Kotlet ~ Persian Cutlet

I can honestly say that I simply love Persian Kotlet. They are so incredibly good! This is one of those Persian dishes that can be served warm or cold, at home or at a picnic.  To be honest though, it is not something that I make often because it is not only labor intensive but also because it require some serious frying.  Nevertheless, it is one of those types of food that when I make it is such a treat. The ingredients are few and simple. I simply love biting into them where the outside is nice and crispy and the inside deliciously soft.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 lb potatoes

2 eggs

1 onion

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tbsp advieh

bread crums

salt & pepper

vegetable oil

Place potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, add some salt, and cook until a fork easily goes through.

Grate onion. You may possibly wonder what the heck in the candle in the background is all about. I have very sensitive eyes. Onion cutting = tears for me. I think I saw this Alton Brown’s show where he suggested having some type of flame close by when cutting onions.  It works for me, for the most part.

Once your potatoes are done they need to be peeled and mashed. You see this little nifty kitchen tool? I so love it! This Food Mill was given to me by Goli, one of my 10-20 times removed cousins,  as a birthday present a few years back.  I also love it because it remind me of my Grandma’s kitchen as she owned one of these and used it frequently.

This is by far my favorite way to make mashed potatoes. No lumps and the texture is nice and silky.

Ya see this other awesome kitchen tool? I so love it too.  You may have noticed that I use my KitchenAid mixer pretty frequently as it makes mixing so much easier. Place turmeric, advieh, salt, and pepper in the mixer.

Add eggs and give it a nice mix.

Then add the potatoes and and onion. Give them a nice mix. Then throw in the ground beef. Add enough salt to season well

Mix well until all the ingredients are nicely incorporated.

Now here comes the fun part! Take a small amount of the mixture and make a small ball out of it.

Then pat it flat and try your best to form it in a tear shape.  The patty should be not too thick or too thin. As a side note, I often wonder how the shape of Kotlet came about….I wonder if it was meant to be similar to the shape of a Paisley…

Place breadcrumbs in a dish.

Then coat each Kotlet with bread crumbs.

In theory all Kotlets should be the same size and thickness.  Can’t say that I am very good at making everything look the same size and shape…but I sure try hard! Anyway, I got 18 pieces out of this recipe. The 18th one is in the dish for inquiring minds!

Warm up some vegetable oil in a non-stick pan.  Fry a few Kotlets at a time making sure that you don’t crowd them.

Once you see that the bottom has turned into a nice golden color flip them over. Add more oil as necessary.

Place a dish with a papertowel in it next to your frying pan.  When removing the Kotlets from the pan try to drain as much as the oil as possible.  Then place onto the plate.

Continue frying the Kotlets until they are all a nice golden color and crisp on the outside.  Ya see how one Kotlet is missing one the left? There used to be three there…until I ate one ’cause I could not resist waiting until the others were all done! To keep the ones that you have made warm, place the plate in your oven.  As a tip to keeping these wonderful persian treats nice and crispy remember to not cover them while they are on the plate, as this will only trap the steam coming off of them and make them soggy.  Doing this may be a bit of a trick as each plate paper towel can only comfortable hold 3-4 Kotlet each, but if you are planning on eating them shortly after cooking it is well worth the extra room taken up in the oven as they will stay nice and crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside.

You can serve Kotlet with some Persian Sabzi, fresh herbs, a few slices of tomato, and Persian pickles.  Or you could make a nice sandwich out of the whole thing.  I used half of a Pita bread. You can use any type of bread.  A Kotlet sandwich is particularly delicious in a French Baguette.

Lastly, I would like to leave you with a nifty YouTube video that I found some time ago.  Ever wondered how to peel a potato quickly and effortlessly? I hate peeling potatoes and after I saw this video I had one of those “WOW” moments! I haven’t tried it yet, but I sure will. 🙂 Gilligan’s Island fans will get a kick out of this one!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4W0qIPJmoo