A healthy,lowfat appetizer which utilizes the summer vegetable for an alternate to the traditional pakoras/koftas which are deep fried. Lauki, also known as Ghiya or Doodhi in India and Bottlegourd in English,is natures way of providing a vegetable which is very high in water content to keep the body hydrated and provide relief from summer heat.
It is widely used in Indian cooking, from appetizers,soups to main dishes,pilafs and even Lauki ka halwa, a delicious popular dessert. It has gained a lot of popularity in the last 10 years, since Baba Ramdev started touting the benefits of lauki/Ghiya/Doodhi juice on TV.
I liked this article by NDTV, which talks about the benefits of juicing Lauki/Ghiya/Doodhi. You can read more about it here, You don’t have to juice it to get the benefits,just include it in your diet as much as possible.
Enjoy the Appe with Green Chatni and Tamarind Chatni and a cup of tea or dunked in gravy as Kofte in this No Onion No Garlic No Cream Curry with Roti.
Here is the written recipe followed by the step by step pictorial one-
Lauki Ke Appe/Kofte
Ingredients
- 2 cups Grated lauki/Ghiya/Bottlegourd or zucchini
- 1/2 Medium Onion chopped(optional)
- 3 green chilies chopped
- 2 tbsp Cilantro/Coriander/Dhaniya
- 1 tsp Whole Coriander seeds crushed coarsely
- 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder/Lal Mirch powder
- Salt as per taste about 1 tsp
- 1/2 cup Gramflour/Besan or as needed to bind
- Ghee/Oil for cooking use oil for vegan option
Instructions
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Grate lauki/Ghiya and squeeze out as much water as possible.
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Add all the ingredients, except salt.
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Heat up the Appe pan and put few drops of ghee/oil in EACH CAVITY(use oil for vegan option)
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Add salt and mix the batter well
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Put dollops of batter in each cavity and brown well on both sides.
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Enjoy with chatni as an appetizer or as a meal dunked in gravy.
Notes
Use zucchini the same way if lauki/Ghiya/doodhi/Bottlegourd is not available.
Always cook Appe on medium to medium low flame. Cover the pan while cooking. The center may seem uncooked/soft at first but it solidifies upon cooling. If appe pan is not available, make small pancakes of the same dough.
Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-
Grate Lauki/Zucchini
We need two cups of grated Lauki/Zucchini
Squeeze all the water from the lauki/zucchini
Chop cilantro,Green chilies and Onions(optional)
Add chopped cilantro,chilies and onions(optional) to the grated lauki/zucchini
Gramflour/Besan,Red chili powder and coarsely ground coriander seeds
Add spices
Add gramflour/Besan and salt(Do not add any water)
Heat Appe pan, put a few drops of oil and put some batter in each cavity
Enjoy the appe with tea
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Shaku
What is appe pan
Aanchal Gupta
Hi Shaku, Appe Pan is basically a tava with cavities in which you can make pakoras,vadas, kofte etc in very little oil. Its traditionally used in south India to make appams and is also called Appam Patra. The danish use something similar to make pancakes and call it Ebelskiver Pan. It comes in many sizes and in cast iron as well as nonstick. Its easily available online. Thanks for visiting my blog.