We at home, love paneer a lot, i try to make paneer curry atleast twice a week. Capsicum paneer dry, is one of our favorites and also paneer butter masala. When i chose the theme of Adapted cuisines for this week’s Blogging Marathon, i wanted to make indo-burmese cuisine, i even chose two recipes, saw some videos and collected some articles on that line. But somehow, i wasn’t satisfied enough with all the reading i did, so at last minute, i changed mind and did Indo-chinese cuisine, a very famous adaptation indeed!
We have such a variety of chinese recipes in our cuisine, even the chinese would be astonished!!! I have to admit, this is the first time i m trying indo-chinese at home. When we eat at restaurants we order chinese, but i was never tempted to try at home. Recently we stopped eating outside, yes it is almost 2 months now, we ate just once since December. So kids are not getting to taste their usual manchurian and chilli paneer regularly, obviously it is time to learn to make tham at home.
I cannot quote just one source for this recipe today, i read and saw numerous videos to get the consistency,color and taste right. Voila, it is a hit! Kids and hubby were so delighted to taste Paneer chili and Gobi Manchurian dry for Lunch today. My lil one brightly exclaimed “Hey, this taste exactly like kamat Gobi” there i earned my masterchef title!!!!
Let us move the recipe today, the only work here is to fry the paneer, if that is done, rest is a breeze. I have used a combination of flours for the batter as i dont use all purpose flour at home. If you are ok to use maida, kindly go ahead and replace the besan, wheat and rice flour with maida.
Ingredients
For the Paneer
200 grams paneer
1/4 whole wheat flour
1/4 gram flour/besan
2 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp corn flour
a pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder (optional)
salt to taste
Oil for frying
Notes: Since i don’t use All purpose flour, i have used a combination of flours. you can use 1/2 cup All purpose flour and corn flour alone to make the batter for frying the paneer
For the sauce
2 nos onions
1 green chili,slited lengthwise
2 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
1/4 cup of spring onions, chopped
1 green capsicum, cubed
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp peppercorns, freshly pounded
1.5 cups of water
salt to taste
1&1/2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce (i used tomato-chili sauce)
few greens of spring onions for garnish
Method
Prepare the paneer first
- Mix together wheat flour, besan, rice and corn flour in a large bowl, whisk to combine. To this add turmeric powder, red chili powder an salt, mix well to combine. Now to this add 1/4-cup to 1/2 cup water and make a batter. The batter should neither too thick nor too thin. It should coat the paneer well.
- Heat oil in a sauce pan for deep frying the paneer, Dip the paneer slices into the batter and drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown. While frying do not add more paneer cubes into the oil, they might clump together and not fry well. Believe me, been there, done that, so i m giving you heads up! Drop only 4-5 cubes at a time, and do not crowd them together.
- This frying part is a bit of a job, once this is done, rest is all breezy. So take care while fring the paneer slices.
- Once the paneer turns golden brown, remove them with a slotted spoon, onto a kitchen towel. Repeat the same with rest of the paneer, keep aside until use.
Let us make the gravy
- Heat a pan, add oil, once it is hot, add chopped onion, garlic, chili and ginger to it and saute until translucent. Take care not to burn them, it will spoil the taste bad.
- Now to this add spring onions and saute for a minute in high. Now to this add chopped capsicums and pepper to this and saute for a minute in high.
- To the veggies now add soy sauce and tomato sauce and stir. In a small bowl, mix corn flour and water together and add this to the pan, stir well. The sauce will start thickenining almost immediately. Keep stirring for a minute.
- Now add the fried paneer, mix well. Take it off the stove. Garnish with spring onions greens and serve it warm with Fried rice or Roti.
For manchurian, deep trying is a must and that always makes me push out of it! The chilli paneer looks amazing, would be yum with some porottas… hehe…
Chilly paneer looks fabulous Priya, even i tried chilly paneer using besan and rice flour and loved it. Am sure this flour mixture sounds good as well. Lovely dish there.
We go to Indo Chinese restaurants but I rarely cook Indo Chinese at home. Whenever I do cook, except for fried rice and noodles, I can't seem to get the taste and the consistency of the side dishes at home. Your version of chilli paneer looks great.
I am surprised that you have never made indo Chinese at home Priya..while this cuisine is so popular here, wish you had gone ahead and made that burma recipes too..still this one is one lipsmacking dish!
If you make paneer dishes twice a week, I'm coming to your house! My hubby doesn't like paneer dishes so can't make them that often. Love the chili paneer, looks so delicious. Send the link to the Main dish so that I can include it in the collage that I will make at the end of Feb.
Love chili Paneer. I have avoided these kind of recipes because it involves deep frying. Now that I have an air fryer, I am free of that guilt. Great job taking the plunge. Appreciate you on not using maida.
I have a huge block of paneer in my freezer – I should try this one for sure!
Such a popular dish among kids and adults. I can eat Indo-Chinese food all day. I pan fry most of the time, but agree that deep frying would bring out so much more flavor.
Indo-chinese is our family favorite and I do make it once in a month or so. This chilli paneer gravy is calling me to make it soon.
chili paneer is our favorte dish when it comes to eating out and ordering chinese. Looking very tempting. I loved your utencils, looking for such pieces in pune.
My family favorite chilli cheese, I make it at least once a month. Love the coating of paneer with besan, rice flour etc… must be very crunchy.
Wow, such a nice and elaborate recipe Priya..Tempted to try this soon. Lovely pics too.