Vegetable Cutlets
Note:
1. This recipe makes about 30 cutlets. You can halve the recipe, or as I usually do, make the lot and freeze what you don’t use. An easy snack for another day.
2. You can substitute the vegetables in this recipe with your choice of firm parboiled vegetables - see note below for options. Just make sure all the vegetables add up to the same amount as the potatoes.
3. The traditional recipe calls for the cutlets to be coated in egg and then crumbed, however, I have veered from the original recipe and used a plain flour coating mixture instead, a personal preference, but feel free to substitute with an egg coating.
4. This recipe calls for deep frying, but I have also, on health-conscious days, baked the cutlets. Check note below for variation.
Ingredients:
3 medium sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed roughly
¼ cup french beans, minced and parboiled
¼ cup carrots, peeled, minced and parboiled
¼ cup fresh baby peas, parboiled (if using frozen, just defrost)
2 tablespoons cooking oil for sautéing
8-10 curry leaves, minced
5 pods garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
3 fresh green / red chillis, minced
1 medium sized onion, minced
1 medium sized tomato, minced
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons curry powder (if you don’t have use 1 teaspoon coriander powder and 1 teaspoon chilli powder)
Salt to taste (~1 ½ teaspoon)
500 ml cooking oil for frying
For the coating:
5 tablespoons (75 gm) plain flour / maida
About 150 ml water
Salt to taste (~ ¾ teaspoon)
Pepper to taste (~ ¼ teaspoon)
5 tablespoons (75 gm) fine bread crumbs
Note: Make sure the total amount of vegetables used is about the same quantity as the amount of potatoes.
Method:
1. Cooking the potatoes:
2 medium sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed roughly
a) Boil the potatoes, skin on, either in a pressure cooker (5-7 whistles) or in a pot. The potatoes are ready once the skin starts splitting open and a skewer can go straight through.
b) Once boiled, cool the potatoes, peel and mash roughly using your hands and set aside.
2. Preparing the vegetables:
¼ cup french beans, minced and parboiled
¼ cup carrots, peeled, minced and parboiled
¼ cup fresh baby peas, parboiled (if using frozen, just defrost)
a) Peel the carrots and string the beans.
b) Mince them to about the size of the baby peas.
b) Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Add the carrots and beans and peas (if using fresh ones) to it.
c) Cover and cook for about 2 minutes.
d) Remove and drain the water (you can reserve the water – your own stock for soups).
e) Wash the boiled vegetables with some cold water to stop the cooking process and also to retain the colour.
f) Drain and set aside.
3. Preparing the filling:
2 tablespoons cooking oil for sautéing
8-10 curry leaves, minced
5 pods garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
3 fresh green / red chillis, minced
1 medium sized onion, minced
1 medium sized tomato, minced
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons curry powder (if you don’t have use 1 teaspoon coriander powder and 1 teaspoon chilli powder)
Salt to taste (~1 ½ teaspoon)
a) Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the curry leaves, ginger and garlic, fry till slightly brown.
Note: You can substitute the minced ginger and garlic with 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste.
b) Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the curry leaves, ginger and garlic, fry till slightly brown.
c) Next, add the onions and turmeric powder and fry till onions are translucent.
d) Add the tomatoes and salt and fry until the skin starts peeling off the tomatoes.
e) Add the green / red chillis and fry for a few more seconds.
f) Add the curry powder and fry till the raw smell goes off.
g) Add the cooked carrot, beans and peas. Mix for a couple of minutes.
h) Next add the roughly mashed potatoes and mix. Mix well and taste. Add more salt / curry powder if required.
h) Finally add the coriander and mix. Take care not to overmash / overfry the potatoes.
i) Make small lime sized balls with the cutlet mixture and then flatten them to ½ inch thick cutlet shapes.
4. Coating:
a) Make the coating batter - mix the plain flour with salt, pepper and water (start with about 120 ml and increase if required). Make sure there are no lumps. The consistency of the batter should be thin, but able to stick to the cutlet. Check the seasoning, add more salt and pepper if required.
5 tablespoons (75 gm) plain flour / maida
About 150 ml water
Salt to taste (~ ¾ tsp)
Pepper to taste (~¼ tsp)
Note: Substitute with 2 eggs, beaten up and seasoned with salt and pepper, if you'd prefer the traditional recipe.
b) Set up your coating station - first the cutlets, next the coating batter in a bowl, then the bread crumbs in a bowl or deep plate and finally a plate to arrange the finished cutlets.
5 tablespoons (75 gm) fine bread crumbs
c) Pick up a cutlet with one hand, drop it into the coating batter. Coat thoroughly - if not, then the breadcrumbs will not stick to the cutlet when frying. Watch video for detailed instructions.
d) With the same hand, pick up the coated cutlet and drop it into the breadcrumbs. Use your other hand, which should be completely dry, to coat with the crumbs (if wet, the crumbs will stick to your hand).
e) Reshape at this stage, if needed, and arrange on a plate.
5. Frying:
a) Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot (you can check by dropping in a bit of the coating batter – if it rises up immediately, the oil is hot), turn the heat to medium and fry the cutlets until golden brown. Turn the cutlets once in a while but not too much as they will split.
500 ml cooking oil for frying
b) Drain and serve hot with tomato sauce or just by itself.
Makes: about 30 cutlets
Apprentice rating: Medium - hard. The filling was easy enough to make, but learning to shape the cutlets was hard.
Note:
1. This recipe freezes well. To freeze, assemble all the cutlets, and store in an airtight freezer friendly box, separating the layers with plastic wrap or greaseproof paper. To fry, you do not need to defrost - fry directly from frozen, but on a low flame to allow time for the insides to thaw.
2. While this recipe calls for frying, the cutlets can be baked as well. To bake, reduce the water in the coating mixtture by about a tablespoon and substitute with a tablespoon of oil. Shape the cutlets, and line on a grease proof paper lined baking tray - bake at about 180C (~350F), until the top turns golden - about 20-30 minutes.
3. Feel free to substitute the vegetables with your choice of firm parboiled vegetables - cauliflower, broccoli, beetroot (might change the colour) are all good substitutes.
4. Just as you can substitute the coating mixture with egg, you can also experiment with the choice of crumb - spice up the breadcrumbs with herbs and a dash of spice, substitute with fine semolina (rava / sooji), coarse almond flour, roasted and coarsely powdered oats or any other variation you can think of...
Recent Posts:
