Healthy cooking | Snack recipe | Vegetable cutlets

I was one of those kids who never nagged for food. I see many mothers struggle to make their kids eat greens. I am someone who would always choose a veg platter over non-veg. That’s something very contrasting to being a Bong. A Bengali lunch is incomplete without fish or meat. Bong mothers’ prayers be like “Amar shontaan jeno thaake Maache-bhaate” which means “I wish my kids can always get rice and fish”. I do not have any disregard for fish or meat rather there are many favorite non-veg recipes which I swear by but there are certainly more favorites veg recipes which I can have daily. J

We all know the goodness of vegetables or why & how we should include more vegetables in our diet. But the problem with Indian cooking is we tend to overcook the vegetables which considerably decrease the nutrient value. On top of it the amount of oil & ghee we use. Myth is more oil is to more taste. For sure, there is much awareness among people nowadays. Supermarkets are bringing in more organic & super foods. But that’s restricted to big cities and price is always a factor. Although there are many who have already incorporated “Eating clean & healthy” in their lifestyle.

My efforts have been always to use the easily available resources but change the cooking style so as to keep the nutrient value intact. And trust me the taste is not hampered.

Today sharing one of such healthy yet tasty recipe –Vegetable Cutlets!

For this we need:

·         Vegetables of choice: Beetroot, Potato/Raw Banana, Carrots, Peas, Corn.
·         Chopped coriander
·         Chopped Green chilies
·         Ginger-garlic paste
·         Ground peanuts
·         Rolled toasted oats
·         Garam masala powder
·         Coriander powder
·         Amchur/Dry Mango powder
·         Wheat flour if required
·         Salt to taste
·         White Oil
·         Bread crumbs & Semolina

Method:

Cut the vegetables in to dices and steam till they are soft. Check with knife – it should easily slide in. Once done keep them on a tissue paper to dry up any water content and let it cool. Steaming will help the veggies to get soft and we can reduce the oil content thereby. Also this will ensure fast cooking later which means you got some points in your health scale. J

Once the veggies are cooled to room temperature, grate them in a mixing bowl. Add peas, corn, ground peanuts, chopped coriander & green chilies, half a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste, dried masalas & salt. Mix everything. Check the binding at this point. We have potato/raw banana & ground peanuts – so it should help in binding. To tighten it up, add rolled toasted oats or little bit of wheat flour.

Mix everything again, check the salt. We should be able to give shape to the mixture and ensure it does not break while frying.

I have given heart shapes to my cutlets & have carefully rolled them over a mixture of semolina & bread crumbs. This give an awesome crunch to the coating.

Heat little oil in a flat pan preferably nonstick just enough not to burn the cutlets. Shallow fry the cutlets on medium flame. All the veggies are already cooked, so just fry them till you get a good crunchy coating on both sides. Serve it with your favorite ketchup.

Healthy tricks here:

ü   Incorporate steaming in your cooking – that will always cut down the cooking time & oil quantity.
ü  Avoid Maida or all-purpose flour for binding, use oats or wheat flour.
ü  Use non-stick pan – that considerably lessens the oil need.
ü  If you are cooking for kids, use this recipe to hide those veggies which usually they don’t want to eat. Just mix it with other veggies & give different shapes with a cookie cutter.

Be bold, be blessed!

BD.