp oil was used.
¼ cup yogurt + 1 tsp of corn flour
4 medium tomatoes – chopped roughly
2 medium Onions – chopped small
4-5 garlic pods, minced or made into paste
1 piece of ginger- grated or chopped as per your liking
A pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon each
1-2 bay leaves 1 tbsp Kasuri Methi
1 tsp Garam Masala – optional, just to make it more spicy
First of all squeeze the juice out of Lauki and keep it aside, we will use this same water in the gravy preparation
Now mix all the ingredients given above in the “Kofte” list except Sesame seeds and Salt and mix well. Add salt at the end, else the mixture will release water very soon.
Make small equal sized balls out of the mixture and roll them over sesame seeds. This is only to give the koftas that rich and lavish look, and also to impart extra crunchiness. It stotally optional, my koftas in the picture are not rolled over sesame
Heat oil in a wok if you are deep frying the balls and test the temperature by frying a small ball. Deep fry all the balls on low-medium temperature till the outer shell turns brown. Keep them on a kitchen towel to soak extra oil
If you are frying them in a paniyaram/ appam pan, then just use the method as you do with the usual appams and keep aside. This way the balls will take more time to get cooked, and will not be as crunchy and when they are fried deep. But then, since they have to go into the gravy any way to get all soaked up I really don’t think it does matter. Unless you have some guests coming over whom you want to impress with your cooking skills, this Appam frying method is perfectly fine for a family meal.
Anyway, coming to the gravy: Heat oil in a pan, throw cardamom pods, bay leaves, dried red chilies and cumin seeds together and fry for half a minute.
Add in minced garlic, ginger, chopped tomatoes and onion and add salt, cinnamon and nutmeg ( if using ) to it. Co
ok covered for 5-7 minutes on medium flame stirring in between
Tomatoes should be really mushy and mixed up by now, if the gravy is getting dry add some water to it till tomatoes get all mashed up into a thick gravy. You may use the same water which we squeezed out from bottle guard
Now add the yogurt- cornflour mix into it and simmer for next 4-5 minutes, don’t increase the flame at this point and keep stirring in between
When the masala is all done, add cups of water ( including the one we squeezed out ) and let it come to a boiling point on a medium flame.
Turn off the flame, add koftas balls into the gravy and cover it up. Garnish with garam masala or coriander leaves just before serving.
Don’t keep the grated bottle guard out for long, it will lose its colour and texture too.
Don’t use sesame seeds, if the weather is very hot since they are of warm taseer and might give you stomach problems
Don’t let the Kofta balls kept in the gravy for too long, not more than 30 minutes else they will start breaking up absorbing all the water from the gravy
While re heating, you may have to add more water to adjust the consistency of the gravy
I have noticed that the Koftas cooked in Appam Pan are less likely to break apart easily than the ones those are deep fried. The Deep fried ones are obviously softer and lighter in texture
While making gravy, you may use a dash of butter with the oil for that extra rich flavour
Filed Under: Bihari / UP Cuisine, Curries / Gravies, Healthy recipes « Chettinad Pakora Curry : Pakoda KozhambuMoong Dal Khasta Kachori – Deep fried stuffed bread »Like this? Share with your friends
SJs Food Court says	June 25, 2013 at 10:54 pm	It works great!!! I’ve tried and tasted 🙂
Shri says	June 25, 2013 at 11:35 pm	Nupur very tempting snapshots.
Rasi says	June 26, 2013 at 1:10 am	one of my all time fav dishes.. in fact its my dad s trademark dish 🙂 looks fantastic.. & yay! for such a great response to the stall!
Rekha Vengalil says	June 26, 2013 at 1:58 am	Wow looks delicious and so creamy.. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the recipe Nupur
Wer SAHM says	June 26, 2013 at 4:26 am	delicious kofta curry and healthy too…
Veena Theagarajan says	June 26, 2013 at 6:24 am	yummy and healthy curry
Rafeeda AR says	June 26, 2013 at 7:22 am	looks absolutely creamy…
Priya Anandakumar says	June 26, 2013 at 8:41 am	One healthy and creamy curry….
easyfoodsmith says	June 26, 2013 at 9:28 am	Lauki koftas are indeed a healthy dish. And quick to dish up too.
Priya R says	June 26, 2013 at 12:04 pm	very different recipe Nupur, love the way you have cooked the koftas to make it more healthy 🙂 never knew they keep acne in control… good tip
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm	Thanks Priya ! Yes, bottle guard is natural cleanser, and keeps skin alive.. But you dont need it sweety, you already have a glowing skin 🙂
Sadaf Afshan says	June 26, 2013 at 12:05 pm	My sister tried lauki ke kofte sometime back and has been raving about it. Your pic looks really tempting. I should give it a try.
sushmita pandit says	June 26, 2013 at 12:16 pm	just now i ve been mentioning about koftas in my blog nd see wat a coincidence , u have this superb kofta recipe here with mind blowing shots. Wonderful. Thanks a lot for dropping by my space. Keep in touch 🙂
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm	Great minds think alike Sushmita 😉 .. Good to meet you too 🙂
Sapana Behl says	June 26, 2013 at 12:27 pm	Hi!You have a nice blog with awesome clicks. I have just started following you and it may be highly encouraging if you may follow me back.http://cookingwithsapana.blogspot.comThanksSapana
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:56 pm	Thanks Sapana, am following you back too dear 🙂
Princy Vinoth says	June 26, 2013 at 12:41 pm	This looks super good!love the clicks!!!!
PT says	June 26, 2013 at 1:28 pm	so cute and adorable dear 🙂 i love this recipe.. tried it many times..
Shree Kanneppady says	June 27, 2013 at 8:33 am	Yummy.. 🙂
Shreehttp://easycooknbake.blogspot.co.uk/
Priya Suresh says	June 27, 2013 at 5:46 pm	Who can resist to this beautiful bowl of kofta curry,inviting dish.
divya says	June 27, 2013 at 8:19 pm	Beautiful pictures..looks delicious…
Vineetha says	June 27, 2013 at 9:36 pm	Oh the stall sounds like a fun thing to do..I hope u had a great time selling it 🙂 this curry with koftas looks super tempting…
Nupur UK-Rasoi says	June 27, 2013 at 9:53 pm	YEs Vineetha ! The stall experience was a wonderful one and we made profit too… Yayy !! 🙂 Wish you guys could come over, London is just too far off 🙁
Chitz says	June 28, 2013 at 8:39 pm	Cool.. It’s would had been a wonderful experience na to sell the food u make & get rave reviews about it.. Kudos to u & ur friend 🙂 And the koftas look awesome.. Great tip to fry it without using much oil 🙂 And very happy to know it’s great fro acne.. I need some help on that badly 🙁
Charul @ Tadka Masala says	June 29, 2013 at 7:12 am	Congrats for the stall hit. The misal pav does look tempting and so does the kofta curry. Yumm! 🙂