Sri Lankan Appetizer: Cutlets
Every Sunday the family gets together; they talk and laugh, reminiscing on the good times and all the memories they had in their home country. Sri Lanka was the place to be when you were a teenager. No rules, no responsibilities and no commitment. Especially regarding your family. As one gets older, they stop wanting to hang around their families and their parents as often. It's a natural but sad reality all the same. Attempts to get the family together have fallen short over the years, except when the prospect of traditional food is involved.
My Big Apama (great grandmother) had twelve siblings: five children and five grandsons. Each entered young adulthood at a different period, all having in common the lack of time spent with their families. To resolve this, my Big Apama came up with a plan to make a Sri Lankan appetizer called “cutlets.” Stuffed with fish, breaded with eggs and breadcrumbs, the cutlets formed a mouth-watering crust when fried. No one could resist the captivating smell.
One Sunday, she put her plan to action. As the smell traveled throughout the house, her kids came running from their rooms. However, as they all reached for a few cutlets, she held back the bowl and declared she wouldn’t let any of them have one if they wouldn’t help her next time. As her kids eagerly wanted those cutlets they all solemnly agreed to her plan.
The following Sunday, she put out her ingredients and got to work. As promised, all five kids trickled down from their rooms one by one. Big Apama wasted no time assigning tasks: herself making a rich combination of fresh lime, onions, fish and more, forming the filling of the cutlets in a large bowl. She always made enough to feed the whole street. Big Apama made one of her daughters break the eggs in half, making a “crack” sound and whisking them together. While one daughter rolled the fish paste into medium sized balls, the next coated the cutlets in the egg mixture, and the last daughter rollde the combination in breadcrumbs, retaining its round shape and getting this combination between her fingers. Her only son would then take the formed cutlets and fry them. Every single one of them had a role to play, which made it special to each of them.
Big Apama’s kids then went on to having children of their own, the recipe and tradition was passed down onto them -- a way that Big Apama stays present in all of us. As my Apama left her home country, leaving behind everything she'd ever known, the recipe and tradition traveled 12,867 KM from her mama and one of her sons. In my family you could always tell just how much someone loves you through the food they make for you. It’s about the time they put in and the time they want to spend with you.
My Apama once told me that Big Apama would give away all the cutlets they cooked; even though the deal they made to help Big Apama was so that they could eat the cutlets in the first place, they knew it was never about the food but the time they spent with her and they look back and appreciate that. From then on, they knew never to miss a single Sunday of cutlets and neither would I.
My Big Apama (great grandmother) had twelve siblings: five children and five grandsons. Each entered young adulthood at a different period, all having in common the lack of time spent with their families. To resolve this, my Big Apama came up with a plan to make a Sri Lankan appetizer called “cutlets.” Stuffed with fish, breaded with eggs and breadcrumbs, the cutlets formed a mouth-watering crust when fried. No one could resist the captivating smell.
One Sunday, she put her plan to action. As the smell traveled throughout the house, her kids came running from their rooms. However, as they all reached for a few cutlets, she held back the bowl and declared she wouldn’t let any of them have one if they wouldn’t help her next time. As her kids eagerly wanted those cutlets they all solemnly agreed to her plan.
The following Sunday, she put out her ingredients and got to work. As promised, all five kids trickled down from their rooms one by one. Big Apama wasted no time assigning tasks: herself making a rich combination of fresh lime, onions, fish and more, forming the filling of the cutlets in a large bowl. She always made enough to feed the whole street. Big Apama made one of her daughters break the eggs in half, making a “crack” sound and whisking them together. While one daughter rolled the fish paste into medium sized balls, the next coated the cutlets in the egg mixture, and the last daughter rollde the combination in breadcrumbs, retaining its round shape and getting this combination between her fingers. Her only son would then take the formed cutlets and fry them. Every single one of them had a role to play, which made it special to each of them.
Big Apama’s kids then went on to having children of their own, the recipe and tradition was passed down onto them -- a way that Big Apama stays present in all of us. As my Apama left her home country, leaving behind everything she'd ever known, the recipe and tradition traveled 12,867 KM from her mama and one of her sons. In my family you could always tell just how much someone loves you through the food they make for you. It’s about the time they put in and the time they want to spend with you.
My Apama once told me that Big Apama would give away all the cutlets they cooked; even though the deal they made to help Big Apama was so that they could eat the cutlets in the first place, they knew it was never about the food but the time they spent with her and they look back and appreciate that. From then on, they knew never to miss a single Sunday of cutlets and neither would I.
Ingredients:
Cutlet Filling:
3 medium-sized Potatoes
1 onions
1 green chilli
1 can of jack mackerel fish
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons of canola oil
Cutlet Breading:
Start out with 1 egg (increase as needed)
Thin layer of bread crumbs (increase as needed)
½ cup canola oil (used when frying)
Steps:
Cutlet Paste:
1. Peel 3 medium sized potatoes and dice them into small cubes.
2. Get out your large pot, and add water, filling it just above where the potatoes lay. Add about two teaspoons of salt to the pot before putting your potatoes to boil on the stove at medium heat until very soft (until you are able to put a fork through them.)
3. Get out your cutting board and sharp knife, dice one onion into small cubes and one whole green chili into small round slices, placing them to the side until potatoes are boiled.
4. Once potatoes are boiled and soft, take out your large skillet and add two teaspoons of canola oil. Wait for oil to heat up before sautéing your cut onions, green chillies and boiled potatoes with a wooden spoon. Open up your jack mackerel and add the entire can to your mixture in the skillet. Sauté all these ingredients together until the onions are soft.
5. Once the ingredients have been sautéed, add one teaspoon of all three; lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Increase as needed.
6. Once completed, mash the paste together in a large skillet using a masher.
7. Create 1" balls from the entirety of the paste and set aside while making the breading of the cutlets.
Cutlet Breading:
1. Pour a thick layer of bread crumbs onto a plate and set aside until egg mixture is made.
2. The egg mixture is dependent on how much paste you have, start off with one egg and whisk until beaten, increase as necessary.
3. Dip the 1" balls (previously made) into your egg mixture, roll around the fish balls until well coated and then coat them with a generous amount of bread crumbs. Repeat until all of the fish balls are prepped and coated with the egg mixture and breadcrumbs.
4. Once all the balls are coated, get out your small frying pot filling a quarter of the pot with canola oil. Submerge the fish ball into the canola oil, as it resurfaces, fry one side until the cutlet becomes a rich brown then flip the cutlet to the other side using a spider strainer and submerge the other side until a rich brown. Repeat this process until the rest of the cutlets are fried.
Served hot! Eat Fresh!
Can be stored up to a week, reheated in an air fryer or toaster oven for about 5 min at 400F.
Cutlet Filling:
3 medium-sized Potatoes
1 onions
1 green chilli
1 can of jack mackerel fish
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons of canola oil
Cutlet Breading:
Start out with 1 egg (increase as needed)
Thin layer of bread crumbs (increase as needed)
½ cup canola oil (used when frying)
Steps:
Cutlet Paste:
1. Peel 3 medium sized potatoes and dice them into small cubes.
2. Get out your large pot, and add water, filling it just above where the potatoes lay. Add about two teaspoons of salt to the pot before putting your potatoes to boil on the stove at medium heat until very soft (until you are able to put a fork through them.)
3. Get out your cutting board and sharp knife, dice one onion into small cubes and one whole green chili into small round slices, placing them to the side until potatoes are boiled.
4. Once potatoes are boiled and soft, take out your large skillet and add two teaspoons of canola oil. Wait for oil to heat up before sautéing your cut onions, green chillies and boiled potatoes with a wooden spoon. Open up your jack mackerel and add the entire can to your mixture in the skillet. Sauté all these ingredients together until the onions are soft.
5. Once the ingredients have been sautéed, add one teaspoon of all three; lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Increase as needed.
6. Once completed, mash the paste together in a large skillet using a masher.
7. Create 1" balls from the entirety of the paste and set aside while making the breading of the cutlets.
Cutlet Breading:
1. Pour a thick layer of bread crumbs onto a plate and set aside until egg mixture is made.
2. The egg mixture is dependent on how much paste you have, start off with one egg and whisk until beaten, increase as necessary.
3. Dip the 1" balls (previously made) into your egg mixture, roll around the fish balls until well coated and then coat them with a generous amount of bread crumbs. Repeat until all of the fish balls are prepped and coated with the egg mixture and breadcrumbs.
4. Once all the balls are coated, get out your small frying pot filling a quarter of the pot with canola oil. Submerge the fish ball into the canola oil, as it resurfaces, fry one side until the cutlet becomes a rich brown then flip the cutlet to the other side using a spider strainer and submerge the other side until a rich brown. Repeat this process until the rest of the cutlets are fried.
Served hot! Eat Fresh!
Can be stored up to a week, reheated in an air fryer or toaster oven for about 5 min at 400F.