Lauki Kofta Curry | Vegan Meatballs In Indian Curry

Lauki Kofta Curry | Vegan Meatballs In Indian Curry

Lauki kofta curry is one of the most loved food in North India. Those who don't like the taste of lauki or bottle gourd can actually try this recipe. Initially, I was also not very fond of bottle gourd but gradually when I tried a variety of recipes from this superfood, I started loving it.

This is also a meatless substitute for meatballs. These vegan meatballs are extremely delicious and at the same time full of nutrition and make a healthy recipe. This is, in fact, an Indian version of Vegan Meatballs' recipe.

Lauki or bottle gourd is a vegetable of the gourd family and it's extremely beneficial for our health. It's rich in fiber and hence this is one magical veggie if you intend to shed some extra kilos and tone your tummy. This is zero in carb. Bottle gourd is highly recommended for diabetic patients. It's also the best substitute for potatoes for diabetic patients.

Lauki Kofta for Keto Diet

Bottle gourd is perfect for the keto diet. In fact, all gourd family vegetables are advised under the keto diet. If you want to know more about the keto diet read my what is keto diet on the blog.

Also, read Top 10 vegetables for Keto diet. Read my popular and quick keto buttery garlic spinach and grated bottle guard, keto sauteed garlic green beans and green beans almondine recipes here.

Regular Lauki kofta (vegan meatball) is made with a mixture of grated bottle gourd and gram flour. Gram flour is normally known as chickpeas flour and made from chickpeas or garbanzo beans. This flour is a gluten-free and low in carb and makes a great flour option for keto diet. So when you will deep fry them it will have the required fat portion for the keto diet. (Source: Keto flour substitutions)

But if you want to use them in curry then restrict the amount of onion you will use as the onion is sweeter than any other vegetables and contains a little more carbohydrate. If you are following keto diet then you can't consume onion in large quantity (as in keto diet only 5% carb allowed)

How to make Vegan Meatballs or Lauki Kofta in North Indian Style

Lauki kofta is a main course dish and belongs to North Indian cuisine. This is made from grated lauki. Mix grated lauki with gram flour or besan and other regular spices.

The most important step is to squeeze out excess liquid from the grated bottle gourd. After grating the vegetable, add a pinch of salt and let it rest for 5 minutes. This will help in extracting more juice from lauki or bottle gourd. That juice you can use in curry later.

Now add in flour, spices to the squeezed grated bottle gourd and make a tight dough-like batter.

Make small balls and deep fry them. In case you don't want to deep fry, you can shape them as patty and shallow fry them.

Koftas are deep-fried fritters or dumplings. The dumplings are then added to the gravy cooked. But remember not to add the dumplings to the boiling gravy.

Koftas are soft and will easily get mixed in hot gravy. So wait for some time to reduce the temperature slightly and then add koftas into the gravy. After adding meatballs or dumplings cover it with a lid so that it will absorb the flavors.

Let's make this lauki kofta in 30 minutes' time. Note: you can also save 10 - 15 minutes more if you are using ready to use curry paste. This simple Indian curry paste recipe is my mom's tip for faster cooking.

Lauki Kofta Curry | Vegan Meatballs in Indian style

Ipsa Faujdar

This is a vegetable meatballs recipe made with bottle gourd cooked in Indian style and in Indian curry. This is a quick and healthy vegan meatball recipe.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Course Main Dish, Sabzi & Curry

Cuisine Indian, North Indian, world

Servings 4 Servings

Equipment

• Deep Frying Pan
• Cheese Grater
• Mixing Bowl
• Frying Pan
• Spatula

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For Kofta or meatballs

• 2 cup Lauki / bottle gourd peeled & grated
• 3/4 - 1 cup Chickpea flour or gram flour
• 1/2 small Onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste (freshly crushed)
• 1/2 tsp Salt or as per taste
• 1 tsp Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder

For Curry Gravy

• 1 medium Onion
• 2 medium Tomato chopped or pureed
• 1 Green Chilli finely chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 3 tbsp Refined oil
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 2 tsp Coriander Powder
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Instructions

 

• Grate the peeled lauki and add a pinch of salt. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Then squeeze out excess water with the help of a sieve and muslin cloth.
• Take 1 cup of besan/ gram flour in a mixing bowl. Add grated lauki, finely chopped ginger, garlic, green chillies, salt, coriander powder and red chilli powder. Mix all ingredients well.
• No need to add extra water as lauki contains enough water to make the mixture moist.
• We need a mixture of dough consistency to make balls.
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan on medium to high flame.
• Once oil is hot, drop ball sized mixture into oil.
• Deep fry till the balls changed their color to golden brown.
• Keep flame in medium-high heat as on high flame the outer side will get over brown while the inner part will still remain uncooked.
• Take out the fried lauki balls and place on a tissue to remove excess oil.
• Take another frying pan. Heat 4 tbsp refined oil.
• Add 1 tsp cumin seed and let it crackle. Then add chopped ginger-garlic, green chili and sauté till onions cooked translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till cooked soft.
• Add all dry spices (coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder) to the pan and sauté.
• Add 1 cup of water to it and mix well. Season with salt. Add crushed Kasuri methi powder.
• Keep it on high flame. Let it simmer for 5 mins or till little thicker consistency.
• Remove from heat once the gravy is cooked completely. Then add the lauki koftas (dumplings/ meatballs) to the gravy and cover with the lid.
• Once done sprinkle garam masala, mix well and garnish with coriander leaves and serve with any flatbreads or rice.

Keyword Indian Curry, Low-carb Recipe, Vegan Meatballs, Vegan Recipes

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