Kofta-e-Lazeez

Koftas are my all time favorite and a delicacy in my house since they are so rich in flavor. In my below recipe I have added a couple of other ingredients to make the koftas extra soft & smooth so that they melt in your mouth.. It's an all time hit!

Ingredients:

For the Koftas

• Lauki( Bottle gourd) - 1 medium Grated (makes around 10 koftas)
• Green chillies - chopped ( deseeded if you want less spicy)
• Ginger Grated - 1 teaspoon
• Besan ( chick pea flour) - 3-4 tablespoons
• Paneer grated - I small cup
• Boiled and mashed potato - 1 small
• Ajwain ( carom seeds) - 1 teaspoon
• Sauf (Fennel seeds) - 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Add the below ingredients to give it a Shahi Touch - These are optional but go a long way in  increasing the richness of koftas.

• Cashews halves and pieces - around 8
• Raisins - about 6

How to prepare the koftas:

First wash and peel the lauki, then using a grater, grate the lauki drain excess water ( store this water to be used later for gravy)

 Mix all the kofta ingredients in abowl and mix them well using your hands , make small balls of around 3 inches diameter. If you feel that the mixture is runny with water then add a little more besan/corn starch to it. Do not leave it aside, immediately deep fry it so that the lauki does not leave more water and makes it soggy.

For the gravy

• Onion - 2 medium (Pureed )
• Tomato - 2 medium ( pureed)
• Ginger garlic Paste - 2 tablespoons
• Cream  / Thick milk Half and Half - Half cup
• Garam Masala - 2 tablespoons
• Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
• Cumin Poeser - 1 table spoon
• Hing - 1 pinch
• Sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - to taste
• Black cardamom powder - 1 pinch
• Crushed Black pepper powder - 1 pinch
• Crushed Red pepper powder - 1 pinch
• Lal mirch -1-2
• Bay leaves - 1 -2 small
• Vegetable oil - 4-5 tablespoons
• Butter - 1 tablespoon

Heat oil in a pan and add butter when hot, Add the bay leaves, cumin seeds and hing. When the seeds crackle add onion and sauté till the paste starts leaving oil on the sides. Now add the tomato puree and ginger garlic paste and suate till the oil starts to leave on the sides after 4-5 minutes.

                           

Take the pureed onion and add it to the pan, after sauté for around 5 min when the oil starts leaving the edges of the pan, add the tomatoes and sauté them together for another 4-5 minutes.

Now add the Garam masala, coriander and cumin, black cardamom, black pepper, Kashmiri mirch  powder and mix them all well. 

After 4-5 minutes of cooking add the cream/milk and 1 cup of water. Let it come to a simmer, keep stirring so that the milk does not disintegrate.

After 3-4 minutes of simmer should be good to go!

 Now add the koftas and put the lid on and switch it off, Let the koftas absorb the richness of the gravy and server hot. If the koftas are too soft they tend to break in the hot gravy, so sometimes it's better to add the koftas directly while serving, use your cooking judgment for this :-)

To add more richness to the gravy you can also add about 10-15 pureed  cashews to the gravy.

 Garnish with coriander leaves and grated paneer and cashews.