Lauki radish kofta

Ingredients:

For Kofta:

Shredded lauki/bottle gourd (chorakkai) and white radish(mullangi) - 1 cup 

Chick pea flour (besan, kadala maavu)                                                - 1 tbsp

Red Chilli powder                                                                                     - 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder                                                                                       - 1/2 tsp

Salt as per taste

For Gravy:

Moong dal ( split green gram with or without skin)                      - 1 cup

chopped tomato*                                                                            - 1 cup

ginger                                                                                               - 1 inch piece

green chillies                                                                                   - 2

garlic                                                                                                 - 4- 5 cloves

chopped onions                                                                              - 1 cup

turmeric powder                                                                              - 1 tsp

mustard seeds                                                                                - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera)                                                                      - 1/2 tsp

Water                                                                                                - 1/2 to 1 cup

salt as per taste

* You could replace the chopped tomatoes with 1/2 cup of thick tomato paste.

Kofta

Squeeze the excess water from the shredded lauki and radish. Use the squeezed water for the gravy.Mix the flour, spices and salt with the shredded lauki/radish. Make them into small balls or flat patties.Bake them at 350- 400 F until brown or cooked well on a lightly greased aluminium foil. It may take about 30- 40 minutes. Flip them after about 15- 20 minutes so that they brown evenly on both sides.

Baked Koftas

Gravy:

Crush the garlic, ginger and green chilles into a paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter add chopped onions and saute it for a couple minutes and then add the ginger/garlic/green chilli paste to it.  Add the turmeric powder and saute for about five minutes and add the chopped tomatoes. In the meantime dry roast the green gram dal. Once the mixture in the pan is sauteed well add the roasted dal into it with water. Add the salt and cook on low to medium heat for about 20- 30 minutes or until the dal is cooked well. Part of the dal could be mashed to get a gravy consistency.

Add the baked koftas in the gravy just before serving. The gravy can be garnished with chopped coriander(cilantro) leaves.

The gravy goes well with rotis/chapathis(Indian bread) or rice.