Vegetable CUT”LACE” err Cutlets-Indian Railways Inspired .

Cut"lace"!
Cut"lace"!
Cut"lace"!
I did try ...no video on the cutlet sellers. Next journey...we'll make a guy pose and yell -promise!

Some memories are etched in our minds forever. Never to be parted from. Among these are the train journeys we undertake, to go on a holiday or to move to a different city,part of the occupational hazards.

After 14 years of marriage I realised why hubby dear loves to travel by train, not for anything else but a childhood fascination and awe for all kind of engines. Steam Engines, to be precise. I remember ,train journeys with the steam locomotive pulling the train along the western Ghats in India, meant that one reached their destination covered in specks of soot..

Today, the reason why I still prefer to travel by train-always end up  paying the charges for excess baggage at airports. My journeys are always eventful, and every so often, I’ve barely just managed to catch the train...by a hairs breadth. This summer, while returning from Delhi after a much needed vacation...hubby dear and I realised that we were travelling together after almost 9 years. Time had whizzed past, so many things had changed.
Indian Railway and no Video...can think of nothing other than Maliaka Arora Khan! dancing on th etrain...no cutlet sellers here.

We now travelled first class, ERGO...there was no vendor selling chips or magazines or the antiquated ,stinky, smelly soap strips(thank god for liquid soap)or the chai tea in the earthenware cups  called kullads, or the guy selling CUT”LACE”, CUT”LACE” ,CUT”LACE” in a nasal baritone.

Those two cutlets deep fried in god only knows how many years old vegetable fat, with two slices of bread and the “kaddu “ ka sauce!

Ring a bell!

The process of trial and error-rather trial by fire was initiated and we decided to recreate that same taste of the CUT”LACE”. We even tried deep frying the cutlets in a batch of oil n which many, many French fries had been fried...to try and create that taste. Close enough, only my hands are always clean!

I think we came close enough to that taste and now that I’ve made this sweet child’s snack, i omit the deep fat frying and lightly sear it on a non-stick griddle.

All my efforts went into stuffing the CUT”LACE” with vegetables and yet make them tasty.

Here goes...

Indian Railways Inspired Vegetable CUT”LACE” err Cutlets...

You need

500 Gms boiled potatoes

500 Gms shredded carrots

500 Gms shredded cauliflower

250 Gms shelled peas

250 Gms finely diced French beans

1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera

1 tbsp pav bhaji masala

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves/Kasuri Methi

1 onion finely shopped

1 tbsp refined vegetable oil, a little extra to cook the cutlets

400-500 Gms bread crumbs-A day old works best

Hand full chopped coriander.

Salt, red chilli flakes to taste

1 tsp finely diced ginger

If I can get sweet child to eat this voluntarily, I’m a great mother. All my sins of stuffing him with vanilla butter cream frosted cupcakes are washed off.

See the amount of vegetables...really makes you happy. Pretty colours and prettier health benefits.                                                                           

Start with a big pan on the fire, and with the oil in it. Pop in quick succession, the cumin seeds and the onions.

Lightly sauté the onions and the ginger.

Add the kasuri methi -the dried fenugreek leaves. Almost like the swahaa into a puja fire.

Add to this the cauliflower, the carrots and the peas and beans...

Cook on a medium flame, when the veggies start leaving their juices add the  seasonings -That includes the pav bhaji masala.
This is the brand I use...

On a high flame, now dry out the veggies. You don’t want mushy veggies, bite is important.

Bring them out in a large dish, to cool; them out.

Once the veggies have cooled, add the boiled potatoes which are to be mashed and added to the veggies. Add in the coriander.

Bind this with the bread crumbs, use only what is needed.Check for taste...yum.

Heat up the gridle, make small patties and cook on medium heat till a nice crisp crust is formed. 

You can serve them with the bread, butter and sauce or make mini burgers with cheese and ketchup.

If you want the deep fried ones, dip the patties in cornstarch slurry and then bread crumbs and fry! Crisp, hot and yummy, this way or the other.

I made veggie burgers...sweet child is Happy!

So what if it is not baked, it warms your soul.

So, what are you baking today???

PS..the friends and I are off to make tiramisu...Eggless if you please.
Two puds!One without and the other with BRANDY!..Tia Maria,if it ever available will go straight -unpolluted into the mouth!