Beef Chops (Meat-Stuffed Potato Cutlets)
Published September 30, 2025
- Total Time
- About 1½ hours
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1¼ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
FOR THE DOUGH
2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
FOR THE FILLING AND FRYING
1 cup ghee or vegetable oil, divided
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
½ small white or yellow onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons garlic paste or freshly grated garlic
1 to 2 green bird’s-eye chiles, chopped
½ pound lean ground beef or lamb
1 ½ tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garam masala, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
2 eggs
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
Chutney (homemade or store-bought), for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Start the dough: Add potatoes to a medium pot, cover with water by 1 inch and set on high heat. Once the water starts to boil, cook for 30 minutes, until there is little resistance when the potatoes are pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot, then fill with cold water and set aside to let the potatoes cool further.
- Step 2
Make the filling: In a large frying pan, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of the ghee for 30 seconds on high heat. Stir in cumin seeds. Add the onion, garlic and green chiles. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until it starts to crisp around the edges, about 7 minutes. Stir in cilantro, garam masala, salt and black pepper; adjust seasonings to taste. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out the pan.
- Step 3
Drain and peel the potatoes and transfer to a large bowl. (If they’re still too hot to handle, you can rinse them under cold water for a few minutes.) Thoroughly mash using a fork or potato masher until any lumps are smoothed out. Add the cornstarch and 1 teaspoon salt and mix to form the dough.
- Step 4
Take ¼ cup dough and roll it between your palms to form a ball. Flatten the ball to form a 2 ½-inch-wide round, about ¾ inch thick. Form a well in the middle of the round with your thumbs and add 2 tablespoons of meat filling. Gently fold the sides of the dough over the filling until the filling is completely covered. Flatten again as needed to maintain the disc shape of the cutlet. Repeat to form the remaining cutlets. (You may have some filling left over; save it to enjoy over rice.)
- Step 5
Line a large plate with a paper towel and set aside. In a wide shallow bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Place bread crumbs in another wide shallow bowl.
- Step 6
Add the remaining ghee to the frying pan and heat on high until melted and shimmering. Dip a cutlet in egg, and then evenly coat in bread crumbs and gently place in the skillet; repeat to add 3 or 4 more cutlets to the pan. Fry cutlets until golden brown, 30 to 45 seconds per side, then transfer to the paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat to cook the remaining cutlets in batches.
- Step 7
Serve potato chops warm or at room temperature with chutney. (Refrigerate any extra chops for up to 2 days; reheat in a toaster oven or air fryer.)
Private Notes
Comments
DELICIOUS! Made and dipped in a sauce made of Greek yogurt/guacamole/salsa/garlic. Advice: 1. Do not try this after 2 martinis. 2. Find an Eastern Asian grandmother who has done this many times, and watch her do this while you have 2 martinis. 3. Wet your hands with water before handling the bubble-gum potato dough. A half cup has a chance of holding the 2 tbs of meat filling for a beginner. Pack the meat tightly in the well of potato dough. Pray before you fold. If you already failed #1-3, it tastes equally good if you just mix the mashed potatoes and beef filling in a wadded handful, smash and fry it.
Sounds delicious but it would take me about three hours. Some enterprising person should make these up to the breadcrumb stage and freeze and sell them.
Indeed, in Christian communities in India (at least), it's common to make and freeze them (if you're making them yourself), or to buy frozen ones.
The potatoes took a lot longer than 30 minutes. I had them on for 45 minutes and they still were unfinished- I had to turn them off to run an errand- they were too hard to mash so I had to microwave them! A hassle! And they were still lumpy! So allow more time for boiling. These were super delicious!
Instead of frying the stuffed patties, it's much easier to make this dish like a shepherd's pie---after cooking the meat, leave meat in skillet and spread with mashed potatoes. Broil a few minutes in the oven to crisp up the top of the potatoes. Same flavor, much less trouble and much less fat.
Any tips to lessen the heat factor on it? This seems like a good alternative to cheese and Vegemite sandwiches
Discard the seeds from the birds-eye chiles before cooking. There's a lot of heat in the seeds.
Remove and discard the internal membranes and seeds from the bird’s-eye chiles before using. There is a lot of heat in the membranes and seeds.


