everyday subzi: making lauki ki muthia and using it in many ways

Muthia is a steamed dumpling made with grated vegetables and chickpea flour which is made into a dough and then rolled into sausage shaped 'muthia' before placing them on the steamer. The traditional muthia is made by pressing a portion of dough inside the fist (muthhi) hence the name muthia. It is a Gujrati tradition but popular all over India in some or the other form. Muthias get steamed quickly and can be cut into small pieces and served along with some green chutney.

Or the cut pieces of muthia can be shallow fried along with some tempering to be served as a tea time snack.

Lauki ki muthia is an easy way to make the meals filling and nourishing. Since we use besan (chickpea flour) to bind the muthias it makes a gluten free meal too. Please note that the recipe is easy and takes just about 20 minutes if you are making muthias for 3-4 people. And these steamed muthias can be refrigerated and used later to make tea time snacks or even kofta curries.

If you get the lauki (bottle gourd) grated in a food processor or get it done by the maid (we are spoiled in India :-)), the procedure will be even more quick.

ingredients

grated lauki 2 cups (about 400 gm)
besan or chickpea flour 3/4-1 cup or a bit more
ginger paste 1 tsp
garlic paste 1/2 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
ajwain seeds 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
green chillies minced 1 tsp or more
salt and pepper to taste
oil or ghee to smear the plate and hands while working with the dough

procedure

Mix all the dry ingredients with the grated lauki and massage them together so the water from lauki helps make it a dough. You might need to add a little more besan or little more lauki depending on how fresh and tender the lauki is. I recommend the freshest lauki you can find. See how to choose the right tender bottle gourd.

Now grease a ceramic or pyrex dish and your hands too. Pinch portions of the dough and shape them like 2 cm thick sausages or press portion in your fist to shape them like traditional muthias. Arrange all such sausages (or muthias) on the greased dish.

 Now cover the dish with cling wrap loosely. Leaving some space for the steam to escape. Make cuts in the cling wrap otherwise.

You can cover the plate with a dome shaped plastic lid meant for microwave and steam it for 5 minutes too. With the cling wrap too it takes the same time.

The muthias get cooked as steam condenses on the cling wrap. Peel off the cling wrap and use the muthias as required. These can be enjoyed right away with green chutney or with any sauce or salsa you like.

These can be steamed over the gas stove too. See this post about another steamed dumplings to get an idea how a simple contraption can be used to steam these.

Once cooled, the muthias get firm and can be shallow fried along with mustard seeds, hing and some sesame seeds for crunch. Sprinkle some amchoor powder or lime juice and have these with some warm salad for a meal. Here I served it with a beans and carrot poriyal and pickled cucumbers.

We sometimes use these muthias to make kofta style curries too. Just deep fry or shallow fry these muthias and curry them with a north Indian style bhuna masala.

I normally shallow fry these muthias cut into one inch long pieces, and pressure cook them along with some bhuna masala and water. Add enough water to the muthia as they soak up a lot of water and double in size when cooked into a curry.

Refrigerated (2-3 day old) muthias behave well in pressure cooker as they get firm and do not break. You can cook this curry in an open pan if using freshly made muthias.

This lauki muthia kofta curry tastes great with roti, paratha or plain boiled rice but you can always make the curry light and thin and have it as a one pot meal as I do sometimes.

We love this kind of kofta curries better than the fried round koftas (like this kele ka kofta). This muthia kind of kofta works better for lauki and is healthier as well. I don't remember if I have cooked a traditional lauki ka kofta ever in my life. But I love besan dumpling curries so this lauki muthia kofta style curry is one of the favourites. The taste and texture is quite different and so is the health quotient of this curry.

Let me know whenever you try making muthias this way in the microwave. It will be the easiest healthy snack to munch on and some spicy curry can be whipped up in a jiffy.

kele ke kofte | green plantain fried dumplings in a spicy curry sauce...

Kele ke kofte is one recipe that gets repeated often and is remembered a lot by almost all my relatives. There is a story behind it.

Let me tell you that Kachhe Kele ke kofte is a fried dumpling made using green plantains and is curried into a spicy gravy. This is one of those UP recipes inspired by Mughlai keema koftas.

I remember once when it was my sisters engagement ceremony and the cook disappeared at the last moment. There was utter chaos and my parents were at a loss of words. There was no option but to cook it all by ourselves but there was no one else apart from me and being the eldest in the family I had to take responsibility even though I wasn't too confident to cook for a huge crowd like that.

I had to cook for around 50 people and the only helping hand was that of my sister's friend Parmita. She helped me in the preparations but all the actual cooking was dome by your's truly. That day I made this kele ka kofta and it turned out so good that most relatives and cousins still remember that and ask me the recipe again and again whenever they get to meet me at some or the other family get together.

I also remember, I had made a LOT of kofte that day, and that there was a lot was leftover too. Everybody from our side of the extended family asked for the leftovers as well the next day and not a single ball of kofta was wasted, huge wastage of such stuff is otherwise so common when you cook things for a large party.

I still feel proud about that cooking marathon as I had cooked many other dishes apart from this kofte, and that cooking experience made me confident forever. I could cook for large gathering without thinking twice about how would I go about it, you do less mistakes when you are confident and your eyeballing the ingredients works well.

I still make these kofte in large amounts most of the times, to last three days at least and the remaining 2 portions of dry kofte is frozen for later use.

It becomes a lot more easier when you have a bhuna masala in the fridge and some dry kofte in the freezer. Just mix the two, add water and simmer till soft.

ingredients for the kofta balls
(makes 3 batches serving 4 people each)
raw plantain 6-8 nos.
onions chopped finely 1 cup
ginger garlic paste 3 tbsp
green chilies chopped 1 tbsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp
garam masala powder 1 tsp (freshly made )
chickpea flour or besan 3-4 tbsp ....or just enough to bind the mixture
salt to taste
oil to deep fry, I use mustard oil

to proceed...........

Do not peel the bananas, just remove the stalk, remove any blackened skin, cut in slices and boil in a pressure cooker with a little salt up to 1 whistle......let it cool to proceed.

You need to mash the boiled and cooled plantain completely and it is a bit difficult with the skin on, so just mince the boiled slices and then mash them with hands or any other appliance you find convenient, it should not be completely creamed, small bits of peel makes it spongy in gravy.....

You can always use a food processor or chopper for mashing this boiled plantain.

Chop the onions and then the ginger garlic n green chilies in the same chopper one by one.

Mix in other ingredients except oil and make a pliable dough like mixture.

Divide into balls and deep fry in hot oil. Note that if they break into hot oil it means they need a bit more of besan added. So correct the consistency before you fry all of them. Fry all the kofta balls and keep the extra in the freezer if that is the case.

Read on for making the gravy...

ingredients for the gravy
(for 4 servings)

onions chopped 1/2 cup
tomatoes chopped and pureed 1/2 cup
ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp
red chilly powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
coriander, cumin, blac kpepper powders 1 tbsp each
garam masala 1 tbsp
green coriander for garnishing
salt to taste
mustard oil 3 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp

to proceed ...

Heat oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. When it splutters add the chopped onions and fry it till golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till oil separates. Throw in all the powder masala, salt and tomato puree and mix well.

Cook covered till oil comes on top, mixing in between. Add about 1 cup of water and give it a boil. Sslip in the kofte (1/3rd of the above stated quantity for this much gravy) and switch the flame off.

Do not disturb the kofte till they absorb water and grow bigger in size. Garnish with coriander leave, transfer carefully in to a serving dish (the kofte can break while doing this) and serve immediately with roti, paratha, naan or any rice preparation, we had it with plain rice in the below picture.

And with some daal and roti in the above pictures...

To prevent these kofte from breaking after putting them into gravy just arrange all the kele ke kofte into a casserole dish. Pour the gravy over it and microwave for 2 minutes. Serve immediately after this.

Add fresh cream in the last step if it has to be served for a party For the two of us I avoid adding cream.