Nutty Alu Cutlets: 25-Min Recipe

Shumaila Chauhan's cutlets, made from a medley of vegetables along with mashed potatoes, get their flavour from walnuts and a slew of spices. For more recipes by Shumaila, click here.

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled, boiled, mashed
• 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh green dhania or coriander leaves or cilantro
• 1/3 cup finely-chopped Shimla mirch or green capsicum or green bell pepper
• 1/3 cup peeled and finely-chopped carrots
• 1/3 cup finely-chopped French beans

Ingredients, continued

• Salt to taste, about 1½ tsp
• 1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper powder
• 2 tsp red chilly powder
• 1 tsp brown dhania or coriander powder

Ingredients, continued

• 1 tsp jeera or cumin powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp amchur powder or dried mango powder
• ½ tsp kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
• ¼ tsp haldi or turmeric powder
• Juice of ½ a lime
• Oil for frying the cutlets + extra to grease your hands while moulding the cutlets

Ingredients, continued

• Pinch kala namak or black salt
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• ½ cup poha or flattened rice, powdered
• ¼ cup finely-chopped walnuts

For the coating:

• ½ cup bread crumbs
• ½ cup poha, powdered
• Thick slurry of rice powder and a little water

Method

• In a bowl, mix all ingredients together, except the ingredients for the coating.
  Moisten your hands with a little oil and shape into 2-inch diameter balls and lightly flatten into cutlets and keep aside.
• Make a slurry with a little rice powder and water in a flat bowl and keep aside.
• In another flat bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and the poha and spread out into a layer and keep aside.

Method, continued

• Dip each of the cutlets into the slurry, and then coat with the bread crumbs-poha mix.
  Place all the coated cutlets on a plate and refrigerate for an hour.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, over medium heat, and shallow fry the cutlets till golden brown on both sides.
  Serve warm with ketchup, kasundi (Bengali mustard paste) or a green chutney.

Tips
Alternatively, air-fry or bake these cutlets. To air-fry them, grease the basket with a little oil and heat the air-fryer 5 minutes before to 180 °C. Air-fry them for 20 minutes or till crusty, flipping them in between.
Bake them in a 180 °C oven till crusty, flipping in between.

For a recipe for green chutney use Lahu Kapudskar's Mint-Dhania Chutney.

Recipe: Kind courtesy California Walnuts.