Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Beef Cutlets

This is a recipe that Sunitha had mentioned in her chicken cutlet post about a month ago. Which means today’s recipe has been in the drafts for quite a long time. I haven’t been cooking anything time consuming of late mainly because of laziness. But I continue to blame the weather for my lethargy !

Meat cutlets are a hot selling snack in Kerala bakeries. We have a couple of bakeries, near my parents ‘ home, where they sell the most delicious cutlets. Some days, the demand was so high the bakeries would run out of cutlets way before tea time, which is when we would have stopped by to buy some. Oh! the disappointment!
Another place and time from when cutlets got registered in my mind as a fantastic food was the hostel. Especially the one I stayed in while doing my pre-degree course. This hostel is in fact one of the best hostels where I stayed which served good food. I can say this with certainty because I have stayed in quite a few hostels during my college days. And beef cutlets in this place served was tremendous. Hm… I can almost taste it, writing about it.

Beef Cutlets

Thursday lunch is when they served cutlets and Thursdays were always when the hostelites felt the hunger pangs the most. Well, hunger and a dying desire to eat the marvelous cutlets, of course. The hostel is about 5 minutes from the college campus but on Thursdays we would reach it in a minute. One cutlet per person, a dry dish with moru kachiyathu was the menu. Now, you will agree one cutlet for a person is never enough. For the first year, most of us savored every bite of this one piece we were doled out and remained sated. But the second year, we were bolder and demanding. With more friends, gangs had been formed and the human pack behavior was at it’s best. Some of us meat eaters had vegetarian friends and we plotted a plan. On Thursdays, we managed to get these poor souls to lunch at our table. I remember one girl a vegetarian by choice who sometimes enjoyed chicken but otherwise remained a vegetarian. We connived and pleaded with her to lunch at our table. She was a sweet heart and foregoing her special vegetarian food agreed to lunch with us. The lady who serve us, unaware of our antics would serve everyone at our table a cutlet each and as (The vegetarians and non vegetarians are encouraged to sit at their preferred place so that food can be served accordingly on each table). The unsuspecting served would serve this vegetarian friend a cutlet and the rest of us would hide our smile and wait for her to move on. As soon as the server was out of sight we would grab the cutlet from our friend’s plate. The ensuing fight for this one lone beef cutlet is too gory to let you in on the details. We never persuaded this friend to taste the cutlets ever , fearing she might turn over and be a fan herself. We were wicked!

Beef Cutlets


But I have to tell you, the time in college and the hostels were the best times. I am still in touch with friends from that time but have lost contact with the sweet friend who let us rob her of the beef cutlet. I wonder how she is fairing without cutlets but as for me and most of my other friends we all still love cutlets! Whenever I make beef cutlets memories pour in from those days. Oh jeez! I am all nostalgic now, and I want some beef cutlets !




Ingredients:


Onions finely chopped- 1/2 cup
Ginger grated- 3 Tbsp
Garlic grated- 1 Tbsp
Garam masala- 2 tsp
Green chilies finely chopped- 4-5
Black pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves, chopped- 5-6leaves
Ground Beef- 1 lb
Boiled potatoes- 2
Oil- 2 Tbsp + for deep frying
Bread crumbs from 2-3 slices
Slightly beaten egg- 1

Method:

1.Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wide frying pan. Saute the onions till translucent.
2.Add the chopped green chillies, ginger and garlic and saute for a few minutes.
3.Also add the garam masala and chopped curry leaves and saute.
4.Add the ground beef and mix everything well. Add a little bit (maybe 1/4 cup) water, cover and cook till the meat is done and all the water is absorbed.
5.Mash the boiled potatoes and mix with the beef mixture.
6.Heat the oil for frying the cutlets. When it is almost ready start shaping the cutlets.
7.Make small lemon size balls out of the mixture and press between the palms and make your preferred shapes, like oval, round,heart etc.
8.Dip them in the egg and roll in the bread crumbs and deep fry till both the sides are brown.
9.Serve warm with ketchup.

Notes:

1. You could use any meat of your choice.
2.If you don't have curry leaves, add some chopped coriander leaves instead.
3.Do not keep the shaped cutlets after dipping in egg for a long time. Fry them as soon as you can.
4.If you want to shape them and store for frying after a while, do not dip them in egg or roll in crumbs, do this step just before you fry them in oil.
5.The amount and flavor of ginger gives it the authentic taste. If you are using great quality ginger, use lesser than I mentioned in the recipe.(I never get ginger that has a flavor anywhere close to the ones we get in Kerala :(

I am sending these cutlets to this month's Kerala Kitchen hosted at Spoonful of Delight

Contributor: Namitha

23 comments:

  1. I too love cutlets. My mom and aunts always make and send for me that I rarely make my own :-). These look really tasty and love the shape!

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  2. ippo 2 ennam kittiyal kollamayirunnu!!! yumm!!!

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  3. great presentation...looking yummy..

    You hv got very wonderful sapce....
    plz visit my space when time permits...
    I'm ur happy follower now......

    DeepthiDigvijay
    Good Food Recipes
    Coffe With Me Deepthi

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  4. Lovely cutlets..kothiyavunnu,adipoli.

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  5. These sound delicious. Great story...one would definitely not be enough for me, and I can see why you would go to great lengths to get another...lol

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  6. If these were veggie ones, I'd be inviting myself over to you home right away :) Looks great!

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  7. wow you stayed in a hostel which served cutlets?! That's awesome! You should send these cuties over to the Kerala Kitchen!

    http://thekeralakitchen.blogspot.com/

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  8. one cutlet per person is really unfair !!! love the shapes of these cutlets , i will replace with chicken
    here. Very beautiful clicks as usual
    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  9. Mouthwatering here, super delicious cutlets,yumm!

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  10. WOW... scrumptious looking cutlets.... Perfect shape....

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  11. The cutlets look delicious... lovely article .. loved every bit of it:)
    Reva

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  12. If I had been a hostelite, I'd have been sure to be at that table every Thursday. These sound wonderful.

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  13. That was a nostalgic read about the hostel!Enjoyed it every bit.The cutlets look ravishing! No doubt they would taste awesome!Thx for the clarification on the bread flour!!

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  14. nami...they look gorgeous. i would love to keep some in the freezer n' make it as n when required n' all...my sister does that...but like baking my success rates with beef dishes aren't good. I will follow this recipe to the last dot n' let you know how I fared.

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  15. It is ages ago i made them. I only make them when I have guest at home. These look so so good.

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  16. delicious and tempting cutlets .....

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  17. Love the shape...looks darn cute!!

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  18. They are shaped v cute.... .
    I will try the recipe out with the vegetarian bit :) Tempting clicks :)

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  19. Beef cutlet looks very perfect and delicious!

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  20. Adipoli nami..Most of us have everlasting memories that are evoked by the foods allee??? enjoyed readding ur hostel stories..pakshe njan beef kazhukila athukondu next time chicken cutlet prepare cheythu ingottu parcel cheyyuttoo..:)

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  21. Cutlets with ketchup is my all time favorite snack.
    Love the color..Slurpp...

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