Baked Meat Cutlet (Croquette)

Crispy, crunchy cutlets should no longer be considered taboo because now you can eliminate deep frying and make cutlets with lean meat like Turkey. Now doesn't that sound more diet friendly?  The picture speaks for itself and I have just used 1 tablespoon of oil for 25 cutlets. Yes, you heard me right!
Make these in bulk and freeze them for future use too (Freezing and storing tips included below)  Enjoy!!!

Yields - 25 (approx)

Ingredients

For Cutlet Mix
1 1/2 Lb - Ground Turkey or Beef or Chicken
2 - Potato
1 1/2 Tsp - Pepper (Add more if you love it spicy)
2 1/2 Tbsp - Worcestershire sauce (Refer notes below)
6 - Green Chilly  (Add more if you love it spicy)
2" - Ginger
4 Cup - Chopped Onions
10 cloves - Garlic
3/4 Tsp - Garam masala
Pinch of Nutmeg
2 1/2 Tbsp - Fresh Curry leave (Finely Chopped)
2 1/2 Tbsp - Fresh Mint leaves (Finely Chopped)
1/4 C - Fresh Cilantro / Coriander leaves (Finely Chopped)
Salt
Oil

For the Crumb Crust
2 - Egg
3 - Bread slice
2 Tsp - Water
Salt
Pepper
Oil spray

Direction

• Boil the potatoes. Skin the cooked potatoes and mash them. Keep it aside
• In a non-stick pan, cook the turkey with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let it cool.
• Transfer the cooked turkey to the food processor and pulse until the lumps of meat are minced. This step is done to avoid lumps and get a uniform texture.
• Mince ginger, garlic and green chillies in the food processor OR finely chop ginger,garlic and green chillies. Keep aside
• Mince the onions in the food processor and keep aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan and add the minced ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Saute until the mixture is golden brown.
• Add the minced onions and saute until brown.
• Add the minced turkey, potatoes, cilantro, mint, nutmeg, garam masala, pepper and Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes until all ingredients are blended well. Remove from fire and let the cutlet mixture cool
• Make golf ball sized balls out of the cutlet mixture and shape them into desired shape (Oval or Round)
• Beat the egg with 2 Tsp of water, salt and pepper.
• Pulse the bread slices in the food processor and empty the bread crumbs into a plate.
• Take the shaped cutlet mixture and dip it into the beaten egg mixture then coat with the bread crumbs.
• To bake the cutlets : Heat the oven to 375F. Take an oven safe tray and line it with aluminium foil. Spray the foil with oil and arrange the cutlets on the tray leaving at least 1cm space between the cutlets. Generously spray the cutlet with oil on the edges and sides and bake until golden brown (35-45 mins). To make sure you achieve even browning on all sides you might want to flip the cutlets on to the other side half way through the baking process.

Notes and Tips

• Worcestershire sauce is a condiment used to flavour meat and fish dishes. It usually contains vinegar, molasses, soy sauce, anchovies, water, onions, salt, garlic, tamarind concentrate, cloves and chilli pepper extract. It is available in all grocery stores in the condiment aisle.
• You can substitute Turkey with Beef or Chicken
• You can increase the quantity of garam masala if desired. I used a homemade garam masala which is pretty potent
• You can adjust to your desired spice level. I use Indian black pepper powder which is spicier than the black pepper powder available in US.
• Just to make sure you achieve even browning on all sides you might want to flip the cutlets on to the other side half way through the baking process.
• Storing cutlets in bulk - I usually make double the quantity mentioned above and store the uncooked cutlets in the freezer. Make sure you separate each layer of cutlet with plastic wrap or aluminium foil to avoid the cutlets from sticking to each other while freezing.
• Baking frozen cutlets - You don't have to thaw the cutlets before baking them. Just place it in the oven after spraying it with oil and bake until golden brown. The baking process will be a little longer for the frozen cutlets compared to the regular cutlets.
• Cutlet refers to:
• a thin slice of meat from the leg or ribs of veal, pork, or mutton (also known in various languages as a cotoletta or Kotelett)
• a fried breaded cutlet
• a croquette made of minced meat
• a kind of fish fillet
• various preparations using fried cutlets or croquettes