Chilli Paneer

This dish is inspired from one of the popular cuisines in India :  Indo-chinese food. A whole genre based on merging chinese and Indian ingredients uniquely catered to the Indian palette. If you have never heard about it or eaten this food, you either have to fly to India, visit the few Indian restaurants in the US that have it or of course try this recipe(more to come) at home!

1 packet of paneer, sliced lengthwise into slabs ( This is a standard size available in most Indian stores)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
8-10 indian green chillies, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2″ piece ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp + 2 tbsp oil
1/3 cup ketchup ( I used the hot and sweet Indian variety, you could use regular too)
1 tbsp tsp soy sauce
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium non-stick pan.  Place the paneer pieces and cook until browned, around 2 minutes. Turn over, brown the other side (around a minute) and remove from heat and set aside on paper towels. Cut the slabs into half, so they are bite size pieces.

 

 

Add 1 tsps oil to the remaining oil in the pan. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies. Cook for 2 minutes and add the onions. Saute over high heat until the onions soften and brown. Add soy sauce, coriander powder, lemon juice and let simmer for 2 minutes. 

Add ketchup. Mix well and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the fried paneer pieces coat well, sprinkle with cilantro on top and serve.

 

The soy sauce and ketchup add enough salt to this dish, no extra salt is needed.

This dish goes to Culinarty’s Original Recipes.