Chicken Kotleti (Russian Meatballs) – Куриные Котлеты

All Russian children grow up with their mom’s kotleti, just like Italians grow up with meatballs. Kotleti translate as meat “cutlets”, and are small, individual meatball-type patties. Anytime I make these for dinner, I am guaranteed a huge smile from my husband and always an enthusiastic kiss too. He’s so easy to please:).

Most of the time, kotleti are made with pork or beef, but I actually prefer chicken. I think the meat is much more tender and light. Adding fresh, toasted breadcrumbs gives the meat a porous, tender texture. I have also found that grating the onion on the smallest holes of a box grater incorporates the onion really well into the meat and using only a small amount will give just enough flavor without giving you kotleti aftertaste. Not a good thing:) For this reason also, I always omit garlic.

Kotleti are also on my list for company dinners too. I love watching guests happily gobbling up the plate of tender chicken patties. Since most Slavic people grew up eating them, no one ever gets too excited when they see them on the table. They’re just a seemingly boring and uninteresting entree, but when they start eating them, they can’t stop raving about how delicious they are and I rarely have any leftovers. I think it’s the ground chicken and  the fact that they are SO juicy and tender. I hope you love these as much as we do.

Serves: 20-22 small, 16 large kotleti

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground chicken
• ¾ - 1 cup panko bread crumbs or 2 slices of bread
• ⅓ - ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 small onion, grated
• ½ cup flour, for dredging

Instructions

If you're using bread, toast the bread and pulse in the food processor or use a box grater. Place the breadcrumbs or the panko breadcrumbs in a bowl and top with milk.The milk should just cover the bread. You may not need all the milk, depending on the size of your bread.
Let it stand for a few minutes, just until the milk is absorbed by the bread.
Combine all the ingredients, except the flour, in a bowl.
The meat mixture should be very tender. It is much softer in consistency than regular meatloaf mixture.
With moistened hands, shape into oval patties. Dredge in flour.
In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 - 1½ Tablespoons of oil and add the kotleti to the skillet.
Cover and cook until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side.
Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel before cooking the next batch.

Make Ahead:

To make ahead, you can either make the meat mixture ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to cook or cook the kotleti and reheat later. When you re-heat the kotleti, add just enough water to a skillet or a small pot and cook, covered, on low heat. This will keep the kotleti moist even as leftovers.

Source:

http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/main-course/chicken-kotleti/