Chilli Paneer

Chilli Paneer is one of the famous recipes of Indian Chinese cuisine. It can be served as a dry snack or as a gravy with rice or noodles. In this recipe, I am sharing the dry version.

Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

For shallow frying paneer

• 250 grams of paneer, chopped into cubes
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• A tablespoon of cornflour

For sauce

• A tablespoon of oil
• A tablespoon of cornflour
• A teaspoon of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, grated
• 2 green chillies, slit
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed black pepper
• A teaspoon of green chilli sauce
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of tomato ketchup
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup of chopped spring onion
• 2 to 3 chopped spring onion greens
• a handful of coriander sprigs chopped
• salt to taste

Procedure

For shallow frying paneer

• Boil the chopped paneer for five minutes and strain the water.
• Then add a tablespoon of corn flour to the paneer and toss to make sure all the paneer get nicely coated with corn flour. Add more corn flour if required. You could also 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper powder or red chilli powder to the paneer to spice it up.
• In a saucepan, heat three tablespoons of oil.
• Once the oil has heated shallow fry the paneer until all sides are golden brown.
• Place the paneer on a kitchen towel for extra oil to be absorbed.

Sauce

• In a wok or saucepan, add a tablespoon of oil.
• Once the oil has heated, add minced garlic and grated ginger and slit green chillies. Saute` for a minute.
• Add the chopped spring onion with crushed black pepper, red chilli powder. Saute` for 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped bell peppers and saute` until the bell peppers are cooked but are still crunchy.
• Add green chilli sauce, soy sauce and tomato ketchup with salt to taste.
• In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of water with a tablespoon of cornflour. Make sure no lumps are formed.
• Add this cornflour slurry to the cooked sauce.
• Cook for 4 to 5 minutes and make sure no lumps are formed.
• Add the shallow fried paneer and cook for 2 minutes. Add more water if required at this stage and cook until it thickens.
• Turn off the flame add the chopped spring onion greens and coriander sprigs.

Chilli Paneer is ready to be served. Enjoy it hot on its own or with plain rice. You could also serve it with fried rice or chilli garlic spaghetti (adjust the spice accordingly).

Vegan Options

• Instead of paneer, you could use tofu, potato or cauliflower or baby corn. Tofu doesn't need to be boiled as it is already soft when compared to paneer. Potato and cauliflower should not be over boiled just a bit so that they are soft but not mushy.

Notes

• You could add other vegetables to the sauce such as celery, broccoli, carrot, mushrooms etc.