Kotlet is a Persian dish made from ground meat, mashed potato, onion, herbs and spices. It’s damn tasty, and dead easy to make. If you can make a meatball, you can make this, it’s that easy. It’s also an easy way to impress your friends with how ‘cultural’ you are. ;^) Serve with rice and a salad for a complete meal.
While Kotlet is usually fried in a pan, I don’t have time for that when making it for the kids at school (I make 5 times this receipe), so I bake them on a pan brushed with olive oil.
Ingredients:
1 Pound russet potatoes (about 4 medium)
1/4 cup milk
1 Medium onion, roughly chopped
1/4 Bunch flat leaf parsley, with stems, roughly chopped
1/4 Bunch cilantro, with stems, roughly chopped
1/4 Bunch dill, remove thick part of stem, roughly chopped
1/4 Bunch mint (leaves only), roughly chopped
1 1/2 Tablespoons turmeric
1/2 Teaspoon Advieh (Persian spice mix)
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon ground black pepper
2 Large eggs
1 pound ground beef
3 Tablespoons Olive oil (or veg)
1/2 package panko bread crumbs
Peel the potatoes and place them in a pot of water, bring to a boil and cook until a knife slides easily into the potato. Drain the potatoes and mash them with the milk, making sure to break up any large chunks, little chunks are fine.
While the potatoes are cooking, put the onion, parsley, cilantro, dill, mint, turmeric, advieh, salt, pepper and eggs into a food processor or blender and process until the herbs are in small bits, if using a blender pulse it, as you don’t want this completely pureed.
In a large bowl mix the potatoes, the herbs and meat together, and using the masher (or your hands, or a stand mixer) mix until everything is well combined. It’s okay if there are small chunks of potato, or small clumps of meat.
Preheat oven to 450F (if you have a convection oven use the fan and reduce temp to 425F)
Assembly:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush with the olive oil
Place the panko bread crumbs into a medium bowl. Using your hands take the kotlet mixture and form balls about the size of a jumbo egg, put it into the panko and roll it around with your hands to coat it thoroughly, then flatten it in your hands until it’s about 1/3 of an inch thick and oblong (or tear) shaped, and place in the pan. Repeat until done. You should have 16-20 pieces.
Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and peak underneath to see if they are brown and crisp, check the ones in the middle first as they take the longest to brown. When crispy brown, flip them over and cook until all the kotlet are brown and crispy on both sides, you may need to pull some of the kotlet around the edges of the pan before they are all done. We don’t want burnt kotlet!
Enjoy!
PS If you have any leftovers, they are amazing for breakfast; reheat by frying them in a pan with butter and then top them with plain yogurt. Noms!
