Lauki Paneer Rings

#laukipaneersabzi#laukivariety
#bottlegourd#vegetable#sabzi#gravy

Ingredients: 1 small lauki/ bottle gourd, 1 onion (cut in big pieces), 2-3 green chillies, 6-8 garlic cloves, 1cm cube of ginger, 1 heaped cup of coriander, 1 cup of mint leaves, 1 cup curd, ½ litre milk (for paneer), ½ lemon, 2 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tsp garam masala, salt to taste, 6-8 black pepper freshly ground, 1 small tbsp oil, 1 tsp asafoetida, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, ½ tbsp butter

Preparation Time: 35 min

Recipe:

1. Peel off the bottlegourd and slice it horizontally with a thickness of 1cm. Now, scoop out the white portion of the slice with the help of knife (peeler one can make it easy) to make a ring. Steam these rings in steamer/ vita saver/ an open cooking vessel. Ensure that the rings don’t get overcooked. Bottle gourd cooks fast in cooker. So be careful. For first timers, boiling in open vessel is the best option as rings can be monitored. As the rings change color, check if they are cooked (a knife should easily pass through the edge of the ring)

2. Prepare paneer from the milk. Bring the milk to boil and squeeze the half lemon into it, while stirring continuously. The milk will start curdling. After 2-3 min of boiling, turn off the gas and sieve off excess of water. Strain out water from the paneer in sieve by gently pressing it. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste to this. Mix well. Leave it aside.

3. In a pan, roast the onion, green chillies, garlic and ginger for 2-3 min on medium gas. Put them in a mixer pot.

4. Wash the coriander and mint leaves properly. Add these to the mixer pot as well. Grind it. Now add the curd to this and grind well again to form a paste. Add a cup of water to this.

5. Take a deep pan. Add oil to it and heat for seasoning. Now add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida to this. Add the paste formed. Stir continuously till it starts boiling as there is curd in it. Now add turmeric powder, garam masala and salt to this. Mix well. Add water to make consistent gravy. Allow simmering for 5- 10 min so that all the flavours mix well. Stir intermittently.

6. In the meantime, heat a non stick pan on low gas. Take the rings in a platter. Fill in the paneer mix tightly in the middle of the ring. Sprinkle a few drops of butter on the pan. Now place the lauki rings stuffed with paneer on the pan. Turn the gas on medium flame. After a min, flip over all the rings. Allow them to cook for 2 min. Then turn over again until paneer is golden.

7. Take off the rings and serve them with hot green gravy.

Tips: In a bowl, keep a stuffed ring and pour a tbsp of gravy over it.