Chilli Paneer

For all paneer lovers out there, this one's for you, especially if you also love Indo-Chinese food.Big Chunks of Paneer coated in a batter and deep fried and sautéed with other peppers and sauces to make it extra tasty.Chilli paneer tastes best when it is served piping hot and also when prepared extra spicy.

I usually do not prefer to deep fry the paneer pieces and hence I always adapt a shallow fried version where you can fry them on a tawa with little oil or you can add paneer cubes directly without any frying. It tastes nice either ways, but the deep fried version definitely tastes better.There is yet another ingredient to be added(which i missed out due to unavailability )Celery which brings out the flavour in Chinese dishes just like in the restaurants.It can be substituited with fresh corriander leaves.

Ingredients

200 gms Paneer (cottage cheese)

4 Green Chillies, slit

5-6 Garlic Cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon minced Ginger

Red,Green,Yellow Bell Peppers - chopped

1 large Onion, chopped

1/2 cup maida

1/2 cup corn flour

2 teaspoons Soya Sauce

1 teaspoon Green Chilli Sauce

1½ teaspoons Tomato Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

Method:

Cut paneer into 1-inch cubes. Make paste (required to coat the paneer cubes) by mixing maida,corn flour,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.

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 bell peppers 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. 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.

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