Easy cutlets

Leftover bread pieces, leftover bread sides , leftover potato curry can be transformed into cutlets for morning breakfasts.This is very easy & filling as well !As the bread gets older , cutlets get better ! Dry breads make for better cutlets, in short ! This is called upcycling of leftovers !

Ingredients : 1-2 boiled medium sized boiled potatoes ,2 medium carrots, a few kadi pattas ( curry leaves), 1 tbsp finely chopped hara dhania, 2 -4 slices of brown bread ( even white bread is fine ), 1 tsp garted ginger, 1 tsp flax seed powder ( optional ),1 tsp finely chopped green chillies ( or use 1 tsp red chilli powder), 1 tbsp lemon juice ( in summers,1 tsp grated raw mango can be used ),1/4 tsp turmeric,1/4 tsp hing, 2 tbsp oil,salt to taste.


Method : Clean & grate the carrots.Keep aside.Finely chop the kadi pattas after washing them.Mix them with the grated carrots,grated ginger ,chopped green chillies & chopped coriander.Keep aside.


Meanwhile crumble the bread slices into fine grainy powder in mixer.Roughly cut green chillies,kadi pattas ,coriander can be added to this in the mixer along with roughly broken bread slices to get an evenly mixed bread chilli-coriander-kadi patta mix !

Mix this bread crumble with grated carrots-chilli-coriander-kadi patta mix.Add salt ,lemon juice ( or grated raw mango ) ,flax seed powder,haldi & hing.Mix nicely.Keep aside. Peel the boiled potatoes  & mash them..Mix the mashed potatoes  with the bread carrot mix.Knead nicely all mix into a dough.Add a little water if you feel it is too dry.I did not add any water.

Grease palms with little oil & take a small amount of dough & pat it into a circular shape like a pedha though a bigger pedha.Repeat with the remaining dough & make circular pedhas.I made some 12 pedhas with the dough.

Warm a tawa on the gas.Smear the tawa with oil.Transfer the pedhas 5-6 at a time on to the tawa.Cover with lid.Let it cook for 5 minutes.Uncover & flip the pedhas over .They will have browned on the bottoms.Cover & cook for 2-3 minutes.Take them off from the tawa. They should have burned  brown a little or turned golden brown on the other side as well.If not ,cook for a minute more.

Serve with chutni or tomato ketchup.....In fact, they are so yummy that they can be eaten just like that ! 

If grated beetroot is added , the cutlets will be dark pink ......

Cabbage beans kootu

My friend has been making kootu for quite some time.Almost once every week.I asked her for the recipe & made it myself one day.It was liked by all.I mixed tur & moong dal in equal ratio.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup moong dal ,1/4 cup tur dal, 1/2 cup chopped cabbage, 1/4 cup beans cut in 1/2 inch pieces,1-2 green chillies,1 spring of kadipatta( curry leaves ),1 tsp cumin or jeera,3-4 peppercorns,1/4 tsp haldi ,1/4 tsp hing,salt to taste

Method : Wash moong & tur dal & add the cabbage & beans to it.Add water,haldi & hing  to this mixture & pressure cook for two whistles.Then lower the flame & cook on slow gas for 5-10 minutes.Let the cooker cool.

In the mixer ,grind  coconut,green chillies,peppercorns,kadipatta & jeera till it becomes a coarse powder.One can opt to make it into fine powder.I prefer little coarse.Keep aside.

Take the dal mix with the veggies into another vessel & add the ground mixture to it.Add salt.Bring this whole mixture to a boil on the gas.The kootu is ready.It is good for rotis as also rice.

Optional : One can make seasoning of oil ,mustard seeds & red chillies to add to the kootu.I prefer kootu without seasoning as cumin,coconut & other spices are already part of the kootu.

Optional Tip : I added vagar of mustard seeds, urad dal & byadgi mirchi to the kootu though it tastes well without vagar.That is how , in the snap above, the byadgi mirchi seems to be peeping out from the kootu in the katori.