Vegetable Cutlets

Bajjis & vadais made regular appearances at home.. but my mom rarely ventured to making cutlets which were more time consuming but my athai (aunt) was pretty good at making these and would make pretty heart shaped cutlets and yummy samosas that delighted my palate. I'm a big fan of vegetable cutlets and watched my neighbour make these delicious cutlets one evening during my school holidays and made it a point to duplicate them the next day at home.

I've always pan-fried them similar to these Aloo Tikkis but this time I decided to bake them first so they would be more uniform and develop a better crust... To give the appearance a boost (the just baked ones had a pale look) and increase the crispness of the coating, I then pan fried them on a tawa with just a tsp of oil. Very satisfying and tasty. The recipe below is what I remember of my neighbour (Radha) aunty's recipe with a few tweaks from my end.

BAKED VEGETABLE CUTLETS


Ingredients:
Potatoes - 2, boiled, peeled & mashed
Peas - half cup, microwaved for 4-5 mins with water, coarsely mashed
Carrots - 2, peeled & grated
Beetroot - 1, peeled & grated
Onion - 1, minced
Ginger - half inch piece, minced
Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves, minced
Mint & Coriander leaves - 1 handful each, washed and chopped
Chilli powder - about 1 tsp
Shakthi Curry Masala Powder - 1 to 2 tsp (or to taste)
Bread Crumbs - about half cup (optional, used as required)
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp + 2 tsp

For coating
All purpose flour (maida) - half cup
Milk - half cup
Bread crumbs - about 1.5 cups

Method:
1) Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan, and toss in the onion, ginger & garlic. Fry this till transparent and softened.

2) Now add the grated carrots, beetroot with a bit of salt and stir for a few minutes before covering it and reducing the flame so the veggies sweat it out and soften a bit. Keep stirring every once in a while until the veggies are tender.

3) Add the chilli powder, curry masala powder & salt and after a few minutes, the mint & coriander leaves are tossed in as well.

4) Next the mashed potatoes & peas are stirred in and cooked until the mass combines and the flavours are mixed in uniformly. If you feel that the mixture is not firm enough, please stir in upto half a cup of breadcrumbs to lend more texture.

5) Allow this to cool a bit before making equal sized balls out of the mixture... these can then be shaped to your desire.. i made heart shaped patties reminiscent of my athai's cutlets which I enjoyed as a kid.

6) For the coating, put separate bowls of milk, flour & a plate of bread crumbs (I ran several slices of whole wheat bread in a mixie to get soft bread crumbs).

7) Preheat oven to 350F, coat a cookie sheet/baking pan with some oil and keep aside.

8) Dip each cutlet first in milk and then in flour, followed by a quick dip in milk again and then rolled into bread crumbs. Lay these carefully on the baking sheet, repeat till done.

9) Cook these in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, flipping over once in between.

10) Just before serving, heat a tava and spread a tsp of oil or so evenly, place the cutlets and let them cook on both sides (i had to do this in 2 batches - hence the 2 tsp of oil in the ingredient list)... till golden brown and crisp. Enjoy with ketchup.



I would like to send this as my entry to Cook & Create with luv for luv event hosted at Asankhana. Thank you Asha & notyet100 for the suggestions.

Comments

  1. Like your mom I too don't make cutlets often saying it is too much work.
    But mu sister makes them in a jiffy like your aunt.
    These looks really yummy delicious and as i don' tmake them often wish i could grab them from here.

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  2. i remember the first time i made cutlets...i think there was too much water in it that they all split up and i got pieces of potato ans veggie fries.. LOL

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  3. Asan Khana had a Valentine's day goodies event, these would be perfect for that. Love the crunchy coating, looks delicious! :))

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  4. Yummmmmmm cutlets, looks delicious!!

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  5. The cutlets look so crispy Lavanya..I use maida paste for dipping..Will definitely try ur dipping sometime after..

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  6. Looks perfect for Valentine day! Very crisp on outside good one!

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  7. this looks so good laav. i am gonna end up making some cutlets today for lunch :) with chickpeas..

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  8. That looks crispy, nice and spicy! Makes a nice evening snack.

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  9. so crispy they look...never baked anytg that is deepfried :)))).Also I luv beets in cutlets...Yummy cutlets laavanya :)

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  10. these look yummy :)
    and a very healthy recipe :)

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  11. Laavanya, next to samosas these have to be the most favorite snack during childhood. I have been meaning to make them and baking seems like just what I need. Does it matter if they are not pan fried after baking, other than the appearance part I mean?

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  12. Cutlets, one of my favourite after masala vadais...looks yummy n delicious...

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  13. I too make cutlets at least once a week on requests...baking them is a great idea...now I can cut all the extra calories from the oil used for frying the cutlets...

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  14. This looks really yum, loved that you baked them first, I haven't yet tried baking cutlets, normally I pan fry them...will try baking the next time :-)

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  15. Looks so good! lovely heart shaped one. Looks crunchy n delicious!

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  16. Baked cutlets really looks very crispy,looks cute too..

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  17. Looks crunchy and perfect snack for evening time.

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  18. They almost look like mini-chocolate cakes with a cherry on top!

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  19. hii,..yummy,..i will be gad if u send these over the event cook nd create for luv,..:-)u always come up with such heathy recies,..

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  20. looks yumm..i love the crunchy top..

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  21. This must taste like home...and they look very delicious! Thanks for dropping into my blog, hope to see you there regularly

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  22. I am carving for one now,I too somehow feel cutlet making is a messy work:P

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  23. really lovely cutlets!looks so delicious

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  24. I've been craving veggies. Thanks for sending me the link to your site. Your recipes look delicious!

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  25. i love cutlets too but somehow I never made em @ home, adding beets is new to me, & i guess the baked version is far far better than fried ones

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  26. I love how you shaped these, very cute! I've been thinking, the next time I make cutlets I should try using panko instead of bread crumbs..

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  27. I love vegetable cutlets! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe!

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  28. Yum, I like that they are baked.

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  29. hey yaar.this looks superb..jsut today had cutlets but it was chicken...urs looks superb with heart shaped..perfect on valentines day..hehe

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  30. Wow, those cutlets look so mouth watering..Nice recipe.

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  31. Cutlets looks delicious.great snack.

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  32. Hi Laavanya, I love cutlets. My mom is an expert in making them. Nice healthy way by baking them.
    Hey, I've started an event "Made for Each Other". Please participate if you are interested. Thank you :-)

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  33. healthy version of cutlets .. looks very delicious

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