Mixed Vegetable Cutlet – Step by Step Recipe

Two very popular snacks – the quintessential cutlet, and the samosa, are staples in Indian cuisine. A hot cup of tea, or ‘chai’ as we call it, accompanied by one of these flavourful, deep fried  delights, is the way we tackle our evening hunger pangs 😀 Especially in the rainy season, when all you crave is buckets of spice, flavour and crunch, these are a must! My husband is strongly based out of the samosa camp, in that he would unfailingly pick a samosa, every time he needed to choose between a samosa and a cutlet. I on the other hand, prefer cutlets to samosas.

Veggie cutlets are nothing but fried patties, made from a medley of mashed vegetables, fresh herbs and spices. These are crumb-coated and deep fried for maximum crunch, and of course, calories 😀  Of course you could also shallow fry these on a griddle or tawa, if you prefer it. The cutlets are usually served with an accompaniment of mint chutney and tamarind chutney, a combination of spicy and sweet, to round off the amazing pre-dinner snack experience. If you find yourself out of time, or patience to make these accompaniments, resort to the ever available tomato ketchup – it will not disappoint!

Ingredients

• Potato – 1 big
• Carrot – 1 medium
• Green peas – 1/4 cup
• Beetroot – 1 small

Spices:

• Chaat masala – 1/2 tsp
• Kitchen King masala – 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Red chilly powder (Kashmiri) – 1/4 tsp
• Cumin powder – 1/2 tsp

Herbs & Other:

• Fresh coriander leaves, chopped – 2 tbsp
• Ginger, chopped – 1 tbsp
• Garlic, chopped – 1 tbsp (optional)
• Green chillies , chopped – 2

For the coating:

• Bread crumbs – 1 cup
• All purpose flour / maida – 3 tbsp
• Water – 3 tbsp

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Chop your veggies into big chunks. We’re going to mash them later so don’t bother with the chopping. Just make sure you peel the potato and beetroot.
2. Add water to just cover the veggies, and pressure cook for two whistles. Let the pressure release naturally.
3. This is how the cooked veggies will look.
4. Set up a colander over some kind of vessel.
5. Drain the veggies.
6. The vegetable broth will get collected in the vessel below the colander.(See TIPS & TWEAKS at end of this blog post, for what to do with this broth)

1. Transfer the cooked and drained veggies into a wide bowl.
2. Mash them well.
3. Chop up finely some fresh coriander, green chillies and ginger.
4. Add this to the mashed veggies.
5. Now add all the spices to this, along with salt and some sugar (to balance out everything)
6. Mix well with a spoon, or with clean hands until incorporated evenly.

1. Take a lemon-sized ball of the mashed veggie mixture.
2. Flatten it out into a patty using your palm.
3. Now roll the edge of the patty on some surface (like how a wheel rolls), just so that it develops some thickness.
4. This is how the finished patty will look. Notice it has some height due to the rolling.
5. Repeat the same procedure to shape the rest of the mixture.
6. Arrange these on a plate with some gap, so that they don’t stick to each other.

Get the breadcrumbs ready.

1. Take the maida in a bowl.
2. Dilute the all-purpose flour or maida with some water, until it forms a thick paste as below. It must be free flowing, but thick enough to coat the patties.

1. Dip the patty in the maida batter.
2. Quickly roll it in the breadcrumbs and press it down so that it is well-coated.
3. Use a spoon or your hands to press down the breadcrumbs over the patty.
4. Heat oil in a kadai.
5. Fry the crumbed cutlets one at a time, on medium flame, allowing 60-90 seconds to brown on each side. Flip it halfway so that it cooks all round evenly.
6. Drain in a colander, or paper towel. Serve hot.

TIPS & TWEAKS

1. When you fry the cutlets, make sure the flame is on medium. If you fry on high heat, the outside will brown quickly, but the inside will remain uncooked.
2. Every time after frying one or two cutlets, use a slotted spatula to remove the darkened bread crumbs from the hot oil. If you leave them in the oil, they turn black, and tend adhere to the cutlets you fry.
3. The broth collected from the veggies is immensely flavourful and nutritious , and can be flavoured simply with some salt and pepper, and drunk as a hot soup. Alternatively, you could also use this broth instead of adding water, while kneading chapati dough.
4. If you don’t have breadcrumbs at the ready, you just need to blitz 6-8 bread slices (roughly cut up) in the mixer grinder, to make your own breadcrumbs. Slightly older bread works well for this.
5. Beetroot is optional, omit if you don’t enjoy eating this vegetable.

 

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