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LAUKI KOFTA CURRY

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

Instructions

  1. Let us make the lauki koftas first.

TO MAKE LAUKI KOFTAS IN A DEEP FRYER:

  1. Add salt to grated lauki and keep aside for a few minutes. This draws out the moisture from the vegetable.
  2. Then, squeeze out the water well (do not throw this; you can use it in the gravy). Add besan, rice flour 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.
  3. 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:

  1. 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 too if you like.
  2. Mix to get a dough which you can form small balls.
  3. Using oiled hands, make small kofta shaped balls and place in air fryer.
  4. 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.
  5. Now, to make the gravy:

TO MAKE THE CURRY/MASALA PASTE:

  1. In a blender jar, add onions, green chillies, soaked and peeled almonds (or cashews), cloves, ginger, cinnamon, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, deskinned cardamoms and fennel seeds.

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

TO MAKE THE GRAVY:

  1. 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.
  2. Heat oil (or oil plus ghee) in a large deep saucepan.

  3. Once the oil is hot, add the ground masala paste, Kashmiri chili powder, black pepper powder and turmeric powder; saute on medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until you get a good smell and oil starts to separate, stirring continuously.

  4. Add tomato puree, mix well and cook, covered for about 7 to 8 minutes.
  5. Add water (from the drained vegetables) depending upon how thick or thin you want the gravy.

  6. 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).

  7. Lower heat and simmer about 1 minute.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

  1. Once the koftas are deep fried or air fried (with or without adding potatoes), you can use them in the gravy.

  2. To the simmering gravy, add the required number of kofta balls and boil on medium low for about 5 minutes before serving.

  3. 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.

Recipe Notes

  • Use any combination of additional vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, corn etc.
  • Use almonds or cashews; I had only almonds in my pantry, so I used those.
  • Adjust seasonings according to taste.
  • The final color of the gravy depends upon the color of chill powder or tomatoes. Kashmiri chili powder gives a deep red color without the extra heat, so feel free to stir in a bit of that too.
  • If you do not like to have vegetables in your kofta gravy, you can totally omit those.
  • The same gravy can be used to make any curry. Some suggestions: stir in cubed paneer, sauteed mushrooms, grilled chicken etc.
  • Adjust the temperature and time of air frying according to you Air Fryer.