An alternative to meat - vegetable cutlets, a recipe.

Cutlets are a familiar dish that is familiar to everyone and everywhere since childhood. It is noteworthy that in Europe, under the cutlet is meant a thin piece of meat on the bone, and not a meat fried cake like in Russia. Each housewife has her own recipe for cutlets. As a rule, cutlets are a meat dish. They are prepared from minced meat, fish, poultry with various additives (bread, potatoes, etc.).

The spread of the principles of proper nutrition, the influence of mass sports and fitness made changes in the preparation of cutlets. Now the housewives are trying to use healthier recipes, in addition the dishes are more diverse.

More and more vegetables replace meat ingredients in the preparation of various dishes, which brings variety and benefit.

Not less tasty are vegetable cutlets. The recipe for their preparation is not difficult, and mixing of vegetable mince takes place in the same way as when making meat cutlets. The difference lies in the use of other components.

How to cook pumpkin vegetable cutlets? The recipe is simple. Ingredients: actually pumpkin (about one and a half kilograms), spices (salt, pepper), sugar, semolina, vegetable oil and eggs.

First you need to clean the pumpkin from the peel and the entrails, and cut the flesh into pieces so that it is convenient to twist it in a meat grinder or rub it on a large grater. After grinding the pumpkin, add two eggs (you can three), half a glass of semolina, two or three tablespoons of vegetable oil and spices to taste in the same container. All carefully mix. Minced meat for pumpkin cutlets ready. Form the cutlets of the right size, put them neatly in a frying pan and fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve these cutlets with sour cream.

In order to prepare potato vegetable cutlets, the recipe can be used as a cutlet in Belarusian, and in Clearly Polyanka. Their formulation is similar, only in the second case, butter is included in the composition.

To prepare potato cutlets in Belarusian, you need: potatoes, eggs, flour, onions and breadcrumbs. Minced meat is mixed from several potatoes, grated on a large grater or twisted through a meat grinder. Potatoes are added onions, finely chopped or twisted in a meat grinder. It is best to mix potatoes and onions together. In the resulting potato stuffing are added eggs (usually two), flour, so that "stickiness" appears and the cutlets do not fall apart in the pan during the frying process. Spices (salt and pepper) are added to taste. Before you put the formed cutlet on a pan, it is necessary to roll it in breadcrumbs. Fry it from two sides until completely ready. Serve these cutlets with cream sauce or simply with sour cream and greens.

Any hostess can come up with her vegetable patties. The recipe for this dish is quite simple: the main thing is kneading the vegetable forcemeat. It should be remembered that the minced meat should be dense enough and sticky, to get a neat cutlet.

Lenten vegetable cutlets are an excellent option for those who keep fasting, as well as for those who adhere to the principles of dietary nutrition. In these cutlets do not add products of animal origin, such as eggs, butter, etc. In the rest the same cooking process is the same as for simple vegetable cutlets.

A few recipes, how to cook the vegetable patties described above, will help you to diversify the menu and make it even more useful. Moreover, vegetable cutlets can be prepared from almost all vegetables growing in the garden. During the harvest season, you can treat yourself to such cutlets from freshly harvested vegetables.