A recipe from the Parsi community based out of Mumbai, that I am so personally fond of. A great tea time snack and a party appetizer too!
The Parsi community is a small, but a prominent part of Mumbai. To give you an insight, Parsis are Persian immigrants who settled mostly in Bombay and parts of Gujarat, in the 1800s. The migration from Iran happened due to a severe drought that hit the region and also because of an Arab invasion. While a lot of them went to other parts of the world, some migrated to India, especially to it’s western coast. And since then, they have become an integral part of Mumbai’s community and culture. Consequently, their cuisine became a delectable mix of Iranian, British, Gujarati and Maharashtrian flavours. So, it is from the Zoroastrian cuisine that I am sharing with you the Parsi chicken cutlet or patties, recipe.
I, personally, am a great fan of this cuisine. Belonging from Mumbai, I have grown up eating in these cafe´s. A lot of our family Sunday brunches would be to this Irani cafe´in King’s Circle, called Koolers. And later during college life, with friends, evening tea would be in Kayani’s in Colaba or to Britannia in Ballard Estate. While there are a lot of Parisi recipes that I have gorged on and would love to share with you, here is the first from it. This delicious Parsi chicken keeema cutlet, is a great tea time snack and also a party appetizer. These are very easy and quick to make as well. Additionally, they are so yum that once you’ve made them, there will be no stopping you from making them again!
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Quick and easy recipe
While the Parsi cuisine has a range of flavours and can be quite elaborate too, these cutlets are not one of them. Even though they form a part of the Parsi bhonu or feast, these keema cutlets are quick to make and easy too. Chicken mince, anyway, doesn’t take long to cook. Additionally, while there is no marination involved here, I like to refrigerate the shaped patties for an hour or so, before shallow frying them. This allows the patties to hold their shape and also lets the flavours bind, so as to make them more delicious.
Coming to the spices involved in this recipe, they are your regular Indian masalas. The only difference that you may find in the Parsi chicken cutlet (patties) recipe is that, before cooking, the egg wash is applied after crumb coating them. most often you will see that, the egg wash is first applied and then it s crumb coated. Not so here. 🙂
Points to bear in mind
While the recipe of these minced chicken patties is pretty straightforward, there are however, a few things to keep in mind. First is to message the washed and drained keema very well. Simply use you fingers to squeeze and rub the minced meat just for a minute of two. This small step, even before you start the recipe, ensures the softest, well cooked cutlets. Secondly, you have to remember to fry the patties over a medium low flame. This will get the cutlets to cook evenly, completely and not become charred or dark brown in colour. When cooked over a high flame, your cutlets will only cook on the surface and not from within. And you definitely don’t want that!
Serving suggestions
These yummy mince chicken patties make for a much loved party appetizer and even a tea time snack. Also, the fact that these are shallow fried and not deep fried make them more appealing. You could serve them with some ketchup and sliced onions and you are sure to win hearts. You could even make these for your Sunday brunches, just like I used to have with my family! Lovely memories for me, and you should make some more for yourself!
If you happen to make them I’d love to see some pictures and also know how you liked them. You could share your feedback in the comments section, below and also share pictures with me over on Instagram.
Eat hearty!
Parsi chicken cutlet (patties)
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pot
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken mince (keema)
- 250 g potatoes boiled and mashed
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chilis finely chopped
- 1½ tbsp ginger garlic pate
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 4 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tsp black pepper powder optional
- ¼ cup oil for shallow frying
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash the chicken mince well and drain off the water. Keep it in a mixing bowl and massage it using your fingers for a minute or two
- To this add all other ingredients (except the oil, eggs, bread crumbs and pepper)
- Mix the mince mixture very well, so that everything is evenly incorporated. Pinch out lemon sized balls, from this and shape then into patties
- Coat each of them in bread crumbs and arrange them on a plate/tray. Refrigerate these, so that they set, for an hour or minimum of 15 minutes, if you are short on time
- Break and beat the eggs in a bowl, along with a tablespoon of water and the pepper. Also, heat your cooking pot with the oil. Dip each crumb coated patty in it (drain off any excess) and drop it in the oil
- Fry the chicken cutlets, over medium low heat (this is important) for 3-4 minutes on each side. When done, remove on absorbent kitchen towels
- Serve your extremely yummy Parsi chicken cutlets or patties with some ketchup and some masala chai and enjoy!
Notes
- If your chicken mince mixture feels too moist and is not holding shape (step 3), add some bread crumbs to soak the extra moisture off
- It is important that you fry the patties over a medium low flame. If on high, the egg coating will cook keeping the mince mixture inside, undercooked
- These quantities yielded 13 big sized chicken patties
- 1 cup = 250 millilitres
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
- g - grams
