Spinach (Palak) Oats Cutlet - Healthy Snack

It was Friday evening... I had just got back from work and was already in the weekend mood... There are certain days when I get very excited planning for the weekend programme.  The next day we were to drive down to Mahabaleshwar.  I was relaxed as next day morning I had to just make Simple Chutney Sandwich which we were planning to pack it for breakfast.. you may go through the recipe to make this simple chutney sandwich on http://premasadukkala.blogspot.in/2015/03/green-coriander-chutney-simple-chutney.html.

My maid had already made the evening dinner... my daughter and son were back home and asked me... Mom what's the special dish that you have made today??? It was almost 8:00 pm and I  quickly got into the kitchen and checked the fridge.  There was  a bunch of palak in my fridge. The idea for this combination suddenly crossed my mind... "Spinach Oats Cutlet" - This was an invention that happened in the Kitchen that evening :).   I used some Oats and spices and combined with Spinach (Palak) and made this mouth watering snack.

This is healthy snack for kids, adults and it's very filling. I make oats mostly for breakfast... You can make this specially for guests if you want to serve something healthy and different.  If you are having a  party you can prepare the tikki and keep in fridge for 1 day or freeze it  and just shallow fry them whenever you need to serve. I like my cutlets to be pan fried than deep fried. 

You can try  adding variety of vegetables i.e. grated carrot, cabbage, green peas to make these much more interesting! 

As oats itself is a nice binding agent when it is moist you don't need to add any other binding agents like bread or corn flour to the mixture. You can pack this for your kids Tiffin box too, it stays good!!

Time to pen down the recipe :

Ingredients :

Half Bunch Spinach (Palak) - Washed and Chopped

Quakers Oats : 1 cup

Green Chillies - 4 to 5

Grated Ginger - 1 tsp

Grated Cabbage, carrot, green peas - 1/2 cup

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Oregano Powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Oil to shallow fry the cutlet

Crushed Oats for coating

Method:

In an pan heat 1/2 tsp oil.  To this add the Chopped Spinach and other veggies and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Now add the Quaker Oats and mix well...Put off the gas.  Cool this mixture and add green chillies, grated ginger, pepper powder, Oregano powder and salt.  Put all these ingredients in a mixer jar and grind  just once or twice.(Do not use water to grind as we need this mixture to be thick).  Put this mixture in a bowl. You can add crushed oats to the mixture in case the mixture in loose.  Make cutlets of any shape you desire and coat this with crushed oats.  You can also make the Tikki's and keep them in the fridge and use them later.  You may shallow fry them on a non stick pan till both sides are golden brown. Garnish with carrot sticks.

Serve this hot with Mint Chutney & Sauce.