Spicy Indian Salmon Cutlets

Spicy Indian Salmon Cutlets
-adapted from Anjum's New Indian by Anjum Anand

Link to her book:
http://www.amazon.com/Anjums-New-Indian-Anjum-Anand/dp/0470928123

Link to her website:
http://www.anjumanand.co.uk/

The meat store was closed, so I bought salmon from the grocery store and decided to try this fish cutlet recipe by Anjum Anand instead of the beef recipe (which I will do sometime this week). For a first time recipe, it turned out fine. I have to mince the onions and cilantro a lot smaller - and make sure I buy regular bread crumbs instead of these Italian crumbs next time! Tricky, tricky!

Made 16 cutlets

The Ingredients:

1. 1/2 onion, chop it as fine as you can
2. 1 tbsp ginger, peeled and processed
3. 6 cloves of minced garlic
4. Grind together: 1 inch cinnamon, 5 whole cloves, 1.5 tsp of cumin seeds (Indian grocery store)
5. Mix: 2 tsp of mango powder (from the Indian grocery store), 3/4 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp garam masala (from the Indian grocery store)
6. Salt to taste
7. 1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro
8. 2 salmon fillets
9. 2 cup of breadcrumbs
10. 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
11. 2 eggs
12. oil for frying

Cooking:

First, saute onions in 1 tbsp of oil until golden. Then add garlic and ginger.

Next, add all the spices and salt

Stir for 2 minutes until it is all cooked, then set it aside and let it cool.

Meanwhile, place salmon fillets in water and boil for 4-5 minutes until the fish turns opaque. I flipped the fish once.

Place the fish on a plate with paper towels to drain the rest of the liquid off. Peel off the skin and any bones, then start flaking the fish with a fork into a bowl. Be careful, it will be hot.

Next, mix the fish, onions, cilantro together. Taste and add more salt if you like. Add 1 cup breadcrumbs (Not Italian!!), 1 beaten egg. And form into flat patties. I made mine a little too thick, and the edges didn't fry. So I will make them thinner next time. Place them on a platter. Then bread them by first dipping in flour, then in the second beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs. Here's what it looks like when they are all breaded and ready to fry.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry 2-3 cutlets at a time, about 1.5 minutes per side until deep golden brown.

Then place on a wire rack (this will help keep them crunchy!) covered with paper towels. Also place paper towels on top to absorb as much oil as possible. You should be able to fry about 8 of them before you'll have to replace the oil. Heat 2 more tbsp of oil and repeat with remaining cutlets.

Eat them with ketchup! I think you can probably prepare these a few hours ahead up until the frying stage, and fry when ready.
(Note: To do next time - make sure onions and cilantro are finely chopped, otherwise they are lumpy in the cutlet. Use regular breadcrumbs).