Ashy's vegetarian recipes ©2002
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Spinach and mushroom Cutlets
These cutlets taste great, but they're bright green - though if you think
that's weird, go check out the beetroot cutlets - they'll really freak you
out. It's amazing how colour affects our perception of how palatable food
is. I'm reminded of a time when I shared a house with a guy called Billy
and three labradors (vegetarian labradors, incidentally). We were bored
and decided to have a Christmas party (Billy and I, that is - the dogs took
little part in the day-to-day decision making). Since it was July, we used
soap powder to make snow round the front door and baked mince pies to get
everyone into the festive spirit (copious quantities of a cheap, brand-name
variety of which we had purchased at the local supermarket). In retrospect,
neither idea was very good - the snow because it rained and the carpet ended
up all white foot-prints. On the soap powder which escaped getting wet from
the rain because it was inside the front door, someone was sick. The result
had to be seen to be believed.
The mince-pies were a failure (and this is where we return to the point
of the story) on account of the fact that we put food colouring into the
dough to brighten them up. No-one, except the dogs, would eat blue and green
mince-pies. The dogs ate so much, they couldn't wait till they went outside
in the morning and laid blue and green turds all over the house during the
night.
If you still fancy a spinach and mushroom cutlet after that story, here's
the recipe.
Ingredients
1 and a half cups of cooked spinach (see below)
1 cup of fried mushrooms
4-5 cups of cooked rice
1 level dessertspoon of flour
Salt
You'll be surprised at how much fresh spinach you need to produce one
and a half cups of cooked stuff. I used two bunches from the bazaar - probably
about 500g altogether. You don't really have to be that fussy about the
quantities though - a bit more, a bit less - nobody will die. Wash the spinach
and leave it wet. Chop it well and steam it for ten minutes in a pan with
a tight fitting lid (you don't need to add water).
Mushrooms, to a lesser extent, also tend to shrink when you cook them,
so be prepared. Fry them in a very small amount of oil - remember, you'll
be frying the cutlets too.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mash them well with a potato masher,
coffee jar or other blunt instrument. The mixture will keep in the fridge
for a day or two. Heat some oil in a frying pan - you don't need much as
there's already some in the cutlets from the mushrooms. Make cutlets with
your hands and coat each side with flour (sprinkle some on a plate and lay
them in it). Fry them on a medium heat for about 5 minutes each side. Despite
the colour, they really are delicious.