Beef Cutlets are a specialty of Kerala’s Christian community. Growing up in Mumbai, we had ‘Mallu (short for malayalee which in turn means someone who belongs to Kerala 🙂 ) Christian’ neighbors. Kunjimol aunty always hosted great parties – be it Christmas or Easter or her kids’ birthday parties! One of the appetizer dishes was always these crispy and spicy beef cutlets! We all loved them! Our parents did not eat much beef however even they liked these cutlets perhaps because ground beef is used to make them and the nice flavors from the ginger, garlic and other spices makes the beef very delicious. And then the best part is the crispy coating that the beef patty gets from the bread crumbs! Pan fry or deep fry these babies and serve them with either ketchup or a sweet spicy sauce and they are gone in seconds!
My mom who actually never cooked beef regularly at home did learn this recipe from Aunty. I am so glad she did! And so over the years I have made cutlets the same way using either ground chicken or beef. And they are always a crowd pleaser! However now being on a paleo diet for the past year, I hadn’t eaten any cutlets in a while 🙁
And this had to change…and so this is how it happened. I had some cooked ground beef leftover in my fridge. So one fine afternoon when I was really really hungry and was really craving for something really really satisfying , the image of beef cutlets popped into my head! At first I brushed it off thinking there was no way I would be able to make a paleo version! And that too an eggless paleo version since I am sensitive to eggs too! But then necessity is indeed the mother of invention, right? 🙂 🙂
And so in about 30 minutes I had these crispy beef cutlets with a coconut crust that were ‘melt in your mouth’ delicious! I gorged about 3 of them and had to stop myself from eating more!
So how did I do it? What were the substitutions? Well first for the potato, I subbed yucca (cassava). Incidentally I also had some leftover boiled yucca in the fridge. How convenient was that! Then for the crust part, I used shredded coconut and tapioca starch slurry. These came out so delicious. My kids ate the rest of the cutlets as a snack when they came back from school! The yucca made the cutlets somehow feel more richer than when you use potato.
Reading the recipe you might think its too time consuming but that can be easily rectified if you plan to make the kheema curry beforehand i.e. cook the ground beef with spices. This kheema curry can be eaten with a salad on the side. That is one of my regular Paleo meals.SO once you have some leftover kheema then making these cutlets is a cinch! Either way guys this is totally worth the effort!
Linking to Saucy Saturday this week.
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2-4 whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp cumin powder (omit for AIP version)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp red chilli powder (cayenne pepper) (Omit for AIP version)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
- ½ of a medium onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped fine
- 1 tbsp garlic, chopped fine
- 1 tbsp coriander powder (sub cilantro leaves for AIP version)
- 1 tsp garam masala (skip for AIP version)
- about 1 cup of boiled yucca (cassava or kappa) pieces, mashed well
- 2 tbsp of tapioca starch (tapioca flour)
- ½ cup dry shredded coconut (unsweetened)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil for pan frying
- Add all the ingredients under 'pre cooking the beef' into a pressure cooker (or an ordinary pot with a tight fitting lid) and cook for 3 whistles. If not using a cooker, you need to add about ¼ cup water.let cool and keep aside.
- In a sauté pan, add the oil and add the onion, garlic and ginger and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the onions get softened and you get the cooked smell of ginger and garlic. Next add the coriander powder and garam masala and stir for a minute.
- Next add the cooked ground beef to this onion mixture and let cook together for 4-5 minutes or until all water is gone.
- Let this kheema mixture cool nicely before you start making the cutlets.
- For making the cutlets, take a large mixing bowl and add the cooled kheema (beef mixture) and the mashed yucca pieces.
- Make patties out of this mixture and keep aside.
- Place shredded coconut in a plate and in a small bowl mix the tapioca starch with about 2 tbsp water to form a slurry
- Next Taking one patty at a time, dip the patty first into the tapioca slurry and then coat with the shredded coconut. Place the coated patty onto a plate. Repeat similarly for all of the patties.
- Heat a non stick frying pan and add the coconut oil to it.
- When the oil is hot, turn heat to medium and shallow fry the patties until both sides turn golden brown!
- Transfer to paper towels to remove excess oil and serve warm!
This looks lovely Indu, I am bookmarking it to try this weekend. The paleo substitutions look great!