No fry Kofta Curry

This is a slight Mangalorean twist to a regular curry. In addition to the onions and tomatoes, this one also has coconut in it
It adds a lot of texture and body to the gravy and personally, I think it uses lesser oil too
The recipe for this curry is from the cook we had at Ma's place when I was there with my new-born baby. In Ma's daily cooking, there is at least one coconut used per day, so using coconut in a kofta curry was not surprising !



The koftas are made using bottle gourd, which is alkaline and very good for our stomach - it helps neutralize all the acid.
Deep frying these koftas then, didn't make sense - we would lose out on the 'good for health' tag that the bottle gourd brought. Inspired by Nags' kadhi pakodi, I decided to 'cook' these koftas in a paniyaram chatti / appe kadai / aebleskiver pan

Worked out great and you don't really miss out on the deep frying at all

So here's some healthy kofta curry, if you, like me, believe that coconut cannot be bad for health !!

No fry Kofta Curry

What you need -

For the kofta
1 medium sized bottle gourd / dudhi
1/2 cup chickpea flour / besan
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp carom seeds / ajwain
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 salt

For the gravy
2 onions
4 tomatoes
1 tbsp poppy seeds / khus khus (soaked it water for a couple of hours)
1 tsp cumin seed / jeera powder
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander seed / dhania powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 salt

What you do with it -

For the curry
Blanch, peel and grind the tomatoes to a puree
Grind the grated coconut, onions and khus khus to a smooth paste, adding upto 1/2 cup water
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep pan and add the onion-coconut paste and fry for 2-3 mins
Then add the tomato puree and fry for another minute or so
Add the dhania powder, jeera powder, salt and chilli powder
Stir well
Add upto 1/2 cup water, as required
Sprinkle with garam masala and bring to a slow boil

For the koftas
Peel and grate the bottle gourd
Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, carom seeds and salt
The gourd release a lot of water, so just add enough besan, a spoon at a time, to make the batter thick enough
I got about a cup of grated bottle gourd and added little less that 5 tbsp of besan
Some people add cooking soda to make it fluff up more, but I prefer to avoid it
You could add a tsp of cooking soda if you really want to
Mix well
Heat the paniyaram chatti on a medium flame
Put in a drop of oil in each depression and swirl the pan around so the oil coats the entire area
Drop into the batter with a tbsp into each depression
Cover with a lid and keep on a low-medium flame
It should be done in about 2-3 mins, turn it over carefully
Keep on heat uncovered for another minute
Remove and keep aside. I cover it in aluminium foil and keep it a closed container

Add the koftas to the curry just before serving
Garnish with coriander leaves

Dudhi Muthias

I've tried and loved the methi muthias - whats not to love about deep-fried food anyways !
Then I had these dudhi muthias, they are healthier and something you can make more often if you are not too keen on deep frying...Its steamed, got dudhi (bottle gourd), which is extremely healthy. It is highly alkaline and helps in balancing the acidity level in the body. It contains over 95% water, rich in iron, vitamins B and C.
Agreed, its not the tastiest vegetable on its own, but in this form, its really really tasty. I realised that bottle gourd is used a lot in Gujarati cuisine and in very different, tasty snacks..Handvo is another dish that uses dudhi and its so tasty !



Its a regular snack here in Gujarati homes and I had mine with some coriander-mint chutney. My friend here told me that she generally adds leftover rice and vegetables like carrot, cabbage, methi, etc
I used some leftover rice in mine..they turned out nice and soft and really tasty
Goes great with a cup of hot tea

What you need -

1 bottle gourd grated (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour / besan
3 tbsp semolina / rava
1.5 tsp ginger-chilli paste
2 tsp of dhania-jeera powder (cumin & coriander powder)
1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked rice (optional)
1/2 cup curds
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 chopped coriander
2 tbsp dessicated coconut

What you do with it -

Grate the bottle gourd and keep aside
Mix the wheat flour, besan, ginger-chilli paste, dhania-jeera powder, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, cooked rice and baking soda into the bottle gourd
(If you are not using the cooked rice, use may need more flour to bind it)
Add as much rava as required to make it a soft dough
If it gets too mushy, add more rava and besan
If its too dry, add upto 1/2 cup curds
Smear some oil on your palms and roll out the dough cylindrically, about 1" thick, the length would depend on what the steamer can accomodate - the ones I made were about 5" long
Steam this for about 20 mins. I used my idli maker to steam it. You could also use a cooker, without the pressure weight
Once its done and completely cooled, cut into pieces
Heat about 2 tsp oil in a pan and add sesame seeds, mustard seeds and red chilli powder
Add the steamed muthias and fry on low heat till they turn slightly brown
Garnish with dessicated coconut and chopped coriander leaves
Enjoy with a cup of hot masala chai

Handvo (Baked version)

One thing you can never run short on in Ahmedabad is FOOD - fancy restaurants to roadside carts with some amazing food dished out all thru the day. My favourite is the awesome Gujarati thali, and there are restaurants at every corner serving these thalis. Its convenient, you dont need to order, just sit and a stream of people queue up to serve you in the this really big round thali / plate(my little one can easily sit in it), with a minimum of 7 bowls placed neatly in it.
There is this order in which people come to serve you and each item goes into the designated bowl.
'Farsaan' is a common word for a snack, which could be deep fried like kachori, samosa or somthing like khamman dhokla, sandwich dhokla, and is a integral part of every thali.



Handvo is a snack which you dont get so easily in these restaurants or the 'Ganthiya' stores. Its more of a regular home made healthy snack.
My friend here had made handvo once, it looked more like a well-done uttapam and was made in a deep pan /kadai
My aunt (whose husband is Gujarati) was visiting and she told me she baked the handvo, it takes lesser oil and tastes much better !

Now that sounded really nice..
I found this 'handva nu loth' / handvo flour at the flour mill close by, and tried the handvo. It turned out so good and was a real healthy snack with a whole lot of vegetables. I've bought a lot more of the flour now and I'm sure this will be made more often at home...The flour is a mixture of various dals made into a coarse powder



What you need -

3 cups handvo flour
(you can blend 1 cup rice, 1/4 cup moong dal, 1/4 cup ural dal, 1/4 cup chana dal and 1/4 cup tur dal into a coarse powder if you cant find any ready handvo flour)

2 cups curd / enough to soak the handvo flour
1 medium sized bottle gourd
2 carrots grated
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 cup corn kernels
1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a generous pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp oil

Seasoning

2 tsps oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder

What you do with it -

Soak the handvo flour in curd and mix well. Allow to ferment overnight

Mix the ginger-green chilli paste and turmeric in the fermented batter and mix well
Add the chopped coriander leaves and salt to the batter and keep aside

Peel and grate the bottle gourd and carrot. Squeeze the water from the gourd
Add the gourd, grated carrot and corn kernels to the batter
Heat a tsp of oil and add 1/2 tsp chilli powder in it. when it sizzles, pour it into the batter and mix well

Prepare the seasoning with the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and chilli powder

Preheat the oven to 190 C

Grease a pan with oil or butter and pour the batter into it
Add the baking powder and baking soda in 1/2 tsp oil. Mix and pour into the batter
Mix well, add the seasoning and immediately transfer it to the oven

Bake for about 40 mins at 190 C
Cut into squares or triangles and serve with coriander-mint chutney