Five Star Cutlets!

One thing that I am always on the lookout for, is interesting shapes of cookie cutters. My friends wonder why I search for cookie cutters when I have never baked a cookie in my life? The answer is because cookie cutters are a "Mom's Best Friend" in the kitchen! I use them to cut sandwiches, paranthas, rotis, even omlettes into interesting shapes to entice my little picky eater. I have served "butterfly rotis", "teddy bear paranthas", "heart omlettes", octagon sandwiches" and here is my latest offering, " star cutlets".




Ingredients:

2 boiled and mashed potatoes
1/2 cup boiled mixed veggies-peas/corn/carrots/beans/lima beans
a hand ful of spinach leaves-chopped
1/4 chopped onion
2 slices of bread
1/2 cup of cubed paneer
salt/chat masala/a pinch of your fav garam masala




1. Add everything in a bowl and mash together with a fork.
2. Crumble the moistened bread slices into the mixture.
3. Add the spices--I added green chillies and red chilli powder to the "grown up" cutlets and skipped them for the "kiddo cutlets"--and mix well.
4. Take a ball of the mixture, flatten it to the desired thickness on the palm of your hand and cut it with the cookie cutter.
5. Heat some oil in a shallow pan and shallow fry the cutlets on both sides till brown and crispy.
6. Serve with ketchup and dhania chutney.



These are great for an evening snack and also to pack in little lunch boxes. And ofcourse, there is scope to sneak in some spinach, veggies and paneer into a tasty treat that little fingers can hold and eat without much mess.


Side note: Arnav hates it when the finger food makes his fingers messy--so I always make a "handle" for him to hold the food in, like a small foil jacket for the omlette roll or the wrap or a tissue paper covering for the sandwich.