Lauki Kofta Curry

I usually prepare gravy using bottle gourd. But hubby started to dislike it . So nowadays I don't buy bottle gourd. The chef in me wanted to disguise it in a dish and wanted to make my hubby relish it. Yesterday I bought a bottle gourd without hubby's knowledge and transformed it into this delicious gravy and my hubby don't know it yet. He liked the koftas and gravy and polished off his plate. He asked me about the ingredient but I didn't tell him. I serve it with rotis and the combination was wonderful. I also used spinach crumbs in the koftas. You can take a look at my post on spinach crumbs here. I used grated bottle gourd in the koftas. When adding the grated bottle gourd, remove all the water from it . Otherwise the koftas will absorb lots of oil and become soggy. You can add the water from the bottle gourd in the gravy.

Ingredients:
For The Koftas:
Moong Dhal-1/2cup
Grated Bottle Gourd/ Lauki/ Suraikai-1cup
Red Chilly Powder-1/4tsp
Black Sesame Seeds-1tsp
Salt-to taste
Spinach Crumbs-1/4cup
Besan/ Kadalai Mavu/ Chick pea Flour-2-3tbs
Oil-For Deep Frying

For The Gravy:
Onion-2
Green Chilly-2
Tomato-3
Garlic-5pods
Red Chilly Powder-1tsp
Coriander Powder-1/2tsp
Cumin Powder-1/4tsp
Garam Masala-1.4tsp
Turmeric Powder-1/2tsp
Ginger Powder-1/4tsp
Oil-5tbs
Fennel Seeds/ Sombu-1tsp
Cinnamon-1 piece
Cardamom-1
Clove-1
Sugar-1tbs

Procedure:
1. Soak the moong dhal for 2hours.
2. Drain water completely and grind it a coarse paste without adding water.
3. Add the spinach crumbs, sesame, turmeric, besan and grated bottle gourd.
4. Add salt to taste and mix everything together.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough and deep fry them on medium flame.
6. When brownish in colour, remove from oil and keep it aside. I got 12 koftas for the given ingredients.
7. Heat 2tbs oil in a pan and saute onion, tomato, garlic and green chillies.
8. When tomatoes are cooked, add little water and bring it to boil.
9. Remove from fire and when cool grind it to a fine paste.
10. Heat remaining oil and splutter fennel, cinnamon, cardamom and clove. Add the paste and add in all the spice powders, turmeric powder and salt.
11. Add water to make the gravy thin. Let it boil for 2 minutes.
12. Drop in the koftas, simmer and cover the pan. Let it cook for 5-8minutes.
13. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the gravy and koftas.
14. Garnish with spinach spirals and serve hot with roti or naan.