Cutlet is an all time favorite snack! Every time I visit a bakery , my eyes would search for cutlets 😀 I could eat 7-8 cutlets in one go 😛 ( no exaggeration 😉 ) My cousin makes the best vegetable cutlets, i figured out the tricks from her 😛
People often think it’s not easy to make cutlets firstly because of so much work involved, secondly the cutlets fail to hold shape while frying 🙂 ( I have tried my best to put as many insights as possible to overcome these two issues 😉 ) I make chicken cutlets quite often ,as its easier compared to vegetable one. But this time I had some paneer too, so I thought why not combine everything and make a wholesome snack.
Ingredients :
- Boiled Potatoes : 2 medium , finely grated
- Boiled beetroot : 1/4 of a beetroot, finely grated
- carrots : 1 carrot, finely grated
- Paneer : 1/2 a cup, finely grated.
- Onion : 1 medium finely chopped
- Garlic : 10 cloves, finely minced
- Turmeric powder :1/4 tsp
- Red chilli powder : 1 tsp
- Green chilli (optional) : 1-2 finely chopped
- Garam masala :1/2 tsp
- Fennel seed powder : 1 tsp
- pepper powder :1/2 -1 tsp
- rusk powder/Bread crumbs :1-2 cups
- Egg beaten : 1 egg
- salt : as needed
- All purpose flour :1 tbsp(for vegetarians ,refer notes)
- water : to make flour paste if using
- Oil : 1-2 tbsp + for frying
Method :
- Keep the grated potatoes seperate in a bowl.
- In a pan, add oil to heat it up. Once hot add minced garlic and saute well, to which add finely chopped onions and saute that too.
- Let the onions brown a bit , that’s when you add the chopped green chillies and let that fry too.
- Add some salt at this stage and add the rest of the grated vegetables except paneer.
- Mix everything well, add all the spice powders and mix to combine.
- The vegetables will ooze out water to mix everything , finally add the grated the paneer and give a quick mix and switch off the flame.
- Add this mixture to the grated potatoes and combine everything well with hands. Salt check , add if required before the mixture cools off.
- Now in a plate take rusk/ bread crumbs. In a deep bowl beat the egg with little bit of pepper powder.
- Now start making cutlets using the mix and assemble them in a plate.
- Take each cutlets and dip in beaten egg using one hand and roll them in rusk powder using the other hand( this avoids crumbling of rusk powder !)
- assemble in a dry plate, repeat the same until you finish making all the cutlets.
- Fry them in hot oil, reduce the flame after dropping them.
- Serve hot with ketchup 🙂
If using all purpose flour :
- for 1 tablespoon of flour use 3 -4 tbsp of water and make a thin paste.
- Dip the cutlets in this paste and roll in rusk, repeat the process once again. This way you coat it twice, which avoids breaking of cutlets.
Notes:
- You could also use raw vegetables, instead of boiled ones.In that case cook well in the pan.
- While sauteing , make sure all the moisture from vegetables are absorbed leaving the mix dry as possible.
- If using boiled vegetables, you could go for shallow frying method too.
- If you want more spice , add chopped ginger too.
- Do not add more red chilli powder , add more green chillies instead for spice.
- When mixing with potatoes, combine well with hands until the mixture start to resemble like a dough.
- Try holding a handful of mixture in hand, if that holds shape without any cracks that’s when you can stop mixing it.
- You could also boil and mash the vegetables, but remember to mash well without any lumps .
- Repeat the same sauteing process ,if using mashed vegetables.
- Do not add more oil to saute, it will leave the mixture oily.
- Always use less beetroot, as it will give taste beetroot if added more. 😉