Chilli Paneer

With my sister's family visiting us the past weekend, last few days were busy, but fun! It was great to take off from work and relax for a couple of days by rambling outside, eating in restaurants and enjoying with her 9 month old adorable baby. But the most difficult question of the day is always "What do you want to have for dinner?". I really love to have home-made food atleast once a day even though we're outside most of the time. Simple food is what we all wanted, but just coming up with what to cook is always hard. Sometimes we start talking about it right after we have coffee in the morning, and the discussion continues throughout the day. Its like that tricky topic that no one wants to decide :) Then I came to know that my sister's mother-in-law (who had also visited us this time), makes this awesome paneer recipe that becomes anyone's favorite right at the first time. I knew right away that I wanted to learn the recipe for sure because I really enjoy all kinds of indo-chinese food and then again I do love anything made with paneer too. So this is a 2-in-1 jackpot for me!

I've slowly started realizing the fact that fusion food does work indeed, even though you have a feeling of losing the authenticity. Its all about the demand and the liking of food by people. This recipe is no exception. In this recipe, paneer sounded like a substitute for tofu and the term indo-chinese made literal sense to me. I've tasted this recipe back in India, but never tried it on my own. Its really fabulous to have a chance to help and watch the step-by-step preparation for any new dish, instead of reading and trying to follow the instructions from a book. The dish came out so flavorful and spicy and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Aunty, if you are reading this.. thanks!

Paneer is a classic ingredient that many of us are familiar with and enjoy eating! When I heard about Vandana's Paneer event, I was all geared up to make quite a few of my favorite paneer dishes for the event. Well, apparently I hadn't kept up to my plans until yesterday and don't know if I would be making any more paneer dishes in the next week too. Somehow I managed to atleast watch and learn this awesome paneer dish yesterday. So, here goes my entry for the event.

Ingredients:

• Paneer cubes - 25
• Capsicum - 1 medium
• Onions - 1 medium
• G.chilly - 2
• Ginger - 2 inches
• Garlic - 6 pods
• Chopped Spring Onions - 1 cup
• Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup
• Chilli Sauce, Tomato Ketchup, Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp each
• Corn Flour - 1 tbsp
• Red Chilli flakes - 2 tsp
• Vinegar - 2 tsp

Procedure:

• Shallow fry the paneer cubes on all sides in 2 tsp oil and place it on a paper towel. (You can also use the store bought fried cubed paneer).
• Chop the capsicum into 1 inch long strips and set aside.
• Chop the onions, ginger, garlic very finely. Set aside.
• Chop the g.chillies in round shapes and set aside.
• Save 2 tsps of onions, capsicums and spring onions for later use.
• In a large wide wok, heat oil and first add the chopped ginger and garlic and fry for a min.
• Next add the onions and fry for a few mins. Then add capsicums and fry for a few more mins.
• Add the chopped green onions and fry for a few mins.
• Now add the corn flour, all the sauces one by one, along with vinegar and chilli flakes and fry well.
• Finally add the paneer and mix well. Fry for a few more mins.
• Garnish with the remaining onions, spring onions, capsicums and corriander leaves.

Serve hot with Fried rice or Noodles