Bread cutlet - a healthy snacks

Monsoon calls for snacks and fries and Indians love them. Few friends and readers of this blog asked for the same and here is one cutlet recipe for them. This bread cutlet is an easy and filling breakfast or snacks that is easy to prepare and takes little time. It is a great option when you have few bread slices which cannot be used for any other thing. This is a great companion of chai/coffee and can even be an option for kids’ tiffin for school.

Preparation Time: - 20 min

Cooking Time: - 20~25 min

Servings: - 4~5 persons (varies from person to person)

Ingredients:-  

1. 5 slices of white (or brown) bread – I used white bread
   
2. 3 medium potatoes
3. ½ length medium carrot
4. Handful of peas
5. 2 tsp Ginger paste made from grinding fresh ginger in pestle and mortar
6. 1 medium onion chopped
7. Handful of peanuts
8. 2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder
9. 2 tsp roasted cumin powder (you may not roast it but I prefer this way)
10. 2 tsp Garam Masala
11. Few brown raisins (optional)
12. 5 tbsp Bread Crumb
13. 1 tsp lemon juice
14. 3 tbsp vegetable oil ( I used Sunflower oil)
15. Salt to taste
16. ½ tsp Sugar (optional)
17. Few chopped coriander leaves (optional)
18. 1 cup water
19. Tomato Ketchup for garnishing

Preparation:-

1. Boil potatoes, carrots and peas in a pressure cooker. Drain the water by a strainer and keep aside.
   
2. Roast the cumin powder in a non-stick pan and keep aside.
3. Fry the peanuts in 2 tsp oil in the same pan.
   
4. Cool the peanuts and crush them in pestle and mortar.
   
5. Prepare the ginger paste and keep aside.
6. Take a bowl and mix potato, carrot, peas and finely chopped coriander leaves (optional) with some salt and sugar if you are a sugar tooth.
7. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium flame. Add finely chopped onion and sauté until light brown.
   
8. Add ginger paste, roasted cumin powder and Kashmiri red chilli. Pour the mixture from step 6.
9. Sprinkle peanuts, raisin and garam masala. Mix well with a ladle and keep frying till everything mixes well. Since all the vegetables are cooked be gentle while frying so that they don’t become mushy. Fry till there is no traces of moisture.
   
10. Turn off the flame and transfer it to a bowl. Let it cool for 4-5 minutes at room temperature.
    
11. Take a bowl of water, dip each bread slice in it and immediately take it out. Squeeze it to remove excess water and add to the mixture in last step.
    
12. Add 2 tbsp bread crumb and lemon juice to the overall mixture.
    
13. Knead and mix again. Taste if more salt is required. Add if needed.
14. Divide the mixture into 10 equal ball-shaped portions. I showed only 9 as one of them fell to the floor when preparing. Alternatively you can make cylinder shaped portions as shown in the picture below.
    
    
    
15. Flatten the balls or cylinders into ½ inch thick patty.
    
16. Spread the rest of bread crumbs in a plate.
17. Dip each patty into it to coat both sides with it and transfer it to another plate.
    
18. Take another non-stick frying pan or wash and reuse the one used earlier
19. Heat 2 tbsp oil over medium flame and put 3 cutlets on it.
20. Shallow fry both sides of the cutlets until they turn light golden brown.
    
21. Fry all the patties this way.

Garnish the cutlets with tomato ketchup and serve hot. This makes a great snack which is not too unhealthy. 

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.