Baked fish cutlets
Fish cutlets inspired by Kashmiri shami kebabs. These are baked to avoid the excessive oil that goes into deep frying. However, they come out as good as fried: crisp on the outside, chewy inside.
Ingredients
- 350 gm white fish fillets
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 black cardamom
- 5-6 green cardamoms
- 1-2 clove
- 1 tbsp olive oil (or any cooking oil)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp gram flour (besan)
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
- salt to taste
- red chilli powder to taste
- 2-3 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
- 1-2 finely chopped green chillies
Instructions
- Take 2 cups of water in a pot along with half of the garlic (1 tsp) and whole spices: fennel seeds, cinnamon, black and green cardamoms and cloves. Bring to boil. Add in the fish fillets and allow them to cook on low heat for about 6-8 minutes, or till the fish becomes tender. At this stage, you should be easily able to smash the fish fillets with your fingers. The time taken depends on the type of fish being used.
- Carefully remove the fish fillets from the water, leaving all the spices behind. Smash the fillets with your hands.
- Add the oil, egg, remaining garlic, gram flour, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin seeds (if using), salt, red chilli powder, fresh coriander and green chillies. Mix everything together, again using your hand, just like kneading a dough.
- Cover the mixture and allow it to rest for at least 2 hours or upto a day in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions and roll each portion to form a cutlet. Place the cutlets on a foil or parchment lined baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping each cutlet half way through.
Notes
- As in case of classical shami kebabs, using chana dal instead of besan may lead to an even better outcome. But besan works well for a quicker and convenient recipe.