Cutlets, especially the non-vegetarian variety, have a great fan following in our home. Whenever there is "kheema" or minced meat in the house, the first request is always for cutlets. If there are green peas ("mutter") at home, then there is a toss up between "kheema mutter" and the cutlets. Anyway, my family loves cutlets at any meal, so I make the mix and stock it in the fridge for quick use. I find that having a greater amount of mashed potato in the mix, makes for a smoother cutlet. The covering is crisp, but the inside is not so full of meat or chunky. That is something my family enjoys....a non-stringy, easily eaten patty. This is achieved by increasing the quantity of potato and using mince made with lean meat and no gristle. Most other recipes have a much greater meat to potato ratio than that I do, but since my recipe meets with my family's continued unstinting approval, I like to make the cutlets this way, and I have found many others prefer them too. This is what I do.
Makes about 8 medium sized cutlets
Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Ingredients
1. Meat mince (raw) - 1 cup
2. Potatoes (boiled and mashed) - 1 1/2 cups
Items 3 to 8 measured after chopping very fine:
3. Onions - 2 teaspoons
4. Ginger - 1 teaspoon
5. Garlic - 1/2 teaspoon
6. Green chillies - 1/2 teaspoon
7. Fresh coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon
8. Curry leaves - 1 tablespoon
9. Fresh bread crumbs - a little more than 1 cup
10. Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon or according to taste
11. Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon or according to taste
12. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
13. Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
14. Egg white beaten - 1 or 2
15. Salt to taste
16. Oil for tempering and deep frying
Method
1. Wash the mince in a wire mesh strainer under running water. Let it drain for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a thick-bottomed vessel and add item no.s 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15. Add 3/4 cup of water, if it is mutton mince. Stir well so that the spices reach all parts of the mince. Cook till the mince is totally dry. No need to pressure cook. Turn off heat and leave the mince to cool in a large platter.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and brown item nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. This need not be crisp. Add this to the mince in the platter.
3. Add the well mashed potatoes and chopped coriander to the above.
4. Adjust the seasoning and knead well.
5. Divide the mix into balls. Roll in beaten egg white and then bread crumbs. Makes about 8 balls.
6. Pour enough oil in a hot wok for deep frying. Let oil become quite hot, but not smoking hot.
7. When the oil is ready, take a mince-potato ball and flatten it a bit and slide it on the inside of the wok into the hot oil. Repeat with more mince-potato balls, making sure the oil is still quite hot and not crowded. The hot oil should reach above the cutlets, otherwise the cutlets could break. Turn over gently, and remove each cutlet from oil when well browned and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
8. Serve hot with tomato sauce or just plain as a side dish. Enjoy!
Tips
The preferred meat used for these cutlets, in Kerala, is beef. Mutton/goat meat mince is a personal preference in our home here. If you are using beef mince, there is no need to add any water before cooking in step 1 as beef releases a lot of water and this needs to be boiled away to make it very dry.
Boneless beef cubes can be used for this recipe. Wash and drain and pressure cook as per step 1, without any added water. When its dry and cooled, mince in batches, in a dry grinder to get fine shreds of cooked beef mince. (You can mince this as fine or as chunky as you wish.) The recipe can be taken forward from step 2 onwards. (For this recipe, take 1 cup of raw beef cubes.)
I like to add one more step to this recipe to improve the flavour. My family loves these cutlets a bit more spicy. So, I take 1/2 tsp of black peppercorns, a 1/2 " piece of raw ginger, a couple of green cardamoms (whole), 1 whole clove, 1/2'' of cinnamon and fresh curry leaves from 3 sprigs and dry grind it with half a slice of bread. You will get a very fragrant bread crumb mix. Add this at step 3. The added flavour is quite nice.
It is important that the cutlets are fairly well immersed in the hot oil while frying. Hot oil seals the cutlets from all sides and there is less chance of them breaking and flooding the oil.
These cutlets can also be shallow fried, but then the sides remain pale. They can also be baked after brushing with oil, in a medium oven till brown. A lot of cutlets can be made ready at the same time without much oil and standing near a hot stove.
Fresh bread crumbs are made by whizzing a few slices of (any) bread in a dry grinder for a few seconds. The remaining crumbs can be stored in the freezer.
I prepare cutlet mix from at least 6 or 7 cups of meat. All will not be used right away. So, I store the remaining mix in the fridge and use it over the next 2 to 3 days. I like the convenience.
Usually, the ratio between meat and potatoes is 2 cups of meat to about 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes.
This is an excellent recipe for hors d'oeuvres. The cutlets can be smaller and served with a dipping sauce.
Important - It is imperative to follow some safety precautions while deep frying. I avoid dropping the cutlets into the hot oil. Instead, these are slid down the sides of the wok into the oil or else placed gently into the oil to avoid a hot oil splash.
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