Instant Pot Lauki Kofta Curry Recipe - This one is very healthy, nutritious and full of flavors.
Well kofta is nothing but the meatball. Now there are many vegetarian versions out there and lauki kofta is one of them.
When we talk about the traditional method of making kofta dish, it has to be deep fried into the oil. But here we are going to take a healthy route and not deep frying it.
Yes it is non-fried instant pot lauki kofta version. OK !! now you will think that they are shallow fried in appam (paniyaram) pan. No my friend, we are not shallow frying either. Also we are not baking them or steaming them. Ahha, it is getting interesting now. Not deep fried, not shallow fried, not baked, not steamed then how it is made?
Here comes the huge reveal. The koftas are cooked/boiled into the gravy itself. All thanks to Instant Pot - pressure cooker.
So first we make the kofta batter. It is made from grated bottle gourd, besan (gram flour) and few spices. And then we are dropping the spoonful sized dumplings into the boiling gravy. And then pressure cooked. Since the kofta are cooking into the delicious gravy, they will absorb gravy flavor and become more delicious.
The texture of the kofta is soft, slightly spongy and melt in your mouth kind. In short, the BEST.
Substitute: instead of bottle gourd, you can use zucchini.
Now let’s talk about the gravy part. I am using my frozen onion tomato masala that is also made in instant pot. Having a stash of OTM (onion tomato masala) in freezer is such a life saver for day-to-day cooking.
At the end, some yogurt is added into the spicy, onion tomato gravy. It adds nice, slight tangy flavor. It complements well with lauki kofta taste and flavor.
How to make Instant Pot Lauki Kofta Recipe (Step by Step Photos):
1) Take all the kofta ingredients in a bowl. Note: make sure to squeeze out all the water from bottle gourd before using. It should come together like sticky, thick paste kind of dough. If it is too loose and runny then add more besan.
2) Turn on the instant pot with saute mode. Add oil, once it gets hot add cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute or till you get nice aroma of the spices.
3) Then add frozen onion tomato masala, water and salt. Be careful, OTM and kofta batter already have salt in them, so add just a pinch or skip it.
4) Let the masala defrost and gravy will come to a boil.
5) Now add drop spoonful of koftas into the boiling gravy. To drop koftas you can use two spoons or use hand.
6) Cover the IP with lid, set the valve to sealing position. Turn off the saute mode and cook on manual (high pressure) for 4 minutes.
Let NPR (Natural pressure release) for 5 minutes then QPR (quick pressure release) by positioning the valve to venting. Once pin drops open the lid.
8) Turn the saute mode back on. Add whisked yogurt and kasoori methi.
9) Mix well and let it come to a boil and it is ready to serve.
Remove it to a serving platter, garnish with garam masala and coriander leaves.
Serving suggestion: This instant pot lauki kofta recipe goes well with roti, paratha or naan. This can be served with rice, jeera rice or quinoa.
Instant Pot Lauki Kofta Recipe (Non-Fried, Healthy, Kofta Curry)
Ingredients
For lauki kofta:
- 1 ½ cups Lauki (bottle gourd or dudhi) peeled, grated and squeezed out all the water
- ½ cup Besan (gram flour)
- ⅛ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon Red chili powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 small Green chili finely chopped (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons Cilantro or coriander leaves
- 1 teaspoon Kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
For gravy:
- 2 teaspoons Oil
- 2 Cloves
- 2 Green cardamoms
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 Inch Cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- ¾ cup Onion Tomato Masala (fresh or frozen or thawed) smooth version
- Salt to taste
- 1 ½ cups Water
- ⅓ cup Plain yogurt whisked till smooth
- 1 teaspoon Kasoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) crushed between your palm before adding
- ¼ teaspoon Garam masala for garnishing
Instructions
Making instant pot lauki kofta recipe:
- Make the kofta batter by mixing all the kofta ingredients. It should be thick, sticky paste kind of dough.
- Turn on the saute mode in instant pot and add oil into the inner liner. Once hot add whole spices and cumin seeds, fry for a minute.
- Add onion tomato masala, salt and water. Let it defrost and come to a boil.
- Drop spoonful amount of koftas into boiling gravy.
- Close the IP lid, cook on manual (high pressure) 4 minutes with sealing.
- Let it NPR for 5 minutes then do QPR.
- Turn back the saute mode on, add whisked yogurt and kasoori methi.
- Mix well and let it come a single boil.
- Then turn off the saute mode and it is ready to serve.
- Garnish with sprinkle of garam masala.
I just made this today and I love that this is a guilt-free dish.
The dough for the kofta was very liquidy (even after I squeezed out the water). After adding a lot of Besan and rice flour, it became much thicker. However, after cooking them, the kofta was very thick and had the texture of an overmixed cake instead of fluffy and light. I am thinking maybe I added too much flour, but there was a lot of liquid to begin with. I was wondering if you had any tips to properly drain the water from the bottle gourd. Or if you have any other tips to get the proper consistency.
The gravy was fantastic and so easy to make! I loved how whipped yogurt was used instead of cream. The dish overall was delicious. I definitely want to make this again, hopefully the kofta comes out better!
- To squeeze the max liquid from the lauki: Take grated lauki into the man's handkerchief or muslin cloth, gather the edges and twist and then squeeze out.
- Once the kofta batter is made and it must be used within 5-10 minutes. If it sits longer then salt will draw more liquid from lauki.
- You will see two types of lauki in Indian grocery stores. The one is long and thin (desi verity) which has less water content compared to second one. and second one is thick, fat and short. So it depends which type you were using make the batter/dough liquidy.
Now on to flour part:
- I guess rice flour made them hard.
- That is fine that you increased the amount of besan. Some lauki has more water content like if its in season or fresh one. So you may need more flour that is normal.
But as you increased the flour quantity, you must increase the baking soda quantity accordingly to make soft, light koftas.
Can we prepare this recipe without instant pot?
Please use this lauki kofta recipe