Chicken cutlet

I love Chicken starters... Anytime at a Chinese or North Indian restaurant, I do not miss the opportunity to try some new chicken starter.

I've been planning to make chicken nuggets for a while now and been buying boneless chicken for the same, but just didn't find the time. So the boneless chicken would be made into some semi solid chicken fry dish :)...

Last weekend dad bought 1/2 Kg of boneless chicken as usual; I decided to make shallow-fried  chicken cutlet this time, in contrast to the deep fried nuggets...

I just tried this intuitively from my experience with vegetable cutlets.
 

Here is the recipe:

For the chicken filling:

Boneless chicken - 500g

Medium sized onions, coarsely chopped - 2

Large Tomato, coarsely chopped - 1

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Wash and clean the boneless chicken breast and cut into large pieces. 

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed cooker. Add the chopped onions and tomatoes and saute well. Add the ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt and garam masala and saute until the raw smell is gone and there is nice aroma. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a few minutes. There is very little fat content in chicken breast and hence you will not find oil separating from the meat. Add just enough water to cover the chicken pieces until halfway and close the cooker. Allow two whistles and turn it off. 

Once the pressure is gone, open the cooker and turn on the flame to let all the water dry out. When you get a semi-solid mass, turn off the flame again and let it cool down completely.

Pulse this entire preparation in a blender for 10-20 seconds. It becomes a soft light brownish paste. Make small balls the size of a lemon with this paste and keep aside.

To assemble:

Corn flour or Maida - 3 tbsp

Powdered rusk - 1 cup

Water - 1.5 tbsp

Mix the water and corn flour to make a paste. Take the chicken ball, flatten it and dip it in the maida/corn paste, then roll it over the rusk powder to coat all sides. Shape the cutlet as desired. 

You can shallow fry these cutlets in a girdle with 3 - 4 tbsp of oil. Heat the oil in a girdle and place three or four cutlets. The cutlets can easily break and hence you need to place them atleast an inch apart on the girdle. Wait until one side turns golden brown and then flip over to the other side and let them fry until golden brown. The second picture on top (right) is that of the shallow fried cutlets.

Alternately you can also grill them with the microwave-grill option. This uses very little oil and ensure even browning. Place the cutlets on a grill sheet and apply oil over both sides of the cutlets using a pastry brush. Place the tray on a high rack in the microwave; grill them on the microwave-grill option for 10 minutes. Midway through the grilling time, pause the oven and flip the cutlets. 

Here is a picture of one shallow-fried and one grilled cutlet.Serve with Mint chutney or Tomato Sauce.   Can be had as an evening snack with tea or as a starter. But remember that these are quite heavy and it is difficult to eat more than two at a time. This recipe makes 20 cutlets.         

 Verdict: Well this one was a winner, especially the grilled cutlets, but as I mentioned earlier, obviously we could not finish it between the 5 of us; We had my dad's friend joining us for dinner that night. So we sent some over to my friend who shares the same taste for chicken as I do ;) and put the left overs in the fridge for consumption with tea the next day.