Lauki kofta curry - deep fried/air fried bottle gourd (lauki; an Indian squash) koftas/dumplings in a spicy, creamy onion-tomato-almond based gravy and steeped in exotic Indian spices. I cannot think of any other dish to dunk my flat bread in.

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This curry is going to be your go to for parties and gatherings or even for your daily family meals as is mine. Read through for tips and step-wise recipe below.

WHAT ARE KOFTAS?

Koftas are deep fried balls or dumplings of vegetables, meat or even cottage cheese, mixed with spices. They are either simmered in a spicy gravy made with onions, tomatoes and a myriad of exotic aromatic spices and enjoyed with flat breads or served as appetizers/starters. Our family loves this dreamy curry with a bowl of hot steaming rice and/or parathas!

I can enjoy curries any time, be it Shahi Lobia curry, aloo tikka masala curry or even a simple dal palak curry. But sometimes, a craving for something chunky and soft at the same time to bite into, along with a delicious Indian spiced gravy hits me.

The more popular ones are the malai kofta curry (creamy cottage cheese-potato balls in spicy gravy) or even aloo or potato kofta curry. Today, I decided to make my lauki kofta curry which I had made a few years ago when I had family visiting for the weekend.

Whenever family or friends are around, I prefer to spend more time with them than slave over a hot stove. So, generally, I make a lot of dishes (especially the gravy part) ahead of time and sometimes the koftas too and keep them in the refrigerator. Not only does it leave me time to spend with them, but it allows the flavors of all the dishes to develop and make it more divine.

WHAT IS LAUKI KOFTA CURRY:

At one of my recent gatherings at home, one dish everyone loved was lauki kofta curry which I remember had become my favorite too.

Soft, succulent lauki or bottle gourd dumplings deep fried (and now air fried too), soaked in a delicious, aromatic onion-tomato-almond based gravy tinged with the flavors of exotic spices is that Indian curry you will love to make often!

The flavor of this creamy curry with spicy and crispy golden brown dumplings of lauki/bottlegourd which soaks up the gravy slowly and makes it soft and scrumptious is to die for!

Tiny bits of optional addition of vegetables like beans, potatoes, peas and sometime carrots in the gravy make this curry more nutritious and tasty and adds more texture to every bite! Adding vegetables in your gravy is optional but adds to the flavor and texture not to mention nutrition too.

This gravy is so divine, you can use it as a base to add anything to make it your own curry be it chunks of paneer, grilled chicken, fried aloo chunks, sautéed mushrooms etc.

WHAT IS LAUKI OR BOTTLE GOURD AND WHY YOU SHOULD USE THIS OFTEN IN YOUR DIET:

Lauki or bottle gourd (also called "calabash", a long gourd) is not a vegetable anybody craves for because of its mild and bland taste and because of this, its nutritive value is mostly ignored. But made the right way, you can enjoy this amazing vegetable in your house too!

Although it is 90% water, health providers recommend it, as consuming lauki regularly is good for better digestion, reduces bad cholesterol and blood pressure and is full of vitamins and minerals.

So, include this amazing vegetable in your daily cooking.

It is available in plenty in India but I was so pleasantly surprised to see these in US grocery stores too..yayyyy!

One way you can feed lauki to your family is by making this Lauki Kofta curry by either deep frying the koftas or air frying them if you have an air fryer. Once those delicious koftas soak and simmer in that delicious, aromatic, lip smacking gravy, they will devour it in no time!

Once you make my version of lauki kofta curry, this highly underrated vegetable is always going be in your grocery list and you will have no difficulty convincing your family about the benefits of eating them.

The best part is the koftas and gravy can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated separately.

If you love desserts, then you must try and will absolutely be hogging on Lauki Halwa too!

UPDATED MARCH 19, 2021 (made in an air fryer):

Initially, when I first made this curry, I deep fried the koftas like they are traditionally made.

To make it more healthier, I decided to air fry them in one of my favorite appliances, Cosori Air Fryer, with minimal oil. Due to my recent health scare (had angioplasty recently), I have been trying to avoid deep fried dishes as much as possible and air frying lauki koftas allows me to do just that!

This time, to my regular lauki kofta curry recipe (shared below), I added some grated cooked potatoes too to the koftas along with lauki; you can add grated paneer too.

And instead of deep frying, I air fried them at 370 F for 15 minutes, flipping them once halfway. If you want, you can baste them with oil but I preferred to roll them into balls using oiled hands and then air frying them.

They came out so perfect that I don't think I will go back to deep frying them again. Once simmered in that delicious, thick and veggie packed onion-tomato-almond spicy gravy, my family was licking their fingers with every bite!

Serve them with rice, any Indian flat bread like rotis, naan, parathas etc. or just with toasted bread! Make few extra lauki koftas and serve them as finger food or snacks with any chutney or sauce to have with your evening tea or coffee.

I served the curry today with some soft, oil free Multigrain flour phulkas (rotis or Indian flatbreads) and a side of that delicious Zesty Pasta Salad with quinoa-lentil rotini, multigrain penne and radishes I had made yesterday!

LAUKI KOFTA CURRY in a NO-ONION, NO-GARLIC GRAVY (Updated October 2024):

Sometimes, during some festivals or religious puja days, we tend to avoid onions or garlic.

This time, on one of those days; being Dasara and all, with some craving for lauki kofta curry that too air fried and using no onions, or no garlic, I could not resist making my Creamy Malai Kofta Curry recipe which has a delectable and creamy no-onion, no garlic gravy.

Just made some lauki koftas using this post recipe and gravy from the malai kofta curry recipe and viola!

A mouthwatering lauki kofta curry in a no-onion, no-garlic gravy masala to enjoy any day too!

Do try this whenever you have lauki and if you cannot find it, feel free to use zucchini too!

ENJOY FOODIES AND HAPPY COOKING!

Step-wise Instructions to make Lauki Kofta Curry:

Let us make lauki koftas first.

TO MAKE LAUKI KOFTAS IN A DEEP FRYER:

Add salt to grated lauki and keep aside for a few minutes. This draws out the moisture from the vegetable.

Then, squeeze out the water well (do not throw this; you can use it in the gravy). Add besan/chickpea flour, rice flour, salt and red chilli powder to the squeezed lauki. Do not add too much flour or the koftas will be dense; just enough to shape them into round balls.
All the amounts and quantities are given in the recipe card below.

Make small even sized balls of this mixture and deep fry in medium hot oil until crispy and golden brown.

TO MAKE IN AN AIR FRYER:

Once the lauki is grated and salted, squeeze the water out (use that in the gravy) and then either make a dough ball by adding the kofta ingredients (besan, rice flour, salt and red chili powder) or if you want, you can add some grated boiled potatoes (about 1 medium sized) too or even some grated paneer/Indian cottage cheese if you like.

Mix to get a dough which you can form small balls.

Using oiled hands, make small kofta shaped balls and place in air fryer.

Air fry at 370 F for 15 minutes, flipping over halfway to air fry the other side. Adjust the temperature and time according to your oven. I use a Cosori Air Fryer.
Tried in an Instant Pot Airfryer and it came equally good!

Now, to make the curry or masala paste:

In a blender jar, add onions, green chilies, soaked and peeled almonds, cloves, ginger, cardamom (deskinned), cinnamon, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and fennel seeds.
You can use powdered spices too if preferred instead of whole.

Blend to a fine paste with a little water. Keep aside.

To make the gravy:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add the vegetables (green beans, potatoes, green peas) and boil for 3 to 4 minutes until just tender. Drain the vegetables and keep the aside.
Adding vegetables is optional, so please use them if you like more texture in your gravy.

Heat oil (or oil plus ghee if not vegan) in a large deep saucepan.
Once the oil is hot, add the ground masala paste, Kashmiri chili powder, black pepper powder and turmeric powder; sauté on medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until you get a good smell and oil starts to separate, stirring continuously.

Add tomato puree, mix well and cook, covered for about 7 to 8 minutes.

Add water (from the drained vegetables) depending upon how thick or thin you want the gravy. You can add more if needed later.
Mix well. Add the cooked vegetables, salt to taste and pinch of sugar. Stir well, adjust seasonings and bring to a boil. If you find the gravy is thick, add more water (either from the boiled vegetables or the squeezed lauki for koftas).

Lower heat and simmer about 2 to 3 minutes.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

Once the koftas are deep fried or air fried (with or without adding potatoes/paneer), you can use them in the gravy.
To the simmering gravy, add the required number of kofta balls and boil on medium low for about 5 minutes before serving.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves or crushed kasoori methi and serve hot with any Indian flat bread (rotis, phulkas, naan, parathas, puris etc.), or even with plain rice.

Enjoy!

Here are some more kofta curries you may like:

Lauki Kofta Curry

Deep fried/air fried bottle gourd (lauki) dumplings (koftas) in a spicy, creamy onion-tomato-almond based gravy steeped in exotic Indian spices. I cannot think of any other dish to dunk my flat bread in.

Course Dinner, Indian, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Indian, North Indian

Keyword air fryer, Bottle Gourd, curry, gluten free, kofta, Lauki, plantbased, Vegan, vegetables, vegetarian

Ingredients

For the masala paste:

2 medium onions chopped (about a cup)
2 green chilies/jalapenos roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ginger paste or 1 inch piece of ginger
2 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds/jeera
½ to 1 teaspoon fennel seeds/saunf
2 green cardamoms remove the skin
3 to 4 cloves
1 inch piece cinnamon

For the gravy:

4 large tomatoes pureed (1 ½ cups tomato puree)
1 cup mixed vegetables cubed (green beans, potatoes, peas etc.)
6 to 8 cashew nuts or almonds soaked in water for some time and peeled if using almonds
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Dash of black pepper powder
1 to 1 ½ teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder mostly for color
Salt to taste
Pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons oil or 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon ghee

For the koftas:

1 ½ cups peeled and grated lauki/bottlegourd
¾ cup grated boiled potatoes optional
2 to 3 tablespoons besan/chickpea flour or a needed
1 tablespoon rice flour or as needed
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying or basting