Mutton Cutlets

Before you start

• Boil the potatoes in their skins and let them steam dry for 10 minutes before mashing. Wet mash makes cutlets that split in the pan.
• Dry the breadcrumbs in a low oven or a dry pan for a few minutes if they feel at all soft. This is the whole difference between crisp and greasy.
• Chill the shaped, crumbed cutlets for 20 minutes before frying so the coating sets.

Method

1. Cook the mince in a dry pan over medium heat with the onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli until the meat has lost its pink and the liquid has gone, 12 to 15 minutes.Keep going until the pan is properly dry. Any moisture left here ends up in the cutlet.
2. Stir in the black pepper, garam masala, turmeric and 1 tsp salt and fry 2 more minutes. Take off the heat and cool completely.
3. Work in the mashed potato, coriander leaves and vinegar. The mix should hold a shape when pressed.
4. Divide into 12 and shape each into a flat oval about 1cm thick.
5. Set up three plates: maida, beaten egg, breadcrumbs. Dust each cutlet in flour, dip in egg, then press firmly into the crumbs.Press the crumbs on hard. A loose coating falls off in the oil and burns.
6. Chill the crumbed cutlets 20 minutes.
7. Heat the oil on a tawa or wide frying pan over medium heat until a crumb dropped in sizzles steadily.Too hot and the crumb burns before the inside warms; too cool and it drinks oil.
8. Fry in batches, 3 minutes a side, until deep golden brown and crisp.
9. Drain on paper and serve hot with lemon wedges and a sweet-sour chutney.

Storage

Best eaten within the hour. Uncooked crumbed cutlets keep 2 days refrigerated or a month frozen, and fry straight from frozen over lower heat. Reheat cooked ones in a hot oven, never a microwave.