Name: Recipe for Vegetable Croquettes & Cutlets
Ingredients: Oil for Frying; 150gms Potatoes; 150gmns Green Peas; 150gms Cabbage; 100gms Carrots; ¼ Cup Water for boiling the veggies; 1.5 Tspn Jeerem Meerem powder(Recipe link given below) oryou can even use any Garam masala powder of your choice; 2 Tspn Ginger Garlic Paste(Recipe link given below) – to beused while boiling the veggies; 1 Tspn Salt; 4-5 Green Chillies – chopped fine; 4 slices of bread or 2 Pao; 1.5 Tspn Vinegar; 7-8 sprigs of Fresh Coriander with stem – chopped fine; 1 Tbspn Corn Flour or Besan – My Mum uses Besan. This is a substitute for Egg; 1 Veg Stock Cube; Fine Semolina for coating

Instructions

Now in a vessel add the Cabbage, Peas and Carrots, Water, Ginger Garlic paste, Jeerem Meerem powder and Salt. Mix all this together, cover the Vessel and allow this to cook on low to medium heat until the veggies are fully cooked and all the water has evaporatedNote: At intervals in between, just randomly stir the veggies to ensure nit’s not getting stuck at the bottom of the vessel and also check that there is enough water at all times so that the veggies don’t get burnt
Once the veggies are soft, with the help of a Potato masher start mashing the Veggies and bring it all together
Further cook the mashed veggies and let all the moisture get evaporated. Keep it aside and allow it cool at room temperature
Add the boiled Potatoes and mash everything and combine everything togetherSome Gyaan:1) I use a masher and avoid using a mixer grinder to make a paste for the veg croquettes/cutlets because grinding a paste in the grinder makes the veggies release more moisture and the paste becomes sticky and gummy which in turn will make it impossible to shape the croquettes and cutlets. 2) DO NOT worry if the veggies become softer than usual. Infact softer the better as that will make it easier to mash the Veggies3) Ensure there is absolutely no moisture in the batter. Having a nice dry batter will avoid the croquettes/cutlets from breaking while frying
In the meanwhile, add the Bread slices or Pao into the Mixer grinder and dry grind the bread Notes: You can use this as a binding agent for any type of cutlet or croquette, be it Chicken, Mutton, Beef or Fish. It helps keep the batter remain dry and firm.I avoid the traditional method of soaking the bread and squeezing the water out as I’ve always felt that it makes the batter softer and it gets challenging to shape the cutlets and croquettesI’m not a fan of dried Bread crumbs as compared to fresh bread as a binding agent as Bread crumbs have a toasted crispy texture and for some reason it kind of separates itself from the mixture, leaving the batter ‘grainy’ . So I always prefer freshly ground bread for the batter and Bread crumbs for only coating.
The groud Bread will look like this.Note: Many people ask me "won't bread turn into a paste when you grind in the mixer?" My answer is a Simple "NO, give it a try"
Once the mixed Vegetable batter comes to room temperature, add the Corn flour, ground bread, Veg stock cube, Vinegar, Chopped Coriander, Chopped Onions, Chopped Chillies and bind all this togetherNote: If you’re using store bought Ginger Garlic paste, ensure to go easy on the addition of salt as most store bought GG pastes contains loads of salt
This is the final batter
If you have a weighing scale, you can weigh equal parts of the batter. For croquettes I use 30-35gms each and for cutlets it around 45-50gms. If you don’t have a scale, it’s absolutely fine. Just think of your Maths teacher and use the art of simple division and precision 😊😊
Drop every weighed ball of batter into a plate of Semolina(Rawa)Note: I don't coat Veg Cutlets and Croquettes with Breadcrumbs because when we coat anything with breadcrumbs it always requires a liquid pre-coating of either corn flour slurry or egg wash. I'm not a fan of corn flour slury unless it's absolutely necessary to use as I find it quite messy and in a Veg cutlet or croquette or any other "Vegetarian" recipe, I would never use Egg. So, since Semolina can be used as it is without any pre-coating, I go ahead and use only Semolina
Roll and Coat every ball with Semolina
Gently, on a clean flat surface, roll every ball into cylindrical shapes for croquettes.Note: While shaping Croquettes or Cutlets of any kind, I prefer wearing gloves so that I don't have to land up washing my hands 100 times in between when all the semolina gets stuck to my palms. Gloves avoids the mess and saves time too
Similarly, shape all the Croquettes
Heat Oil on High Flame in a Kadai for deep frying the croquettes.
Once the Oil turns hot, Add about 6-8 croquettes and fry until golden brown.Notes: Ensure the Oil is Hot. If the Oil is not very Hot, the croquettes will break. Do not add too many croquettes at a time as this may cause the Oil to lose the required heat and in turn the croquettes will start breakingPleeeeeeez deep fry croquettes. Shallow frying croquettes ruins the entire texture and shape of then croquette. And Pan Frying Croquettes is a complete No-No. The statement “It doesn’t matter how you look on the outside…What’s inside is what truly matters” should hold true ONLY & ONLY for Human Beings NOT for Croquettes!!! For Croquettes Inside Outside Upside Downside EVERYTHING matters. So Deep Fry Alllllll the Way!! Saving Tip: If for whatever reason the croquettes break, Fikar Not!! DO NOT discard them. Take them out from the Oil and put it into a bowl, add a little corn flour, mix mix mix, reshape and fry