Chilli Paneer. Cubes of paneer coated in spicy
indo-Chinese sauce. Indo Chinese is Indian style Chinese food. This
started as a popular street food in India and later on even restaurants started
putting it on the menu-such is the taste and popularity of this dish. There are
two ways it is made. Dry style, in which paneer chunks are only coated in the
sauce. Other way is with gravy wherein the sauce is kept liquid. Dry
chilli paneer is mostly served as snack, starter or appetizer; whereas wet
chilli paneer is served as side with fried rice or noodles.
This is one dish
that always pops in my mind when I am in hurry and guests are coming over for
lunch or dinner. Because its easy and quick you don’t need much time to prepare
it and because it is popular every guest will love it. So, ideal recipe involves
frying paneer cubes and then mixing it in the sauce but I don’t like this
method as it makes paneer very hard and rubbery. Here is my way to make Low Fat
Chilli Paneer.
Ingredients:
225 grams paneer
cut in cubes
1 capsicum/bell
pepper, cut in cubes
1 onion large,
cut in cubes
4-5 cloves of
garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon
ginger, finely chopped
2 green
chillies, slitted
Black pepper
powder, to taste
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon
soya sauce
½ tablespoon
chilli sauce (red/green)
1 tablespoon
corn flour
¼ tablespoon
lemon juice or vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons
sesame oil
1-2 tablespoons
chopped green onions (green part only)
Method:
Boil 2 cups of
water and add paneer cubes in it. This will make paneer soft. Drain water and
keep aside.
Mix 4
tablespoons of water in corn flour and keep it aside.
Heat oil in a
pan or wok. When oil gets very hot add garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds.
Add slit green
chillies and chopped onion. Saute for 10 seconds.
Next throw in
chopped capsicum. Sauté for 10 seconds.
Add salt, sugar,
black pepper, soya sauce, chilli sauce, lemon juice and corn flour mixture.
Cook it for 30 seconds.
Throw in paneer
cubes. Mix well so that paneer cubes are coated well with spices and sauce.
Keep it covered for 1 minute.
Check salt and
heat level. Adjust if needed. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve.
Notes:
Never add too
much salt, remember soya sauce and chilli sauce also contains salt.
Make sure that
you don’t overcook capsicum and onion. They should be bit crunchy.
Chinese food is
cooked on high heat, this gives good smokey flavour. Do not leave it
unattended.
