Indian Chicken cutlet - an easy, protein rich, gluten free snack and a light meal that gets ready in less than 30 minutes. Unlike most Indian cutlet recipes, this does not requires precooking, breadcrumbs, cornstarch, all purpose flour nor an egg for binding.
Indian cutlets are prepared with minced, ground, shredded or mashed food and usually have potato in it. Fish cutlet is one such recipe. These ground chicken cutlets or patties require none of those.
In the post when I say patties or kebabs, I am referring to cutlets. Mix together ground meat, spices and herbs, shape the tikki or patties and fry. You can either shallow fry or pan fry Indian chicken cutlets with just 2 tablespoon of oil.
Depending on the size of the cutlet, you can serve it as is or with some condiments on the side, or stuff it in a bread, bun or pita bread for sandwiches.
Ingredients
- Ground Chicken - I usually get ground chicken from the store. But you can also mince boneless chicken pieces in a food processor. If doing so, make sure it is not a fine mince or a paste.
- Herbs, onion & green chilies - Finely chop mint, cilantro / kothmir, green chilies and onion. You can use a food processor or a chopper. However, I prefer to chop using a knife. When making a very large batch, a food processor or a chopper is a good idea.
- Spice Powders - coriander powder, garam masala and chili powder are the basic spices I use. You can add some cumin, chat masala or any other spice of your choice for additional flavor.
- Ginger Garlic - I use a paste but finely minced ginger garlic also goes well in the cutlet.
- Oil - depending on how you cook the cutlets, you will need 2-4 tablespoons of oil for pan frying or shallow frying. I have never deep fried the cutlets and will need more oil if doing so.
Preparation
This is an easy recipe. Mix all the ingredients, shape into cutlets or kebabs and shallow fry. You can also pan fry with very little oil.
Chop onion, green chilies, mint leaves, cilantro and take into a bowl (Pic #1 in above collage). If using a food processor or any chopper, make sure the onion is coarse and all the ingredients do not become a paste. In the step by step pictures I used a mini chopper and when I took the final photos of the cutlets, chopped all these ingredients.
Add all the spices; chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder, salt, turmeric powder. Pic 2-4 in the above collage.
Add ginger garlic paste, and mix well (pic #5-6). Then add in the ground chicken and mix well so the spices are well blended into the chicken (pic # 7-8). If pan frying the cutlets, you can add 2-3 teaspoons of oil to the mixture.
To shape the cutlets, apply some oil to your hands. I highly recommend applying oil to your hands if you're going to pan fry. When shallow frying, sometimes I skip this step. Applying oil helps to shape the patty and also the mixture won't stick to the palms.
Take a small lime size mixture into your hand, shape it into a round ball (pic # 9), flatten the ball with your thumb or your with your other palm (pic #10). Place the cutlet on a plate and repeat the same with the rest of the mixture.
Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying or pan frying. If pan frying use very little oil, just sufficient enough to cook the patties. Carefully drop the patties into frying pan and cook on medium high flame until light brown (pic #11). I shallow fry the patties.
Flip and cook for a few more minutes until patties are fully cooked and brown (pic #12). Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and let the oil drain. When pan frying, you need not line the plate.
Serving Suggestions
Serve cutlets with some ketchup or green chutney. Green chutney is basically coriander green chilies or coriander green chilies mint chutney. You can prepare it at home and this is one variation of coriander mint chutney or buy it from any Indian store, like I do most of the time.
Pita Pockets - Cut pita bread in halve, apply some hummus inside the pocket, stuff 2-3 patties, onion cucumber tomato lettuce salad and serve. You can skip hummus and drizzle some tahini on top after filling the pockets.
Sandwiches - You can also sandwiches and in that case, shape patties into 2-3” in diameter. Pan or shallow fry and prepare a sandwich using bread slices or buns.
Storing
Store leftovers in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave before serving. You can also freeze cooked patties. Alternatively you can half cook the patties, cool and freeze in freezer bags or containers.
FAQ
Yes you can. Cut into small cubes and pulse it in a food processor. Do not make it into a fine paste.
Yes you can. You can make the mixture 1-2 days ahead of time. You can shape the cutlets and refrigerate, or store the mixture as is and shape them before frying. But make sure you consume or prepare the cutlets before the sell by date. You can also freeze the mixture but I have not done it myself.
Related Recipes
If you like these chicken cutlets / patties / kebabs, you may also like the following recipes.
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This post was originally published in July 2008. It is republished with new content and images.
Detailed Recipe
Chicken Cutlet, Indian Style
Equipment
- 1 Knife & Cutting Board
- 1 A wide bowl
- 1 9 ½" frying pan & a spatula
- 2 Plates
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Chicken
- Chop or Grind
- 1 Small Onion
- 6 Green Chillies
- ½ cup chopped Cilantro
- 10 Mint leaves
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 ½ teaspoon Chili Powder adjust to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
- 2-4 tablespoon Oil
Instructions
Preparation
- Chop onion, green chilies, mint leaves and cilantro. You can use a food processor or a mini chopper. Make sure the onion is coarse and all the ingredients do not become a paste. In the step by step pictures I used a mini chopper and in the finished shot I chopped all these ingredients using a knife. Step by step pictures and final photo of the dish were taken on two separate occasions.
Instructions
- Take chopped onion, green chilies, cilantro and mint in a wide bowl.
- Add chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder, salt, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste, and mix well.
- Then add in the ground chicken and mix so that all the spices are well blended into the chicken. If pan frying the cutlets, you can add 2-3 teaspoons of oil to the mixture.
- Apply some oil to your hands. I highly recommend applying oil to your hands if you're going to pan fry the cutlets. When shallow frying, sometimes I skip this step. Applying oil helps to shape the patty and also the mixture won’t stick to your palms.
- Take a small lime size mixture, shape it into a round ball and lightly flatten the ball with your thumb or with your other palm. Place the cutlet on a plate and repeat the same with the rest of the mixture. You can also shape into oblong cutlets.
- Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying or pan frying. If pan frying, use very little oil, about a tablespoon or just enough to cook the patties. For shallowing, use 2-4 tablespoons. In the step by step photos, I used a 9 ½” pan and 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Carefully drop the patties into the frying pan and cook on medium high flame until light brown. I shallow fried the patties in two batches.
- Flip and cook for a few more minutes until the patties are fully cooked and brown.
- Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and let the oil drain. Repeat the above steps to fry the rest of the kebabs.
- Serve cutlets with some ketchup or coriander mint chutney. You can also use the cutlets to make pita pockets or sandwiches. You can serving ideas in the serving section of the post.
Notes
- Chicken - use ground chicken. If you do not have it, you can mince it home. Pulse boneless chicken pieces in a food processor. Keep it coarse.
- Herbs, onion & green chilies - if using s food processor or a chopper make sure onion and herbs are coarse. Do not fine mince these ingredients. I prefer to chop using a knife but when making a very large batch, a food processor or a chopper is a good idea.
- Spices - adjust chili powder, garam masala and green chilies to taste. For additional flavor, add some roasted cumin powder and/or chaat masala.
- Nutrition - values mentioned are approximate.
Nutrition
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
The kebabs look absolutely delicious... Would be amazing as a slider, or just like that with a cup of chai...
srividhya says
These are indeed delicious kebabs and it's great party starter/appetizer too. Love the pictures.
Srivalli says
Love your new pictures Usha..and your ingredient shot is just awesome!..tried this for my kids and they loved it so much!
sindhu says
thank you very much...kebabs were fantastic!! but the only thing is they were oily, i used some excess oil as i was scared tht meat could be raw and also patties may stick to the pan..next time i ll try to use less oil. finally, the recipe was great!!! we enjoyed it. thanks once again.
sindhu says
hi....am having a small doubt.. i mixed all the ingredients as u said..but the mixture is not thick enough to make patties can i mix some flour(like corn flour..) to make it thick??
MySpicyKitchen says
Sindhu, You can add some corn flour or bread crumbs to make the mixture thick.
Apple says
Looks pretty simple n easy...I made similar ones a while ago and named them Murgi-Mint Cutlets 😀 But I didn't use the grill, 've cooked them on the stove top...
I didn't use the grill either.....even i cooked it on stove top...