Stuffed lauki koftas

A pretty and different way to serve up a lauki kofta. Not fried too! This stuffing is of paneer and palak, you can even use mashed potatoes or any other stuffing of your choice.
Take a lauki that is not too thick so that it cooks through well.


Ingredients
1 medium lauki

For the stuffing
1 cup grated paneer
1/4 boiled chopped spinach (optional)
7-8 raisins
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon kasuri methi
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 tablespoons oil

For the gravy
2 medium onions, grated
3 large tomatoes,grated
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon haldi powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
salt to taste

To garnish
Dhanya
Grated cheese

1) Peel the lauki, peel and cut into 3 inch pieces. Scoop out the pulp (see pic 1 )
2) In a thick pan, put the lauki pieces and a little salt sprinkled over them. Cover tight with a lid and let it cook in the steam for ten minutes. This is just to make the lauki slightly tender. Remove and cool
3) Mix all the ingredients of the filling and stuff tightly into the lauki pieces
4) Heat two tablespoons of oil in the same pan and place the stuffed lauki pieces along the sides of the lauki. Cook till the pieces are browned along the sides. Keep turning the pieces once one side gets cooked.
5) When done, cool the lauki and slice into 1 cm thick pinwheels. Place on a tray
6) Prepare the gravy as the usual kofta gravy. Heat oil, fry the ginger ,garlic. Then fry the onions till nicely browned. Add all the masalas and salt and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and fry till the oil leaves the sides. Add water to get a thick gravy
7) Just before serving, pour the gravy over the koftas. Garnish with dhanya and grated cheese
8) Serve warm with parathas

Whole Wheat and Oats Eggless Chocolate Cake

Always on the look out for heatlhy and quick recipes, ths recipe from https://calorieculture.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/a-chocoholics-delight-with-good-for-you-ingredients/ was on my must -try list. Took about 5 minutes to whip all the ingredients together and I ended up with a really spongy and nutty flavoured cake. The icing was a complete cheat recipe- I took two gulabjamuns sitting in my fridge, pureed them along with their sugar syrup, added about two spoons of cocoa powder and two spoons of milk, Gave the whole mixture a few seconds of heating to get a smooth rich glaze. Voila !

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup powdered oats
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup oil
1/4 curd (or 1 egg)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
3. Add the milk to the bowl along with the curd. Whisk in together. Add the oil and the vanilla essence
4. Bake in a greased medium tray on the center rack for about 20-25 minutes till a toothpick comes clean
5. Cool and serve