There
is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company
than a good marriage– Martin Luther.
Martin Luther
definitely got the essence of any good marriage right in those words above.
What better defines a wedding than a companionship, isn’t it ? A life long
commitment, a whole heart for a whole life (as I read somewhere), two souls
coming together in holy matrimony ! A wonderful feeling to last a lifetimeJBut, hey hold your horses. In case
you think I have switched careers (or hobby if you prefer) from cooking food to
cooking up stories on matrimony, its not so. We at Blogging Marathon celebrate a
virtual wedding shower for our dear friend Aarthiwho is to be wedded later
this fortnight !
And what better way than to pick and choose a dish from her
blog, and recreate it as a celebrationJAarthi, this is for you dear – and wishing you every happiness in the days
aheadJ I was literally
stumped when I had to choose from a wide array of dishes that Aarthi has
managed to churn out – its like a huge menu card with its array of dishes from
several cuisines. I finally managed to pick out Malai Kofta from her blog, and
started to make the same. As luck would have it, the omnipresent ingredient in
my freezer – Paneer – ran out. Perhaps, to make way for these delicious Low fat bottlegourd Koftas
that turned out yummy ! And there was no
telling how wonderful they tasted with hot Phulkas right out of the stove .
I
pretty much followed her recipe, making tweaks here and there for a low fat
version ! Which also qualifies this dish to go straight to the event that I am
hosting all May – Fast Food not Fat Food and also to Ramya’s ABC Series-Gourds..
So, lets get
to the recipe:
———————————————————————-
Prep time : 15 mins
Cook time : 30 mins
Serves – 4
Difficulty level :
Medium
Serving Suggestions: Butter Kulcha/ Wholewheat Kalonji Naan / Spring Onion Parathas
———————————————————————-
Ingredients:
- Bottlegourd – 1
fairly large - Besan / chickpea
flour – 4 TBSP - Onions –1 medium
- Salt – to taste
- Turmeric – ½ tsp
- Oil – 4 TBSP
- Coriander & Lemon juice (1 tsp) – for garnish
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Dry
masala powders (split use)
- Red chilli powder –
1½ tsp - Coriander powder – 2
TBSP - Cumin powder – ½ TBSP
- Garam Masala powder –
1 TBSP - Amchur / dry mango
powder – ½ TBSP - Pepper powder – ½ tsp
For the spicy gravy:
- Onions – 2 medium
- Tomatoes – 2 large
(ripe) - Garlic – 2 pods
- Ginger – 1 inch piece
- Cinnamon – ½ inch
stick - Elaichi / Cardamom –
½ tsp - Oil – 2 TBSP
Method:
1) Wash
and peel bottlegourd. Grate finely. Leave for few mins. Taking handfuls of the
vegetable, squeeze out the water tightly. Again leave for 3-4 mins. Squeeze
again. Repeat for the third time. The grated vegetable should be almost dry to
the touch.
2) In
a large bowl, mix the grated bottle gourd. Add chickpea flour (besan), salt,
half of the dry masala powders (red chilly / pepper/ garam masala / coriander
powder / cumin powder, turmeric, amchur), coriander leaves and mix into
thickish dough. Do not add any water (unless you use ½ tsp or less for binding
– the salt will provide enough moisture).
3) Make equal portions of this dough and
keep covered for 2 -3 mins.
4) Heat
a paniyaram pan (you can also deep fry the balls, but I didn’t). Line the pan
with a film of oil. Place the bottle gourd balls and fry them on medium-high flame
for 4 – 6 mins till they turn golden brown on all sides. Drizzle a little more
oil to help them cook faster.
5) Drain
all the koftas made this way on a paper towel.
To make the gravy:
1) In
a pan, heat 2 TBSP of oil. Saute chopped garlic, ginger, chopped onions and
tomatoes for 3 – 5 mins. Cool and dry them with the rest of the masala spice
paste (indicated above).
2) In
the same pan, heat the rest of the oil. Splutter cumin. When done, add the rest
of the chopped onions and sauté lightly. Now add the ground masala and cook for
3 -4 mins. Add the rest of the dry masala powders, salt, turmeric and fry again
for 7 -8 mins till the oil separates.
3) You
may add a cup or two of water to get a fairly large amount of thickish gravy.
While the gravy simmers, gently add in the koftas and Cook covered for 3 mins
till the koftas absorb some of the flavours of the gravy. To make this a richer
dish, finish with cream just before you take it off the fire.
To serve:
Transfer to serving
dish. Finish with lemon juice and coriander leaves. Serve hot with Rotis / Naan
/ Phulkas. You may also place two koftas per serving and pour the gravy onto
them just before serving.
The koftas sound yum..n wat cud be better than making them low cal..super!!
kalyani..Thank you so much for your love dear..I am happy that you guys this this for me..These koftas looks so good..Thanks again guys..
Looks yummy
http://lavanyasrecipes.blogspot.com/
totally awesome
i do make lauki kofta but deep fried ones and some ingredients i havent put but i wud go with ur version which looks delicious. and aarthi once again congos on your upcomin wedding
loved the low fat version of these kofta's..nice and delicious recipe..
Super tempting kofta curry..Lovely choice from Aarthi's collections Kalyani..
this low fat version is delicious.great choice.
Love this Louki Kofta, low cal and healthy dish..
-Mythreyi
Yum! Yum! Yum!
super yumm! thanks for your efforts Kalyani!
hmmmm yumm..koftas look delicious kal
Wow, this is for me.., anything spicy is my favourite.., really good, beautiful clicks too…, The curry looks so gorgeous dear
What a beautiful kadai Kalyani! The kofta curry looks great in it 🙂
Look mouth watering delicious.
Your Kofta looks rich and tempting even though it is low fat. Lovely gesture to do Aarthi's bridal shower virtually!
Koftas look awesome….very nice color and so delicious.
a great way to use up lauki. Love the koftas 🙂
p.s: I am now following your blog 🙂
wow, what a great gesture, I wish I was part of this. Congrats Arthi once again great job Kalyani 🙂
so delicious~ wish I could taste:)