Pork Cutlets

I woke to a bright sunny morning today, complete with chirping birds and my favourite Strawberry Smoothie. As I was drinking my Smoothie breakfast, I wondered what I should do for the rest of the day. You see, it's not often that I have a whole, empty day of nothingness presented to me. So today was a treasure. 

With all the healthy eating going on with me these days, I thought that it would be nice to have a slightly un-healthy lunch. I also had all that lovely minced pork in the freezer to use up. Since no one in my family has made my grandmother's Pork Cutlets in a long time, my decision was easy. 

Just like the Fish Cutlets, I knew I was in for a long morning of prep in the kitchen. It's unavoidable with Cutlets. You'll understand why when you read the recipe. 

I had them for lunch with a mixed vegetable stir-fry and brown rice. Delicious and very much like I remember from a time long gone.

PORK CUTLETS

A

300g Minced Pork

B

3 medium-sized Potatoes

Boil, peel the skin off and mash. Set aside.

C

1 medium Red Onion

2 sprigs Curry Leaves

4 small cloves Garlic

Oil

Chop and saute till fragrant in a little Oil. Set aside. 

D

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds

2 teaspoons Fennel seeds

2 teaspoons Ginger Powder

Dry roast in a pan till fragrant. When done, let it cool for a few minutes, then grind into a fine powder in a dry grinder. Set aside. 

E

1/3 cup Cashew Nuts

Dry roast in a pan till lightly brown. When done, let it cool for a few minutes, then grind into a coarse powder in a dry grinder. Set aside.

F
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Salt, to taste

Oil

In a large bowl, place the Minced Pork. Add in the ingredients from B, C, D and E which you already prepared. Add a few pinches of Salt to taste. Then with clean hands or a spatula, mix everything together. Once done drizzle in a little of the Egg and mix it through well. You may not need the whole Egg. Only use enough to bind the mixture. Roll into balls, flatten them slightly and shallow fry in some Oil until brown. Drain on absorbent paper to remove excess Oil and serve immediately. 

Kipper Cutlets

So I don't like kippers. Perhaps I hate kippers. I'm certainly not a fan of kippers... now that I've had them. I found some frozen smoked Scottish kippers in the local supermarket recently. Having read a lot about them and watching a River Cottage episode that featured them, I just had to have some. They were expensive!

Well naturally since they're native to a country that leagues away west. Anyway, I followed the instruction on the packet, which was to boil the the pack in water until the butter in it melted, open the pack (this is where I ran into trouble) and eat it on bread with butter.  

Despite the fact that I live in a country where people eat all sorts of smelly food i.e. durian; I really couldn't stomach the smell of kippers once I opened the pack. I felt like throwing it away, but I couldn't just bin it because it cost the earth, so here's what I did.

I boiled some potatoes, mashed it, mashed the kipper fillets together with it, added some turmeric powder, cumin powder, crushed black pepper, rolled them into large balls, flattened them slightly and breaded them in some breadcrumbs. They got fried and eaten with some mayonnaise and chilli sauce.

I may not like kippers, but I do like kipper cutlet. Occasionally. Once in a blue moon perhaps? Let's just say - to quote a friend of mine - 'I've been there, done that and bought the t-shirt'.

Christmas: Part 2

Remember the fish cutlets I was talking about from Christmas: Part 1? Well, here's the recipe. It's a lot of work, but really worth the effort. These don't appear very often on our family dinner menus, but when it does it is a prized commodity.





Patti's Fish Cutlets

Preparation A

2 large slices of tenggiri fish

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt

Water

Rub fish with salt and turmeric.

Place in a shallow pan with water coming up to half the height of the fish slices. Cook covered for about 10 minutes on medium heat until cooked through.

If yes, remove from stove and let it cool.

Once completely cooled, remove the bones and skin. Mash flesh with fork till fine.

Check salt.

Preparation B

2 medium potatoes

Boil till very soft.

Peel, cool and mash.

Preparation C

1 medium red onion

1 fresh red chilli

2 sprigs curry leaves

1 small clove garlic

Chop and sauté till fragrant.

Preparation D

1/4 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds

1 teaspoon anise (saunf) seeds

Dry roast in pan till fragrant.

Crush with mortar & pestle till fine powder.

1 egg

Lightly beaten.

Assembly

Mix fish with potatoes until thoroughly incorporated.

Add in ingredients from B and D. Mix well.

Add in egg bit by bit until you get a firmish mixture. Stop adding the egg once the mixture can be rolled into balls without breaking or sticking to the palms of your hands.

Check salt.

Roll into balls and fry until golden in batches.

Drain on paper towels and serve.

  

For MEAT cutlets:

Use minced beef or pork. No need to pre-cook the meat.

Omit the turmeric.

Add in 1/4 teaspoon finely chopped ginger in B.

Add in some finely chopped cashewnuts in Assembly.