SPICY RAVA CUTLETS - crispy, golden brown semolina cutlets made from leftover upma (south Indian style savory semolina porridge); a perfect teatime or Valentine ’s Day treat!
Although we love upma, being just 2 in our house now, how much ever I make, I end up having leftover upma or even kanda/matar poha which we end up eating reluctantly, if leftover. I hate letting any food go to waste and was looking for ways to make use of this leftover upma, albeit in a snack form and could not think of anything better than making cutlets like I made using leftover matar poha; Matar Poha Cutlet!
To know more about upma and how to make this savory south Indian breakfast delight (although we can enjoy it any time of the day!), do check out my other post on Mixed Vegetable Upma.
To make semolina cutlets out of upma, just mix prepared cold or room temperature upma (fresh or leftover) with some spices and rice flour or cornstarch (to help bind into a dough) and form a firm dough, cut into desired shapes or form patties and then deep fry after coating with either rice flour, oats flour or breadcrumbs.
Now, the foodblogger that I am, my creative juices egged me to make something different. So rather than make plain, boring round cutlets or patties, I stirred in some grated beetroots into the dough to make it pink and pretty, added some more spices and grabbed my heart shaped cutter as Valentine’s Day was just around the corner to metamorphose these cutlets into cute, heart shaped patties! Adorable aren’t they?
These came out so delicious, I was biting into them as soon as they were ready!
So, make some homemade, simple and delicious mixed vegetable upma soon (choose to omit the veggies if you want) with my step-wise instructions and all the tips, enjoy this suji/rava/semolina south Indian delight or turn leftovers (if any!) into these cute cutlets to impress your loved ones!
When our Facebook gourmet group “Healthy Wellthy Cuisines” decided to choose “LeftoverMakeover” or dishes using leftover food as this time's bimonthly theme, my mind could think of only rava cutlets from leftover upma or savory semolina porridge with veggies as my contribution.
As soon as Narmadha of Nams Corner suggested this theme, I could not wait to make upma just to make cutlets out of leftovers! Crazy, am I not? By the way, do check out her blog which has some amazing dishes you can enjoy every day!
Happy Cooking and Happy Valentine’s Day Foodies!
Here are some more dishes from my kitchen using leftovers put to good use:
- Cornflakes Chivda
- Mixed Vegetable Parathas (using leftover aloo tikkis)
- Sweet Tukdi/Shankarpali (using leftover rasgulla syrup)
- Matar Poha Cutlet (using leftover matar poha)
And here are my blogger friends contribution to #leftovermakeover in Healthy Wellthy Cuisines:
Upma Uttapam by Narmadha | Leftover Rajma Kabab by Poonam | Oats and Banana Cookies by Seema | Air-fryer Cutlets with Leftovers by Swaty
Now, lets check out how I made these cute, pretty and pink Spicy Rava Cutlets:
Crispy, golden brown semolina cutlets made from leftover upma (south Indian style savory semolina porridge); a perfect teatime or Valentine ’s Day treat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover upma
- ½ beetroot, peeled and grated
- 3 to 4 tbsp rice flour or cornstarch
- ½ tsp amchur or chaat masala powder (optional)
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- ¼ tsp haldi
- Crushed black pepper
- Salt if needed
- FOR DEEP FRYING:
- Oil for deep frying
- Oats flour (blended rolled oats);
- 2 to 3 tbsp Rice flour (or cornstarch)
- ½ tsp red chili powder/cayenne powder (optional)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups leftover upma , grated beets, rice flour or cornstarch and the spice powders; give it a good mix and bind into a firm dough.
- Add chopped cilantro too if needed.
- Now, line a pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil (grease if using this) with a overhang for easy removal of set cutlet dough. To help it stay in the pan while patting the dough, apply grease to the pan before lining.
- Pat the prepared cutlet dough evenly over the parchment, smoothing the edges too.
- Set in refrigerator to set for 2 to 4 hours.
- Just before frying the suji/semolina/rava/upma cutlets, make a fine powder of rolled oats and place in a bowl large enough to allow coating of cutlet.
- In another bowl, make a slurry of rice flour, chili powder (optional), salt and water to make a slightly coating mixture; not too thin, not too thick.
- Heat oil for deep frying.
- Remove the chilled cutlet dough from the fridge and using a heart-shaped cutter (or any shape you like), cut out hearts of cutlet dough and set on a plate.
- When the oil is hot, gently dip the cutlet in the slurry just to moisten it; do not let it soak in the slurry too long or they will soften and break up!
- Once the cutlet is slightly moistened with the rice slurry, gently drop into the bowl of oats powder and coat well all over. Make sure to have a thick coating as possible and press the coating into the cutlet.
- Drop in the hot oil and deep fry for a couple of minutes until it turns golden brown and is crisp all over.
- Remove and set on absorbent paper line plates to remove excess oil. Deep fry all the cutlets similarly.
- Serve hot, crispy and spicy rava/semolina/upma cutlets with some ketchup or your favorite green chutney!
- Enjoy Foodies and Happy Cooking!
- If making for Valentine’s Day, Happy Valentine’s Day!
Notes
Adjust the amount of spices according to personal taste.
Make sure you do not have big pieces of veggies or even nuts as then it will be difficult to cut the set dough into perfect shapes. If possible try to avoid nuts.
If you do not have any cutters, just make cutlets/patties like you would make any tikki and deep fry.
For a simpler version, avoid all the veggies in the upma and just use grated beets and carrots when making the dough.
Try not to soak the cutlet dough in the slurry for too long; just dip to moisten and then coat with oats flour or even a fine flour of cornflakes, more semolina or even bread crumbs.
STEP-WISE INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE SAVORY AND SPICY RAVA CUTLETS:
In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups leftover upma, grated beets, rice flour or cornstarch and the spice powders; give it a good mix and bind into a firm dough.
Add chopped cilantro too if needed.
Now, line a pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil (grease if using this) with a overhang for easy removal of set cutlet dough. To help it stay in the pan while patting the dough, apply grease to the pan before lining.
Pat the prepared cutlet dough evenly over the parchment, smoothing the edges too.
Set in refrigerator to set for 2 to 4 hours.
Heat oil for deep frying.
Remove the chilled cutlet dough from the fridge and using a heart-shaped cutter (or any shape you like), cut out hearts of cutlet dough and set on a plate.
Make a fine powder of rolled oats and place in a bowl large enough to allow coating of cutlet.
In another bowl, make a slurry of rice flour, chili powder (optional), salt and water to make a slightly coating mixture; not too thin, not too thick.
Gently dip the cutlet in the slurry just to moisten it; do not let it soak in the slurry too long or they will soften and break up!
Once the cutlet is slightly moistened with the rice slurry, gently drop into the bowl of oats powder and coat well all over. Make sure to have a thick coating as possible.
Drop in the hot oil and deep fry for a couple of minutes until it turns golden brown and is crisp all over.
Remove and set on absorbent paper line plates to remove excess oil. Deep fry all the cutlets similarly.
Serve hot, crispy and spicy rava/semolina/upma cutlets with some ketchup or your favorite green chutney!
Enjoy Foodies and Happy Cooking!
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Have fun cooking, eating and sharing!!!
Excellent idea to use leftver upma. Looks so tempting and I want to grab few now.
leftover upma to cutlet is a superb idea di !! The use of rice slurry to use before coating is an interesting one. surely use this in my next preparation sure
left over upma is an absolute yes in my house and this is the perfect transformation, I love this as it will perfectly fit the lunch box too.
Heart shaped rava cutlets look absolutely adorable ! Loved the idea of sneaking in beetroot in the leftover upma which made it all the more tempting ! Now that's what we say a perfect leftover makeover !
Wow!! what a wonderful idea to make nutritious cutlets with leftover upma.. perfect snack for kids with ketchup and for grown up their evening chai.. these look so pretty in heart shape with beautiful red hue!!