Monday, 24 December 2012

Spinach cutlets



These are inspired by Indian vegetable cutlets which consist of mashed potato and other vegetables and spices. I have substituted sweet potato for some of the potato and added a substantial amount of greens.



Makes: 8 cutlets
 
Ingredients
1 medium potato
1 medium sweet potato
100 g spinach/palak, roughly chopped
50 g fenugreek leaves/methi, roughly chopped
75 g fresh shelled green peas
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 green chilli, sliced
2 teaspoons dried mango powder/amchur
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt (I used kala namak/black salt)
juice of 1 lemon
Tamarind chutney, to serve (optional)

Method
Cook the potato, sweet potato and peas by a method of your choice. Do not peel the potato. The potato and sweet potato should be soft and easy to mash. The green peas should still be bright green. I microwaved the vegetables for five minutes each (the peas were sprinkled with 2 tablespoons of water and covered). In case of microwaving the sweet potato cook it with the skin and then place it under cold running water for a few seconds to easily peel it off.

Mash together the potato (with the skin still on) and the sweet potato (peeled), add the spices, lemon juice, salt and green peas and mash again until some of the green peas are slightly crushed (they should still greens).Heat a small pan over medium heat and the spinach and fenugreek leaves. Cook, stirring constantly until they have wilted completely and some of the liquid released has evaporated (about 3-5 minutes). The leaves should not be too watery. Grind to a coarse paste the spinach and fenugreek along with the chopped ginger and chilli.

Heat a non-stick (or lightly oiled) griddle/frying pan over a low heat. Mix the spinach paste with the mashed potatoes (see note below), fully incorporating it. Form the mixture into cutlets/patties of your desired shape using about one-eighth of the mixture per cutlet. Cook the patties for about 3-5 minutes on one side, checking frequently, until it has browned, flip over and cook for about 3 minutes on the other side. Serve hot with tamarind chutney or other sauce of your choice.

NOTE:
You should be able to add all of the paste to the mashed potatoes and obtain a result that is quite soft but stiff enough to mould into cutlets. But it is advisable to add the spinach paste in batches to ensure that it does not become too soft.  (If any spinach paste is left over, it could be use in a number of different ways e.g. try frying it in a little oil and mixing rice with it or mixing it in dough to make chapattis or adding it to some mashed potatoes like in this recipe).

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