What is Kolkata becoming?
The number of rape cases being on the rise with a chief minister shrugging of
her responsibility by pointing the finger of blame at the growing intimacy
between boys and girls, mothers, judged on what I have seen of my sister, mother
of a teenage daughter, are too antsy to let their daughters out on their own,
forget after nightfall, even in broad daylight. In fact, my niece leads a
sheltered life, precisely, due to my sister worrying sick over her daughter's
safety that she drops her to the tuition class barely 100 meters away from
home. It's not that during our growing years, our movements were unrestricted.
It was, to a healthy extent, restricted with my parents always reminding me,
the moment I would step out, of returning home on time which in my case was
stipulated between 8 to 9 p.m. depending on the occasion, but it was never this
bad.
I don't know whether my
sister is the overprotective anxious mother going overboard to keep her
daughter out of harm's way or if it is the common feeling shared by every
mother of a teenage daughter, but one thing I must admit Kolkata is not a safe
haven anymore.
Lau er Kofta Curry is my
mother's favourite lau preparation. Bottle Gourd is a summer vegetable found
aplenty in the market during the scorching summer months when to cope up with
the soaring temperature, all we could think of is to drink gallons of water.
Bottle gourd, deemed as one of the most consumed summer vegetables, contains a
lot of water that helps in digestion and cooling the body. The Indian summer
produce are better in quality in all respect than what are sold in US
especially in view of the bottle gourd that are available here having very
little water content and taking pointlessly more time getting cooked.
Ingredients: Cooking
time: 40 minutes
For Kofta:
ü 1 lau or bottle gourd (peeled and grated)
ü 1 small red onion (chopped)
ü 4-5 heaped tbsp gram flour or besan
ü 2-3 green chillies (chopped)
ü 1 tsp cumin powder
ü 1 inch ginger (grated)
ü 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
ü Salt to taste
For Curry:
ü 1 onion, 1 large tomato and 4-5 green
chillies (ground into paste)
ü 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
ü 1 heaped tbsp yogurt, beaten
ü 1 tsp cumin powder
ü 1 tsp turmeric powder
ü 1 tsp kashmiri red mirch
ü 1 tsp coriander powder
ü Salt to taste
ü 2 tsp sugar
ü Coriander leaves for garnishing
Ingredients for sauté:
ü 1 inch cinnamon stick
ü 1 bay leaf
ü 1 tsp black peppercorns
ü 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
ü 2 green cardamoms
Method:
1) Mix in the ingredients
mentioned under kofta and fry spoonful’s of the batter in smoking hot oil to
get koftas. (Please note lau or
bottlegourd discharges water, so in case the batter is runny; add more gram
flour for binding.) Keep them aside.
2) To make the curry,
first heat oil in a wok and when oil becomes piping hot, add the ingredients
for saute and allow them to crackle.
3) Next add onion, tomato
and green chilli paste. Stir around for 2 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste,
turmeric powder, kashmiri red mirch, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and
sugar. Sauté the spices for 5-8 minutes till oil floats on the surface.
4) Add heaped tablespoon
of yogurt and stir briskly till yogurt combines into the spices. Pour 1 or 2
cups of water and bring the gravy to a boil. Toss in the fried koftas and
cook covered for 1 minute.
5) Garnish with coriander
leaves. Serve hot with roti, paratha and so much as steaming rice.
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Great detailed recipe 😊
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