Chilli Paneer
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Hot and spicy chilli paneer prepared with this step by step photos recipe is delicious delight anytime. Whether served as starter or served as side dish with Chinese fried rice or schezwan fried rice, it’s definitely going to leave your taste buds wanting for more. This recipe is for preparing dry Chinese paneer chilly. It uses and recommends deep-frying of marinated paneer cubes for best taste but you can follow tips mentioned below to use shallow fry technique and make it a healthy dish.
| Ingredients: |
| 250 gms Paneer (cottage cheese) |
| 4 Green Chillies, slit |
| 5-6 Garlic Cloves, minced |
| 1/2 teaspoon minced Ginger |
| 1 large Green Capsicum, chopped |
| 1 large Onion, chopped |
| 2 tablespoons Maida (all purpose flour) |
| 2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon Cornflour (corn starch) |
| 2 teaspoons Soya Sauce |
| 1 teaspoon Green Chilli Sauce |
| 1½ teaspoons Tomato Sauce |
| 6 tablespoons + 3 tablespoons Water |
| 2 tablespoons + for deep frying, Cooking Oil |
| 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper Powder |
| Salt to taste |
Directions:
- Cut paneer into 1-inch cubes. Make paste (required to coat the paneer cubes) by mixing maida, 2 tablespoons cornflour, black pepper powder and salt with 6 tablespoons water. (use as needed, start with adding 4 tablespoon water and keep adding another tablespoon water until medium thick paste is ready).
- Coat paneer cubes with the paste and set aside for 10-15 minutes to marinate.
- Heat cooking oil in a kadai over medium flame. Deep fry coated paneer cubes in oil until light brown.
- Strain them and then put on an absorbent paper (to soak all unnecessary oil) and keep aside until needed.
- Dissolve 1 tablespoon cornflour in 3 tablespoons water and keep aside. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan. Add minced ginger and minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds over medium flame. Add chopped onion and sauté until it turns light brown. Add chopped capsicum and green chillies and cook for 2 minutes. Keep stirring in between.
- Add chilli sauce, soya sauce, tomato sauce and salt. Mix well and cook over medium flame for 1 minute.
- Add fried paneer cubes and dissolved cornflour (prepared in step-5). Stir and cook over medium flame for around 2-3 minutes or until gravy turns thick.
- Turn off flame and transfer prepared Chinese veg paneer chilli dry to serving dish. Garnish it with spring onion and serve hot with soup or fried rice.
Tips and Variations:
- You can also shallow fry paneer cubes instead of deep-frying them to reduce the calories of a dish. To shallow fry them, heat 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil in frying pan and then put marinated paneer cubes in it. Let them shallow fry for few seconds and then turn its side. Follow this step until all sides are shallow fried.
- Marinating paneer cubes with a paste of maida and cornflour adds nice flavor to this dish as they will slowly soak water from the paste. However, if you are in hurry, then coat them with medium thick paste and directly proceed to deep-fry without waiting for marinating in step 3.
- Adjust the quantity of chilli sauce according to your liking to make it as spicy as you want it.
- Use non-stick pan or heavy based pan to avoid sticking.
Taste: Hot and spicy
Serving Ideas: Serve chilli paneer dry with soup in winter evenings to quickly warm up the body or serve it with Chinese fried rice or schezwan rice as a side accompaniment.