PARSI LIVER CUTLETS – KALEJI NA CUTLETS

Parsis liver cutlets are no longer part of the Parsi everyday meals and perhaps, many of the present generation have not even heard of the Parsi liver cutlets.

Thought I’d induce some life in these good old Parsi liver cutlets by putting out this recipe. Do try it on a Sunday afternoon; or gladden your Granny’s heart by serving her something from her childhood.

INGREDIENTS:

1 liver of young goat/ Sheep/beef/pork;

250 Gms ghee/ cooking medium of choice;

1 tablespoon grated onions;

1 level teaspoon black pepper powder;

1 level teaspoon red chili powder;

10 Gms salt;

20 Gms ginger;

5 cloves of garlic;

3 eggs;

2 bunch of coriander;

Bread crumbs /semolina.

METHOD:

1) Pluck the leaves of the coriander wash and cut fine;

Peel the ginger and garlic;

Grind the ginger and garlic together to a smooth paste.

2) Wash the liver put it in a pot and add a quarter liter of water and 5 gms salt/ or as per taste and boil till hard;

When done cut the liver into fine slices and put aside.

Further boil the liver slices in a cup of water;

Add salt as needed;

Boil till the liver slices becomes soft and all the water has been absorbed;

Remove from the Fire.

3) In the meantime,

Fry the two grated onions in 5 Gms ghee;

Add the ginger garlic paste;

Fry till onion mixture turns golden.

4) Cover both sides of each liver slice with the fried onion and ginger garlic, Chili and black pepper powder;

Take care not to break the slices. They are very soft and difficult to handle.

5) Use a spatula/tavatha to lift the herbed liver slices and place in a plate of breadcrumbs/semolina;

Cover the herbed liver slices on both sides with bread crumbs or semolina pressing in the bread crumbs/semolina and adding at each stage to make a nice thick cover.

Treat all cutlets similarly and place in a separate plate.

6) Beat the eggs lightly;

Add a tiny pinch of salt per egg while beating.

7) Now again lift the bread crusted liver cutlet with a spatula and dip each one in the lightly beaten egg, one at a time; one side at a time.

8) Shallow fry in very hot almost steaming ghee/oil;

Flip the cutlet once the underside is done;

Add more beaten egg if necessary;

Flip once again and then remove.

Take care not to break the cutlets when flipping, they tend to be rather soft until fried golden brown and the cover is crisp.

9) Both sides of the cutlets should be golden brown and not dark brown.

Serve hot with bread or chapattis and any sweet and sour salad

With the gadgets now available to us and grilling made easy, if you prefer, and if you have a grill, you may grill the liver instead of boiling it, then slice it and then boil the slices to make them soft. In any event the liver slices must be softened before coating with herbs, crusting and frying.

Kurkuria is a Parsi snack long forgotten and lost in memory. I first heard of it from a Parsi Manager of an Agiary (Fire Temple) in Mumbai. Marzban Palsettia is from the Village of Nargol, in Gujarat and mentioned that ‘amongst other Parsi snacks, he even made Kurkuria for his colleagues’. I was intrigued. When I found this recipe  amongst the family recipes, I thought to share it with you, my readers. The taste imparted by using the Palm Toddy as ferment is distinctive; that, perhaps, adds greatly to the appeal of the Kurkuria as against other fritters.

There is more than one kind of Kurkuria to be had with Tea—some with fruit some without. Each is made differently; I will share the recipes in due course.

It is interesting to know that Kurkuria is also, the name of two villages in India; one in the State of Assam and another in West Bengal.

Both places also have a weather Bureau which are  named the Kurkuria Grant Weather – AccuWeather Forecast for Assam India and one by the same name for West Bengal.

INGREDIENTS:

250 Gms fine wheat semolina (Rava);

250 Gms plain wheat flour (Atta);

250 Gms finely ground white flour (Maida)

500 Gms powdered sugar (you may grind fine, sugar crystals of use icing sugar) ;

250 Gms plain wheat flour;

½ bottle of toddy (if not available add a flat tsp of fresh yeast and treat the flour accordingly);

250 ml milk with thick cream added to it (cream optional)

3 tablespoons rose water;

6 eggs;

5 Gms cardamom and nutmeg powder mixed;

1 tbsp ghee as shortening (butter used instead of ghee will destroy the earthy flavour of the Kurkuria Fritters);

Ghee / other cooking medium as required for frying.

Sieve the semolina and wheat flour;

Add tbsp ghee;

Mix lightly.

Beat the 6 eggs lightly and add to the flour;

Mix.

Add milk with cream, Cardamom-Nutmeg powder, powdered sugar;

Mix.

Do not knead the dough at any stage.

Add a little Toddy at a time and bring the mixture to a dropping consistency.

Cover the mixture and put it in a warm place. Allow it to rise.

When it has risen add the rose water. Mix.

Heat the ghee in a deep pan and drop the dough with a table spoon in the hot but not smoking ghee.

Keep each ball of the Kurkuria apart when frying; ensure they do not bunch up or stick to each other;

Deep fry the Kukuria to a brown and serve with Tea.

A few grams of blanched, peeled almonds crushed to a powder, if added to the Kurkuria dough would go a long way in improving its taste.