Refurbishing Food: Crispy Cutlets

How many times do we come across a situation when there was a party the previous night and we cooked for 10 people when there were only 7- 8 or the kids ordered their favourite pizza and the dishes for dinner went straight into the refrigerator.

Food wastage is so not acceptable to me and therefore I keep experimenting with leftover food, to convert it into something different from what it originally was.

One such refurbished snack I make is cutlets from leftover dals (cooked lentils/pulses), especially the red lentil whole (Masoor Sabut dal). These cutlets are made with dal and bread as the base, along with a whole lot of spices to not just enhance the flavour, but to make sure the leftover dal from last night does not wreak havoc on the stomach. 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pre-cooked dal (preferable red lentil whole)
• 1 pack of white bread (whole wheat bread works well too)
• 1-2 tsp of garlic paste
• 1 tsp of ginger paste
• 4-5 chopped green chillies
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• ½ tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain)
• ¼ tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp Dried Mango Powder (Amchoor)
• ¼ tsp crushed pomegranate seeds (Anardana)
• ½ tsp of Garam Masala (Mix of various Indian spices)
• Salt to taste
• Bread crumbs for coating the cutlets
• Oil for deep frying (can be shallow fried as per requirement)

Method:

• Combine the precooked dal and bread to make a dough like mixture and let the bread soak for 30 minutes. If the mixture appears soggy/watery, add a few more slices of bread
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes, spices and salt to taste. Remember that this is a precooked dal, therefore it already has good amounts of salt in it.
• Take small portions of the mix to form round or oval shaped cutlets
• Roll the cutlet in bread crumbs and make sure that it is covered with crumbs on all sides
• Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the cutlets
• Keep the cutlets in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to allow the cutlets to bind better and crumbs to get moistened

Bread and Cooked Lentil Cutlets Ready for Frying

• Heat oil in a wok and put 5-6 cutlets at a time for deep frying on a low-medium flame
• Once the cutlets turn golden brown, remove from the wok and drain excess oil on an absorbent paper
• Repeat the same for the rest of the cutlets
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup and mint chutney. You can also sprinkle chaat masala (mix of black salt, chilli powder, cumin seeds and dry mango powder) for extra tangy taste

Crispy Cutlets Served Hot with Potato Chips and Tomato Ketchup

Hope you like this. Do share your views on the same.

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