Fish Cutlet Kerala Style is a mouth-watering and delicious appetizer. It is a great way to get picky eaters to eat fish. The boiled fish, seasoned with green chilies, ginger, and curry leaves, blends nicely with the mashed potatoes and mild spices making a flavorful filling. The crispy breadcrumbs add a nice crunch. Dip it in tangy ketchup to make your tastebuds enjoy every bite.
This recipe uses Tilapia fillets. Tilapia is, by the way, a great-tasting fish for those who are new to fish, do try my pan-fried Tilapia recipe. It only has a mildly fishy taste. If you are venturing into trying fish for the first time this is a good recipe to try. Mahi-Mahi or Tuna can also be used. Back home, we mainly use King fish or Tuna for making cutlets.
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Why you'll love this recipe?
- They are so delicious that you cannot resist having them. This has become my go-to recipe whenever I have to make a delicious appetizer.
- You can use any type of fish, like Tilapia, Mahi Mahi, Salmon, Tuna, or King Fish; they all turn out great.
- Great for seafood lovers and folks trying fish for the first time, as the potatoes and other ingredients overpower the fishy taste.
- This is fabulous for get-togethers and parties. Vegetarians can have the veg cutlets made with the beetroot cutlet recipe. Serve Malabar chicken Biryani, Veg biryani layered, Chemmeen Thengakothu, Chemmeen mulakittathu, and vermicelli payasam, and you have a nice feast!
- It can be had as an appetizer or as a patty in a sandwich.
- The leftovers can be frozen, thawed, reheated, and used.
Ingredients - Breakdown
- Fish that is fresh and preferably Tilapia, Mahi Mahi, King Fish, Tuna, or Salmon, cooked with salt and other ingredients, drained, and mashed with a fork.
- Ginger and green chilies.
- Spices like Kerala garam masala blend, amchur (dry mango) powder, and black pepper.
- Mashed potatoes.
- Onions, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, and coriander leaves are finely chopped.
- Egg and breadcrumbs for the outer covering.
How to make Fish Cutlet Kerala Style using Tilapia?
Cook Tilapia fillet with ginger, green, chilies, salt, and pepper with just about enough water. Use just enough water so the fish fully absorbs all the ingredients after cooking. It cooks pretty quickly. When cooking, the aroma of the fish is out of the world and seafood lovers are sure to love it.
Do not overcook the fish, or else it might taste very chewy and hard. Make sure there is no excess water. You can squeeze out any water from the fish mixture to be sure. Next, mash it with a fork into smaller flakes.
Do not completely mash it into a paste. It is okay to have some flakes. Later, add the potatoes and spices to the fish mixture to form small round or oval-shaped patties. Coat with egg-wash and breadcrumbs and deep-fry in oil.
- Step 1: Cook fish with ginger, green chilies, and pepper with very little water. Press with a fork and mix with mashed potatoes and chopped veggies.
- Step 2: Form into a ball shape and flatten with your hands.
- Step 3: Dunk the patties in egg mixture with a fork and roll with breadcrumbs all over.
- Step 4: Keep the cutlet patties in an aluminum tray and refrigerate by covering them with a clingwrap if not frying immediately.
- Step 5: Heat oil and cook on medium heat on both sides until they turn brown.
- Step 6: Drain onto a paper towel and the fish cutlets are ready to be served.
Useful tips
- Cook the fish just until it's about done and is flaky, do not overcook it as it also cooks while deep-frying and can get hard and chewy.
- Remove any excess water content from the fish after it cooks.
- Using large quantities of mashed potatoes to make the cutlet will suppress the fish's taste. It is preferable to have the right balance of the cooked fish and potatoes.
- The patties may need reshaping, after rolling in the egg and bread crumbs coating.
- Keep the patties refrigerated so that they can retain their shape and not fall apart while frying.
- To cook the cutlets, one can either deep fry or shallow fry the patties.
- Heat the oil to medium-high temperature and maintain it while frying.
- The patties can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated.
- They can be fried just before serving so that it is fresh and crisp.
Recipe FAQs
Gently squeeze the cooked fish to remove excess moisture. Coat with breadcrumbs, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to set. Fry on medium-high heat, turning gently until both sides are golden and crispy.
They can be stored in an air-tight container in a refrigerator for about 2 to 3 days and frozen for about 2 months.
To reheat, it's best to use an oven, toaster, or air fryer since the breadcrumbs coating will stay crispy to enjoy the same texture. Microwaving could make it soft and soggy.
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Fish Cutlet Kerala Style
Ingredients
To Boil
- 3 fillet Tilapia fresh
- 4 green chillies Use more or less as you can tolerate spice
- 1 inch Ginger crushed
- 1 stalk Curry Leaves
- 1 tsp Salt or to taste
- 2 tsp Black Pepper crushed and powdered
For Patty
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 medium Potatoes boiled and mashed
- ½ onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 2 tbsp garlic finely chopped
- 6 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp dry mango powder amchur optional
- ½ cup coriander leaves finely chopped
- 4 to 5 curry leaves
For Coating
- 2 cups bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs beaten with salt n pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil all the contents in the to boil section with just enough water so that it is fully absorbed on cooking.
- Cool and drain any excess water . The mixture can be squeezed to remove water.
- In a pan heat some oil and add half the quantity of the onions, garlic, ginger , green chillies ,salt and spices and sautee well.
- Add the fish and make sure the entire mixture is dry .
- Add the mashed potatoes and mix well.
- Add the remaining half of the raw onions, ginger , green chillies and coriander leaves.
- Switch off flame and let it cool.
- Make small rounds and flatten into a patty shape as you desire.
- Beat 2 eggs with salt and pepper.
- Using 2 forks dip the patty in egg wash and coat with bread crumbs.
- Reshape into patty by adding some more bread crumbs .
- Keep all the patties ready in a refrigerator until they are deep-fried
- Shallow or deep fry the patties.
- Transfer the patties into a tray line with paper-towel.
- Serve the fish cutlets with ketchup on the side
Notes
- Cook the fish just until it's about done and is flaky, do not overcook it as it also cooks while deep-frying and can get hard and chewy.
- Remove any excess water content from the fish after it cooks.
- Using large quantities of mashed potatoes to make the cutlet will suppress the fish's taste. It is preferable to have the right balance of the cooked fish and potatoes.
- The patties may need reshaping, after rolling in the egg and bread crumbs coating.
- Keep the patties refrigerated so that they can retain their shape and not fall apart while frying.
- To cook the cutlets, one can either deep fry or shallow fry the patties.
- Heat the oil to medium-high temperature and maintain it while frying.
- The patties can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated.
- They can be fried just before serving so that it is fresh and crisp.
I'm always nervous to deep fry and especially when it is fish! Your instructions were very easy to follow and the fish cutlets turned out great. My family is already asking for them again.
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
I'm always looking for new ways to cook tilapia and this is perfect! So easy and delicious!
My new favorite fish recipe. It's so good!
These are so good! I never had anything like them until I made this. I can't wait to make it again!
I'm so in love with these! The texture was amazing, and the breading was so good. Great recipe!
Love fish cutlets Nisha and these look so inviting!
Thank you so much Sandhya, fish cutlets are my favorite as well 🙂
Oh yummy, Nisha!
Thank you Jennifer!
Can't go wrong with this recipe! Thank you!
Many Thanks for stopping by .I agree fish with breaded coating and deep fried can never go wrong 🙂
That's super crispy and amazingggg.
Thank you so much!
Awesome
Thank you so much , glad you liked it!
Sounds super tempting Nisha ! Never tried a fish cutlet till date . Hope to try this soon 🙂
I would highly recommend you try it out Smitha .It tastes really awesome .You could also use tuna, salmon or king fish .Thank you so much for stopping by and the comments !
Wonderful combination of flavors in these tasty looking cakes! 🙂
Many Thanks Ronit, the flavors from the ginger and chilies do complement the fish patties very well. Appreciate your comment.