Mom's cutlets

When I was in school, we had this whole system of a tuck shop every once in a while where the school made us kids bring food from home and sell it in school and give the proceeds to them. :| What a racket I say! But we used to be super excited about it because the class which had the tuck shop didn't have classes the whole day and you could spend most of the day in the lunchroom selling your treats to all the avid school girls who dropped by. Of course we all loved the idea of handling money and feeling all grown up and everything and we were most thrilled when teachers would come and buy what we had made.

One year I had made cutlets and taken it to school. Ammi had toiled over it the previous day and prepared a whole tiffin of them for me to take. However, it wasn't that much of a success because people didn't like the potato in it which is really strange as it is a cutlet, not a kheema patty. So Ammi was really cheesed off and she refused to make anything for me in future tuck shops and I was ok with it. I didn't like being the common punching bag for my teachers and my mom.

But over the years, the cutlet recipe has been one almost fool proof one, coming out excellently each time and is a favourite during Ramzan especially.When we had Ayesha's baby shower, I had made cutlets and taken them there. It was an instant hit with everyone wanting to know how to make it. And it took me so long to finally take time to write the recipe here. I can't imagine why I don't have time even though I don't have a job!

Ok, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

500 gms kheema

5 to 6 medium sized potatoes

3 large onions chopped

whole garam masala - patta, laung and elaichi

red chilli powder - 1 tsp (or according to how much spice is ok with you)

ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

salt to taste, pepper

coriander leaves

lemon juice - 1/2 to 1 tsp

oil - 2 tbsp

Breadcrumbs to coat

Eggs - 2

Oil for frying

Method -

1. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes with a little salt, pepper and lemon juice. Keep aside.


2. In a kadhai, heat the oil, add the whole garam masala, a handful of the chopped onions and saute till translucent.


3. Add the ginger garlic paste, saute for a minute, add the mince and fry it well.


4. Add the salt and red chilli powder and saute for a little more while.


5. When the masala smell is gone, add the chopped coriander, mix it and add very little water.


6. Cook the kheema on medium heat, covering the kadhai with a lid and making sure that it doesn't get burnt.


7. When the kheema has cooked, add the remaining chopped onions and cook till onions become soft.


8. Cool the kheema and remove the whole garam masala from it (so it doesn't come in the middle of the cutlet later on)


9. Mix with the mashed potatoes and make rounds.


10. Beat the egg lightly, dip the rounds in it, flatten slightly to an oblong cutlet shape with your hands and coat with breadcrumbs.


11. Deep fry in hot oil till cutlets become brown and crisp.


12. Serve with tomato ketchup.