Gujarati cuisine is filled with recipes that give clever makeovers to leftover foods be it roti, rice, dal, or shaak. Leftover rice is the most versatile ingredient to work with: muthiya, dhokla, thepla, handvo, kheer, vagharela bhaat, and Dahiwada; there is an exhaustive list of foods we create with day-old rice or khichri. And whatever the preparation, the leftover rice remains the hero ingredient in these recipes. Sometimes, extra rice is cooked to make the next meal from it, which I have done to make these leftover rice cutlets.
I chose to use Lal Bhaat for it. The nature of the Lal Bhaat best suits the type of rice required to make fritter-like foods. The rice should not turn soggy or lumpy; otherwise, the fritters absorb a lot of oil when deep-fried. Interestingly, instead of breadcrumbs, the cutlets were coated in powdered roasted poha, giving the patties a crisp exterior. Rice–with rice on top!
Bhaat ni Cutlace
Ingredients
- 1 cup leftover rice, cold
- 2 medium sized potatoes, boiled and grated
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts, skinned and roughly pounded
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teacup coriander, finely chopped
- 2-3 teaspoons minced green chilies and ginger
- Salt to taste
To coat the cutlets
- ½ cup poha/flattened rice
Instructions
- Roast the poha till it crisps up. Cool and grind it to powder consistency.
- In a mixing bowl tip in the rice, mash it well.
- Add the grated potatoes, roasted peanuts, turmeric, sugar, lemon juice, coriander, minced chilies. Mix it all well and bring together like a dough.
- Shape the rice mix into cutlets. Roll each cutlet in the poha powder to coat it on all sides.
- Repeat with all cutlets, setting aside on a plate
- Shallow fry in hot oil until golden brown.
- Serve with chutney and onion slices.
