Lauki ke Kofte/Bottle gaurd dumplings in rich gravy and some medicinal facts about lauki juice.

Lauki, Kaddu, Ghiya, bottle gourd... so many names to this veggy and not many are too fond of it because it doesnt have much taste to itself... but am a big big big fan of this poor veggie... be it simple lauki tamatar or lauki chana dal.. but i wanted to try out lauki ki kofte as i had not prepared that even once for hubby dear after marriage.. so here we go yummliciuos lauki ke kofte.. I adapted one step from Mansi of Fun n Food where her addition of almonds attracted me a lot. Thanks Mansi it really did give a very rich taste to it.

Ingredients

For the koftas: 1 medium sized kaddu 2 onions grated. 1 tspn finely chopped ginger 1 tspn finely chopped garlic 3 chilli, finely chopped 3 tbspn chopped fresh coriander 3 tbspn besan salt to taste 1/2 tspn chaat masala(optional) vegetable oil for frying

For the gravy: 3 onions chopped 2 tomatoes 1 tspn ginger garlic paste 1/2 tspn haldi 2 tspn dhania powder 1/2 tspn chilli powder 1 tspn cumin powder 1 tspn kitchen king masala 10-15 almonds. 1 tbsp fresh cream 1- 2 cup milk 2 tbspn fresh chopped coriander

Directions:

Soak the almonds overnite or atleast 3-4 hrs and gring it to a smooth paste using a few drops of water or milk.
1. Grate the kaddu and sprinkle some salt over it. Squeeze it and drain the water and keep it aside. Do the same with 2 onions. Drain the water and keep it aside.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to make a mixture from it. If you find it too hard, water your hands and knead it to make it soft, and if its too sticky, add a little more besan, it should become like a regular roti batter.
3.Heat a pan or kadai on high flame with 1-2 cups of oil till it’s just under smoking. Reduce the flame to medium. Drop a small ball of the batter into the oil, if it surfaces up immediately, the oil is ready. Make small balls of the batter and drop them into the oil about 5-6 at a time. Fry till golden brown. Set koftas aside over a tissue.

4. For the gravy, grind the onions and tomatoes seperately to a paste.
5. Heate a pan, add the 2 tbspn of oil, add the cumin seeds to it, once they start spluttering, dd the onion paste and the ginger garlic paste.Cook for 5-7 minutes on medium-high until the onions turn golden brown.
6. Add the spices and cook for onother minute. Now add the tomato puree and let it cook and it darkens in color a little. At this stage add the almond paste, you will notice it lightens in color immediately and gives a very rich color. Thanks Mansi :).
7. Once this mixture is totally cooked, that is when it starts leaving oil from the sides, add the milk to make it a little dilute, the gravy should not b very thick as the koftas would soak the water.
8. The gravy is ready, Add koftas just before you want to serve it, and cook through gently for another minute or two. Serve with hot chapattis or garama garam ajwain wale parathe... .

Note: To make sure the koftas arent undercooked inside, fry them at a slightly reduced flame.


Cool Facts About Bottle Gourd and its juice:

• Bottle gourd is very low in calories, which is of 12 kcal per 100 gm. Small amounts of vitamins and minerals are present. Vitamin C and carotene is not present in this vegetable. It has sodium of 1.8mg per 100gm and 87 mg of potassium make it suitable vegetable for hypertensive patients.

• The cooked vegetable is cooling, diuretic, sedative and anti­bilious. It gives a feeling of relaxation after eating it.

• Bottle gourd is very valuable in urinary disorders. A glassful of fresh juice (prepared by grating the whole fruit, then grinding and then strainig the juice twice) should be mixed with teaspoonful of lime juice. It should be given once daily in the treatment of burning sensation in urinary passage due to high acidity of urine. It serves as an alkaline mixture.

• The juice of bottle gourd is a valuable medicine for excessive thirst due to severe diarrhoea, diabetes and excessive use of fatty or fried foods. A glassful of plain juice with a pinch of salt should be taken everyday in this condition. Its use during summer prevents excessive loss of sodium, quenches thirst and helps in preventing fatigue.

• Mixture of bottle gourd juice and sesame oil acts as an effective medicine for insomnia. It should be massaged over scalp every night

• The Gourd fruit juice is used in the treatment of insanity, epilepsy and other nervous diseases.

• The juice of the fruit is used in the treatment of stomach acidity, indigestion and ulcers.

• The juice is also very good for marks left after rashes or allergies, it simply vanishes if you have this juice every morning.
• These facts have been tested on my father and my aunt, they have been having this juice regularly and appas diabetes is in control and my aunts marks from some disastrous allergy have just vanished.

I read a very nice excert by Dr. Raju on ideal daily schedule , i feel if we can follow a few steps, it would be great, as i know all is not really possible.



Some facts have been copied as it is from some sites from google search, but have seen the effects with my people.