Chicken Cutlet/ Chicken Croquettes

I have a little Chicken fan here. He loves it in any form...soups, appetizers, main dishes, curry etc. Since we had started cutting down on fried stuff, cutlets have made a rare appearance on our menu. But this lil guy's fantasy for having cutlets having seen it in TV, made me make some cutlets with his own favorite thing, chicken.

I have no clue how these disappeared in minutes time. They were super crisp on the outside and flavourful inside. They made a perfect snack time for us. You could also serve it as sides with meals or may be stuff it in burgers too.

My mom used to make these cutlets with rusk crumb coating. I used to follow the same. Then came the time when I became lazy and chose the easy way and started getting bread crumbs from the market. But over time I realized, we always used to waste the sides of the bread which would be chopped off while making sandwiches. If preserved in the fridge, they turn out to be amazing alternative to those store bought bread crumbs. And they make way more crispier version of cutlets than the rusk crumbs because of its chunks rather than fine powder of rusk. So in short, never waste those sides of bread. Preserve it and use it for your cutlets. They are awesome.

Ingredients

For the cutlet mix

1. 1 1/2 cups of boneless chicken
2. 2 cups of boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes
3. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
4. 1/2 cup of chopped onions, preferably red onions
5. 1 tbsp of chopped or grated ginger
6. 2 green chillies, finely chopped
7. 1 tsp of garam masala
8. 15-16 curry leaves, finely chopped
9. 2 tbsp of oil 
10. Salt to taste

For shallow frying

1. 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2. 1 egg, beaten
3. Oil for Shallow frying

Method

• In a pressure cooker, take the boneless chicken, 1/2 cup of water, half of turmeric powder and salt. Pressure cook it untill the chicken is done. For me it took, 1 whistle on high heat followed by 2 whistles on medium-low heat. Wait for the pressure to release. Remove the chicken pieces into a blender jar and mince the chicken by running the blender for about 20 seconds.
• Mix the minced chicken and mashed potatoes and keep it aside.
• In a pan, take the oil to make the cutlet mix. Heat it. Once hot, add the onion, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and salt. Saute it on medium heat, untill the onion is soft and translucent. Now add the turmeric powder and garam masala and give a stir.
• Add the mixture of mashed potatoes and minced chicken. Mix it all well and continue to cook on low heat for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mix cool down a bit.
• Once the mix has cooled down, start making cutlets of your desired shapes. Freeze them for about 15 minutes in the fridge before frying.

For frying

• Heat a pan with oil for shallow frying. Once hot, turn down the heat to medium. Dip each cutlet in the beaten egg and roll it in bread crumbs. 
• Drop it into the oil. Once brown on one side, flip and cook the other side.
• Using a slotted spoon, drain excess oil and place the cutlets on a plate lined with tissue paper.
• Serve it hot , with some sauce or onion salad.

Tips

1. Keep the bread crumb in a bowl and not in a plate. This would help prevent wastage of bread crumbs and at the same time help the bread crumbs spread evenly over the cutlet.
2. Since the cutlet mixture is already cooked, its just the bread crumb coating that needs to be cooked. Hence, fry it just untill the cutlet surface turns dark brown in colour.
3. Don't waste the sides of the bread which you chopped off while making sandwiches/ pudding. If preserved in the fridge, they turn out to be amazing alternative to those store bought bread crumbs. Just run it in a blender to make coarse powder and use it for your cutlet coating.

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