Bottle Gourd rolls in a Gravy/ Lauki ke Kofte

Bottle Gourd or lauki as many knows is one vegetable which most people do not like. There are many variations in Indian cooking for bottle gourd. Some are plain and simple and also not liked by many. Then there are few variations like these, where you can have bottle gourd and don't even realize that it is made of it.

This is my hubby's fav version and only version he likes to eat. So I make this often. It's a funny story how i started eating it. My mom used to make simple bottle gourd recipe which I never used to eat as a kid and hated it. Then one day she made this, and didn't even mention that it was bottle gourd, because she knew if she mentions it I won't even touch it :(. Anyways, I ate and liked it so much and keep asking my mom while I was eating. And she didn't tell me until I finished every single drop of it.

I was shocked but again what to do, I was already in love with it :). So here's how I like to eat bottle gourd the most :).

Ingredients:

For kofte/rolls:

1 medium size bottle gourd - preferably without seeds (grate it and squeeze water out of it as much as you can by squeezing grated bottle gourd between your palms)
3/4 cup gram flour
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dry mango powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
2 cups refined/frying oil
salt to taste

For Gravy:

1 medium size onion - puree'd
3 large tomatoes - puree'd
1 inch piece of ginger - julienne
3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
2 green chilli - finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seed
pinch of asafoetida
3-4 whole black pepper
2-3 cloves
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste.

Recipe:

1. Take a deep pan, add oil in it and put it on low/medium heat.
2. First for kofte, add everything together and make in smooth ball shaped. (Note: try to squeeze as much water as you can because if you do not, your mixture will be soggy and you won't be able to make smooth balls. But even then, its not wasted, just drop it like we drop kadhi balls :))
3. Oil should be at moderate temperature. Not very hot and not cold either. 
4. Drop kofte in it and cook on low-medium heat, as we want to cook them from inside too. 

5. Once done, set it aside on kitchen paper towel to soak excess oil

6. Now take another pan, add 1 tbsp oil in it. Once heated add cumin seeds, asafoetida, black pepper and cloves.
7. Once cumin seed start crackling, add onion puree'. Cook it until it starts changing color from pink to light brown.
8. At this point, add tomato puree'. Cook it until oil starts to separate out of the mixture.

9. Add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder . Add 2 cups water, cover the lid and let it boil for 5-10 minutes, according to the gravy consistency you like.
10. Once done, add garam masala on top and mix it well.

11. Add you kofta in the gravy, only minutes before serving hot. Else kofta will get soggy and starts to break.
12. Enjoy and please leave comments/suggestions below.