Mixed vegetable cutlets;Vegan; Meatless Monday.

This weekend was our wedding anniversary. With Valentine's day around the corner, I decided to make something special, romantic!

After all, it is rightly said, " the road to a man's heart is through his stomach"!

As usual, everything with me has to be healthy, quick and easy but delicious! This is one of my original recipes, which means that I came up with this recipe and that it was not adapted from anyplace. I am happy to state that this was a successful experiment as everyone who ate it was all praises. You could pair it with cilantro chutney or you could pair it with the good old tomato ketchup. I liked both.

This recipe could be gluten free if you substitute sooji ( cream of wheat) with cornmeal. Instead of rolling the cutlet in rawa, I added the sooji rawa in the batter to make it crispy. Notice that I also did not use starchy potatoes in this recipe.
Do give this recipe a try, I bet that you will like it!

Servings: makes 10-12 medium sized cutlets

Ingredients:

Beetroot: 1, medium-sized, cooked until tender.
Mixed vegetables: 2 cups ( I used the frozen mix of peas, carrots, green beans and corn)
Cauliflower florets: 1 & 1/2 cups
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tsp
Green chilli: 1-2, finely chopped ( adjust as per individual spice level).
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp, chopped
Garam masala: 1/2 tsp ( optional)
Cornflour: 1 tbsp
Sooji rawa ( cream of wheat/farina): 1/4 cup ( for gluten free option, use cornmeal).
Salt to taste
Water to boil the vegetables.
Olive oil to grease the skillet/griddle.

Method:

Boil the whole beetroot with the peel on, until tender ( around 30 mins on stovetop, faster in the pressure cooker). Keep aside.

Cook the mixed vegetables and the washed cauliflower florets with water and a pinch of salt, on the stovetop until tender ( about 15 mins). Drain and keep aside.

Peel the cooled beetroot. Grate it. Squeeze the excess water out and add it to a mixing bowl.

To this, add the cooked & drained cauliflower and mixed vegetables. Using a potato masher, mash the mixture as much as possible.

Add ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies, garam masala powder, chopped coriander leaves, cornflour, sooji ( cream of wheat or cornmeal) , salt and mix well.

Take 2 heaped tbsp of the prepared batter and using wet hands make a patty. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out the "heart" shape from the patty. Do this to all available batter.

Heat a griddle/skillet on medium until hot. Grease it using olive oil. Place the prepared heart shaped cutlets on the griddle/skillet.

Cook for 5-7 minutes on low flame. Flip and cook for another 5-7 minutes or until the outside is lightly golden.

Serve hot with ketchup or cilantro chutney/dip.

Enjoy!

I am bringing these hearts to my friends at Throwback Thursday #25, Fiesta Friday #106 and Saucy Saturdays.Angie's Fiesta Friday co-hosts this week are Steffi @ Ginger & Bread and Andrea @ Cooking With a Wallflower.

This recipe is perfect for the lunch-box for the kids too..

Cooking made easy:

My batter was slightly runny and therefore not firm enough to shape into "hearts". I therefore placed the cookie-cutter on the griddle and added the batter inside the cookie-cutter, thus creating the " heart" shapes. You can follow this technique if you face a similar issue.