Sweet Potato Cutlet is a healthy evening snack made with cooked sweet potatoes, spices and herbs, shallow fried to a crisp. You can serve it with some mint chutney or any chutney of your choice.
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Sweet Potato Cutlet
Sweet Potato Cutlet is an excellent evening snack, or an appetizer made with cooked sweet potatoes & spices and fried to a golden crisp.
These make an excellent after-school snack that kids most definitely will love. You can even carry this as a 4PM snack in your dabbas to office.
The spices I’ve used are basic ones – salt, pepper, turmeric and red chilli, but you can jazz it up by adding any spices of your choice.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Tikki
The main ingredient is, of course, Sweet Potato. We get sweet potatoes in Bangalore almost throughout the year, but the ones that you get in season are the best. (November-February). You can make this tikki with normal potatoes.
I have used basic spices – salt, pepper, turmeric and red chilli powder. But you can make it interesting by adding onion powder, garlic powder, paprika powder and even Italian spices.
One of the most important ingredient is the Cornstarch. This ingredient binds the cutlet and keeps the ingredients together when you are shallow frying or deep frying.
I have also used finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.
You will also need cooking oil for shallow frying the tikkis.
How to make Sweet Potato Cutlet
Clean the sweet potatoes and add them to a small pressure cooker with 1/2 cup of water at the bottom. Close the lid and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Allow the pressure to release naturally.
Once the pressure has released, remove them immediately. I have observed that if you leave potatoes inside the pressure cooker long after they have cooked, they can become mushy.
Cut off the edges of the sweet potato and peel the skin. Mash the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. (If you mash the potatoes long after they’ve cooled, it might be tough, so it’s best to mash them when warm)
Add all the spice powders, onions, coriander leaves and cornstarch. Start with 1/2 tsp salt and adjust accordingly later.
Mix all the ingredients to form a nice dough like texture. You must not have any moisture in the sweet potato cutlet mixture. If you notice that there is moisture, just add another 1/2 tsp of cornstarch.
Make equal sized balls from the tikki mixture. Flatten them and give them a shape of a tikki or cutlet. Keep them on a plate and place them in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes. You can even prepare a lot of them and freeze them to use for the next one week.
Place a shallow pan on a medium flame and add some oil, roughly 1/2 cup. Place the frozen tikkis one by one with enough space in between them. Fry them on a low to medium flame for about 2 minutes on each side. Fry them until golden brown.
Serve these delicious Sweet Potato Cutlets with Mint Chutney, ketchup of any spicy dip of your choice.
Storage and Shelf Life
Once you fry the tikkis, you can easily leave them out for up to 2 hours. But if you plan on packing it in the dabba, ensure that you store your food in a cool place. In Bangalore weather, you can leave it out for 4-5 hours.
The best thing is to make a large batch of tikkis and keep them in the freezer for up to 1 week.
Recipe
Sweet Potato Cutlet
Ingredients
- 250 g Sweet Potato
- 1 small Onion finely chopped
- 1 handful Coriander Leaves finely chopped
- ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- ½ tsp Pepper Powder
- ½ tsp Salt adjust accordingly
- 1 tbsp Corn Starch
- 200 ml Cooking Oil
- 1 tsp Chaat Masala (optional)
Instructions
- Start off with cleaning the potatoes and add them to a small pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. You can also boil the sweet potatoes in water for 10 minutes. (check for done-ness frequently).
- Once the pressure is released, remove the potatoes from the cooker. It is best to remove the potatoes as soon as the pressure cooker is done since the potatoes tend to absorb water if you leave them longer.
- Peel the skin, mash them well on a large container/plate.
- Let's start the seasoning with salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and pepper. Next, add the corn starch and mix all the ingredients well.
- You have to ensure that there is no moisture in the sweet potato cutlet mixture. If there is any moisture, they will fall apart when you fry them. If you think there is more moisture, add more cornstarch and mix again.
- Make round balls of equal size and keep them aside. Take each ball and flatten them until they look like a cutlet or a tikki. Make all the cutlets and keep them on a plate.
- Place the cutlets in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes before frying them.
- Place a shallow pan on medium flame with oil coating the bottom. Add the cutlets one by one, giving them all enough space, depending on the size of the pan.
- Fry on one side until golden and flip it to the other side to fry to a golden crisp.
- Serve these delicious tikkis with green chutney.