Chicken Cutlet Recipe

​Ingredients (240 ml cup used)

250 to 300 grams chicken
½ cup finely chopped onions
1 medium boiled and mashed potato (optional)
half cup boiled peas (optional)
1 green chilli slit
1 ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
Handful of coriander leaves & pudina / mint
1 ½ tsp garam masala or all spice powder as needed
½ cup rice flour or bread crumbs (use as needed)
¼ cup besan / chickpea or any flour (substitute with egg)
Salt as needed2 to 3 tbsp Oil for pan frying (more if shallow frying)

How to make chicken cutlet recipe

1. Wash chicken well and drain up completely. Add the chicken to a pan or pot. I had this buttermilk brined chicken left after making Zinger burger which i used up to make these cutlets. But as such there is no need to brine it. If you do not have tender chicken, then you can wash and then soak it in buttermilk (2 tbsp curd and half cup water) for at least 2 hours. This makes the chicken juicy, tender and the cutlets turn out to be good, not chewy.

2. As i mentioned earlier even chicken with bones is fine for this recipe. Just cook them in a pot on a low flame until soft and completely cooked. Chicken begins to release lot of moisture so no water should be added. However little water can be sprinkled if there is no moisture released.

3. When it is completely cooked, open the lid and cook further for a while to evaporate the stock or strain it off. There was not much stock left, so just cooking for another 2 to 3 mins evaporated the stock. But you can also collect the stock and use it in your soups or serve to kids. You can cut the chicken and check if it is cooked well. I just used a fork to do it.

4. When the chicken is cooled completely, discard the bones. Either blend it in a blender or chop it finely or shred. I prefer to chop it. Then add finely chopped onions, ginger garlic paste, green chilies, salt, coriander or mint leaves turmeric, red chili powder and garam masala. If you do not have garam masala, you can use cajun spice mix or little all spice. If you prefer to use potato , you can add one steamed/ boiled & mashed potato now. You can also add grated carrots and shredded cabbage.

5. Mix everything well. Then begin to add rice flour or bread crumbs, little by little as needed.

6. Knead the mixture very well until it comes together. Use flour only as needed. When you begin to knead the moisture from the chicken and onions begin to release and bind everything well.

7. Divide the dough and make 8 to 9 patties. Set these aside.

8. Beat an egg & salt in a bowl. Or you can also make a batter made of besan, salt and water. The batter must not be very thick or thin but has to be like the bajji batter consistency. Also Take the bread crumbs in a bowl. I used dried bread crumbs, you can also make them by pulsing few slices of bread in a blender. Dip each patty in the batter or egg mixture.

9. Immediately add it to the bowl of bread crumbs. Coat it well.

10. Repeat the process of dipping all the patties in batter / egg and then in the bread crumbs. Set these aside for about 15 mins for the crumbs to set well. Gently press down each of these cutlets including on the sides so that the crumbs stick well.

11. These can be deep fried or shallow fried or pan fried. I pan fried them.I added 2 tbsp oil to the pan. When the oil turns hot, tilt the pan slightly so that the oil is on one side. Then slowly drop the patties, 2 at one time. When the patties are coated well with oil on one side, just move them aside and add 2 more.

12. This way make sure all the chicken cultets are dropped in oil for even frying and coloring.

13. When they turn golden, flip them to the other side and fry. I added another tbsp oil now around the edges for the other side to fry well.

14. Since these are not deep or shallow fried in oil, the sides do not turn golden. If you are particular about the color, then I suggest deep frying or fry on the sides as well as shown in the pic below. But even pan fried patties turn very crunchy & delicious.

Serve hot with onion wedges, tomato ketch up or green chutney.