Soya Cutlets

Soya is high in proteins and a substitute for meat for vegetarians. Soya helps in weight loss and this recipe can be turned into a slimming recipe with a few changes. (See below.) You can then snack on these cutlets whenever your hungry and lose weight as well. It helps in weight loss as you don't feel hungry and feel full due to high protein content in soya and as proteins take 5-6 hours for digestion.

If you are a paneer lover then you can substitute soya with cottage cheese (paneer) in this recipe.

Ingredients:
    
1 cup soya chunks
2 big onions chopped
An inch piece ginger chopped
4 garlic cloves chopped
A few curry leaves finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
2 potatoes boiled
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons of oil
1/2 cup bread crumbs or rava
1/2 cup milk or 1 egg
    
Preparation Method:

Soak soya chunks in boiling water and keep closed with a lid for 20-30 minutes. Ensure the chunks are soaked well and absorbs water by stirring once in 10 minutes.

Drain, squeeze out water from the soya chunks and mince in a mixie.

Heat a pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and saute ginger and garlic for a minute.

Add onions, green chillies and curry leaves and saute until the onions start to brown.

Add salt, turmeric, coriander powder, chilly powder and mix well.

Add the minced soya chunks and sauté for a minute to mix. At this stage the mix resembles scrambled eggs. Sprinkle a few drops of water and cook closed for 5 minutes on minimum heat.

Be careful not to add excess water as we need a very dry mixture for firm patties.

Add the garam masala, pepper powder and chopped cilantro and mix well.

Add peeled, boiled and mashed potatoes and mix well. Put off flame.

When the mixture cools a little, shape them into cutlets, dip the patties in beaten eggs or milk, roll in bread crumbs or rava and shallow fry with oil until golden brown on both sides.

Traditionally the patties are deep fried in oil on medium heat. Shallow frying is a healthy substitute.

Serve hot with pudina chutney and tomato ketchup.

How to use this recipe to lose weight:

For those conscious about calories use gram flour instead of potatoes in the cutlets for binding. Just add gram flour to sauted onions and roast for a minute then add soya chunks.  

And use low fat milk instead of eggs or normal milk for dipping the patties in, before frying.

Use as little oil as possible while preparing and shallow frying the cutlets.

Find more tea time snack recipes here.

Tags: Cutlets, Soya, Healthy snack, Vegetarian, Slimmimg recipe, Diet recipe, High protein