Christmas Eve Tuna Cutlets (and Gym 7)

Felt very accomplished after making it to the gym on Tuesday before it closed at 2 pm for the holiday - got in 30 minutes on treadmill.

Later that afternoon, helped my Mummy prepare a household holiday treat - tuna cutlets. Here's a rough breakdown of the recipe (harassing your Mom to capture pictures, as I did, is not required):

1) Sauté onion, garlic and ginger:

2) Open giant can of tuna my Dad purchased from Costco:

3) Drain tuna and crumble into small pieces:

4) Add sautéed mixture to the tuna:

5) Add turmeric (looked like two teaspoons for giant tuna- actually 66.5 ounces in that can):

6) and some pepper and salt:

7) Add mashed potatoes (we used instant Idahoan) - enough to bind the tuna but not so much that you overwhelm the tuna-ness:

8) Add one egg white to moisten:

Hey, Mummy's egg shell cracked open in the shape of a heart!

9) That's me mixing - don't worry, I washed my hands!

Until we get this:

10) Mold the tuna into cutlets- we like ovals:

Going from this:

To this, took a while:

11) Beat egg whites for breading the cutlets (waste the yolks, sorry - apparently the yolks cause more volatility when frying):

12) Dip cutlets in egg whites and roll in bread crumbs. Usually we use seasoned Italian but this year, I wanted to try seasoned Panko to compare:

13) Have your Mom or other responsible adult deep fry until golden brown:

And voila! 

Panko on left was delightfully crispy, but Italian on right was more flavorful (probably because it has cheese as an ingredient and 200 more milligrams of sodium per serving than the Panko). So, I combined the two for the ultimate coating:

YUM! A tasty treat, especially freshly fried! I almost burned my tongue trying to eat them before they had cooled enough.

Merry Christmas and may your holidays be filled with sweet Mama-made delights (or the equivalent, although I'm not sure what that is)!

p.s. I have no idea what the calorie/fat count of these are and I don't care!!!!