Chicken Patties

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Sonshine and McD

To put it mildly, Sonshine is not a big fan of non-vegetarian food. But there was a time when we decide to go out and eat, he would want to go to McD and buy a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets. Those chicken nuggets were the closest thing to chicken that he would "consume" happily. But most of the time, nuggets went into the trash, the french fries got eaten and Sonshine came home happy with the latest toy from McD.

One of the tactics we used to discourage him from buying a happy meal was telling him that he is 5,6,7 years old  and those toys are for kids younger than him. But his logic was that the toy is for "Ages 3+" and  5,6,7 is definitely above 3, so he kept insisting on buying McD Happy Meals. Moreover, Sonshine is more of a rice-and-daalithoy (konkani style dal) kind of guy, so we were  happy that he is eating some form of non-vegetarian food when we go out.

But, it's been almost a year since we have been to McD. Sonshine refuses to go there. We beg & plead to go (just to see his reaction) to McD. But Sonshine is quite adamant that he would not go. Now that he has stopped going to McD, he has started trying many dishes from different restaurants.

The incident that changed Sonshine's mind happened last year when we went sight seeing with my in-laws. They were visiting us over the summer. We went to McD for a brunch at around 10:50. As soon as Sonshine understood we are going to McD, he started making plans for the next toy he is going to get. He stood outside McD and looked at the "toy menu" and figured out the best one. When we went in, they were still serving their breakfast menu. And the person at the counter told Sonshine that they do not "serve" Happy Meal for breakfast. Sonshine was disappointed, but he took it in his stride and ordered pancakes. By the time we got the food it was like 10:58 (quite a lot of crowd that day) and a couple of minutes after we started eating, they changed their menu to lunch menu, which as you correctly guessed, also served Happy Meal. For the 7 year old, this was heart-breaking. Being such a hard-core fan of McD Happy Meal, he felt cheated. We tried to convince him that it's not McD's fault, but he refused to get convinced. He was devastated that a loyal customer like him was not given a happy meal just because he ordered his food 5 minutes prior to the Happy Meal menu. So, anyways, these days, he makes sure that no one from our family goes to McD.

These chicken patties are my friend Seema's (Thank you so much Seema) specialty. So far, no one has been able to stop eating just one of these when she makes them. This is a very special recipe for me, because she shared them with me just before her delivery. Sonshine proclaimed that these are better than the McD nuggets 🙂 .   I made a few changes to the original recipe that Seema shared. The vegetarian in me refused to deal with the fact that there are no vegetables in the recipe other than Ginger and garlic. So, I added some spinach to the mix. And I sprinkled some Chaat Masala/Chat Masala to perk up the chicken patties. Seema usually makes it like burger patties, but I made them into a bite sized appetizer after being inspired by the book Bite by Bite which has 100 delicious recipes & photos 🙂 .

Did you know?

Spinach belongs to the goosefoot family of plants making it a relative of Swiss chard and beets.

This leafy vegetable is so power packed that just ½ cup of raw Spinach is considered equivalent to 20% of your fruit/vegetable requirement for a day.

Crystal City, Texas (a Spinach growing city)  erected a Popeye statue to honor his love for spinach.

In the medieval period, Spinach was used to extract green pigment for use in art work.

[Sources: Spinach Fun Facts, Top Food Facts]

The Recipe

Chicken Patties

These bite sized chicken patties can be served as an appetizer. Perk it up by sprinkling chaat masala. Serve it with ketchup.

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 24 patties

Calories 51 kcal

Ingredients

  

Chicken Patty

• 1 lb 0.45kg Ground Chicken/Minced Chicken
• 3 Garlic Cloves medium sized, peeled and washed
• 1.5 inch Ginger peeled and washed
• 1 Egg
• 2 tbsp Grated Mozzarella Cheese
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper or to taste
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander/ Coriander powder
• ⅓ cup Finely chopped spinach leaves tightly packed
• 1 tbsp Finely chopped Cilantro/Coriander leaves
• 1-2 Green Chilles/Serrano Pepper or to taste
• Salt to taste
• Oil for Shallow frying

Garnish

• 1 tsp Chaat Masala
• Cherry Tomatoes washed and dried
• Lettuce Leaves washed and gently pat dried

Required Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Chopping board
• Mortar & Pestle
• Spatula
• Measuring spoons
• A small bowl
• Fork
• Saute Pan
• Pastry brush
• Baking Tray See Recipe Notes
• Aluminum Foil See Recipe Notes
• Mittens
• Parchment Parper/Grease Proof paper
• Kitchen Scissors

Instructions

 

• Crush the ginger and garlic using the mortar and pestle and make ginger-garlic paste.
• De-seed the green chillies/Serrano Pepper and chop finely.
• Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk gently with a fork.
• Add the ingredients for the chicken patty, one at a time to the mixing bowl.
• Pour the beaten egg into the mixing bowl and mix everything well.
• Spread the parchment paper on the counter and grease it with oil using a pastry brush.
• Scoop tablespoonful of the chicken mix and place each of those on the parchment paper about an inch or two apart.
• Using your finger tips, press each of those into a small patty about 1 inch diameter and ½ inch thick.
• Heat oil in the saute pan over medium heat.
• Shallow fry the patties. Each batch would take about 3-4 minutes to cook one side of the patty.
• Flip over with a spatula and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes or till well cooked.
• Line a baking tray with Aluminium foil and grease with a little oil.
• Remove the patties from the saute pan and place on the baking tray.(See Recipe Notes)
• Place the oven rack in the top position closer to the coils. Turn on the broiler option (on high) of your oven and pre-heat for approximately 5 minutes.
• Place the baking tray with the patties in the oven and broil each side of the patty for 2-3 minutes.
• Transfer to a serving tray.
• Trim the ends of the cherry tomatoes and cut them crosswise about ¼ inch thick. Cut the lettuce leaves into circles slightly smaller than an inch using scissors.
• Sprinkle chaat masala on each patty.
• Garnish with lettuce leaf and cherry tomato.
• Serve with ketchup.

Notes

If you do not have/use an oven, just make sure the patties are lightly browned and well cooked before you remove them from the saute pan. (You can skip steps 12 through15).