Fish Cutlet

My mother-in-law is the queen of cutlets. She is an awesome cook, and she probably knows at least 50 different kinds of cutlets. Fish cutlet is an all time favorite for everyone in the family. My son who doesn't eat fish usually chomps on these happily.

Usually I take an dish and try to find a easier way to make it or a healthier way to make it. But some how I can't get myself to make fish cutlets any other way. So it is one of those very few dishes that I make that is labor intensive, but I feel well worth it... What say you ?

Ingedients
2 pounds of fish fillet (I use tilapia fillet)
1/2 tea spoon of Turmeric powder
1 tea spoon of Chili powder
1/2 cup Vinegar
4 large Potato boiled and skin peeled off and mashed
1 large Onion finely chopped
4-5 large garlic cloves minced
1 tea spoon of garam masala (optional)

handful of raisins
1 spring of mint leaves cut finely
Bread Crumbs - as needed
Salt to taste
1 cup of Besan
Oil for deep frying


How To

Marinate the fish with little turmeric powder, chili powder, vinegar and salt, overnight.

Then the next day you can fry the fish (the usual shallow fry of fish or broil it in the oven on each side for 5 min). The broiling works well for cutlets, since the fish is fried at least 2 more times after this and leaves no fishy smell....

In a nonstick pan fry Onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Then add the fish and fry for a few minutes. Add the garam masala and mashed potatoes and salt to taste. At the end add the mint leaves and raisins and mix well and take off the stove and let it cool.

In a separate bowl, take the besan, a pinch of salt and pinch of garam masala and mix well. Add water to make a thick batter and mix well to ensure there are no lumps.

After the fish mixture cools, take small portions and shape into oval cutlets. Dip them in besan batter then roll them in bread crumbs and keep aside. This makes about 20-25 cutlets.

I usually keep the cutlets in the refrigerator and deep fry as many as you need just before serving them. The cutlets stay fresh in the fridge for about 4-5 days before deep frying.

Enjoy these cutlets with mint chutney or else enjoy with Amba Panna...