Let me give you a little background. First of all, we were all recovering from the flu as you are probably aware from my previous post. Poor guy had his Jeera rasam and soup all week. He then begins to feel a little better and guess what he wants - fried food! You can't blame the guy! And then he decides he wants the same cutlet he had for years traveling in the Deccan Queen train between Bombay and Pune. He used to work in Pune and live in Bombay and so this was a daily ritual supposedly! Guess the flu awakened all kinds of nostalgic senses in his mind. And then he decided he'll do it himself! Good for me! Go ahead Honey!
So if you travel in the Deccan Queen train between Pune and Bombay, let me know if there is something like this - or if it was just his make up story to eat fried food! LOL!
I cannot give you the perfect measurements for these things - but you'll get the idea.
Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Add finely chopped beans, carrots and peas to the mashed potatoes. Add salt, a pinch of turmeric powder, and about a tsp of garam masala. Mix well.
Toast a few slices of bread till well done. Cool down till crisp and then grind to a fine powder. Or you could buy bread crumbs from the store.
Shape the mashed potato mix into long pieces like this. Trust me - I do prefer round cutlets and did not like the look of this but this is how Deccan Queen apparently makes it - so I have no say here. Its all about Deccan Queen today!
Make a thin watery batter of rice flour - yes..rice flour. He did not use maida or besan. Don't ask me why. I don't know.
Dip the shaped cutlet in the rice flour paste first.
Then, dip the wet cutlet into the bread crumbs so the crumbs stick to all sides uniformly.
And then deep fry them in oil. This is the best part...my man got his wish! Fried Food!
Don't they look gorgeous - check it out one more time! I'm obsessed!
Now, take plain white bread slices and keep one cutlet on top of the bread. Top off the cutlet with Maggi Hot and Sweet ketchup - that gives that one extra kick.
Does that look good or what? Almost looks like a desi hot dog.
Thank you Deccan Queen for inspiring dinner at our place today and for feeding my husband on all those days when he was tired and traveling back. And for fostering the love of fried food in his heart, body, mind and soul!
Enjoy. Peace out!
Ha ha ha good story and cutlets look good. Deccan Queen take on vada pav I guess!! :))
ReplyDeletenice, looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteJust drooling over the last pic..yumm tempting cutlets!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Yes, it's really look like desi hot dog. Your hubby can make a delicious cutlets too. :) Look so tempting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Priya, the cutlets are totally drool worthy!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVery nice post Indeed. and a good recipe
ReplyDeleteI would never enter kitchen if my husband cooks so deliciously.:)
ReplyDeleteYummm... I have never had these in the Deccan Queen but I have had the flattened ones on the train to Gujarat :) and I loved them. I remember eating them even if I was full... and even buying an additional pack for later (we traveled just once a year)... Thanks for bringing back the memories
ReplyDeleteMy husband has the same habit, only its on the karnavati express from mumbai to Ahmedabad. If I'm travelling, I have to buy and bring it for him and if he's with me, he'll eat these cutlets at least 3 times, and if he's travelling alone..God only knows how many he eats. He says not more than 3..like I would belive him!
ReplyDeleteJust drooling, looks tempting and delicious.
ReplyDeletewow I too love fried food thgh I hardy fry!Looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThe deccan queen cutlets..am so nostalgic..!
ReplyDeleteI tried this recipe, I turned out good. my daugther liked the hotdog style.
ReplyDeleteSo tempting-the cutlets of Deccan Queen. Feel like rushing to Pune and travel by Deccan queen. The other tasty dish in Deccan Queen was bread and baked beans.
ReplyDeleteAppa
Lucky you....so sweet of ur husband...I loved that desi style hot dog serving....
ReplyDeleteNostalgia!
ReplyDeleteI want to hop on the DQ right now for the cutlets and the baked beans.
hello... greetings and good wishes!!
ReplyDeleteI tried out the 'DQ' cutlets earlier this evening!! Other than the 'hot-dog' shape, i followed the recipe and instructions just as you have written!! They were just amazing.... and an instant hit with guests!!
Thank you so much!!
Phanindra Kumar, Bahrain
I tried out this easy and fast to cook recipe yesterday for snack time, everything went along absolutely fine all the way to the moment I dropped the cylindrical rolls into the boiling oil..And to my utter dismay, all rolls of my 1st batch almost wholly disintegrated into the depths of the oil within minutes; I didn't know whether to wail loudly or to scream:(
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure it was something I did since the comment before mine suggests things went more than fine. I had to add some besan into the rice flour mixture to finish off the remaining lot but not with the same finishing ofcourse as in your pictures.
I am still learning to be a good cook and so would love to know what could have gone wrong.
..I did add a little finely chopped chillies, ginger and cilantro, now could that have been the reason?
ReplyDeleteHi 5za,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry your cutlets disintegrated. There could have been two reasons - one is that there must have been some water left in the boiled potatoes. And the other is that the batter coating outside must have been too thin. It should be a little thick coating and then the bread crumbs on top of it.
The ginger, cilantro would not do that - that will only increase the flavor.
Do try again some time later. And try to fry just one piece and see and if that breaks up, repair a little bit more and try. Adding besan is a good idea. You could also try with just regular flour.
Hope this helps. Thanks again for trying!
Thanks for the feedback! Know what? Ur right! As soon as I drained the potatoes I added them to the mix, so yeah there was lots of water I guess.
ReplyDeleteGonna make it again and I am pretty sure it will turn out awesome :)
By the way, ur thaali picture was so tempting, I am still drooling from the effect, can't help it! Next on my list coming weekend, pakka! I just hope the recipes for the remainder dishes are here too!
Regards