Friday, November 7, 2008

Paneer Veggie Masala

Paneer, or cottage cheese, is a favorite among many, especially those who are vegetarians. I used only carrots and baby corn for my veggies and it was delicious. You can add tomatoes and/or beans if you like, but from my experience, keeping it simple works best.

  • 1 medium sized onion
  • 3 carrots
  • 5-6 baby corn
  • 2 chillies
  • 200g paneer(cottage cheese)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric (haldi)
  • 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tsp coriander powder (dhanya ka aata)
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • A pinch of garam masala (optional)

Chop up the onions and halve the chillies.


Add 2 tbsp oil in a pan (I used a pressure cooker as it was getting late for lunch, but a pan is good enough). Add the onions and chillies and fry them till the onions turn soft.



While you fry those onions, smell the lovely aroma of it all and get down to chopping up those lovely carrots and baby corn.



Salt is a wonderful thing, ain't it? Whatever would we do without it. As you can see, I'm experimenting using macro shots with my digicam. So don't be horrified of the extra close up shots of my ingredients. I'm still learning.



Anyway, let's continue. Add 1 tsp of salt in the pan.



Add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder. Stir the onions around a bit.



Next add 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste for the flavor of this curry. Fry it some more.




Now, you can go ahead and dump those carrots and corn you chopped up a while ago.




Simmer to low flame, cover with lid and allow to cook for 15 min untill the carrot is soft to touch. Add half a cup of water if necessary.


Once your carrots are cooked, add 1 tsp of red chilli powder.


And a tsp of coriander powder. Garam masala has already been mixed into my coriander powder. So add a pinch if you wish. Stir nicely and cover with lid.



Next, we shall focus on the paneer. I had a frozen packet of these babies already cubed. Remove the small bits and prepare to deep fry them.




Prepare a small frying pan and heat the oil. We want the paneer to sizzle as soon as it touches the oil.



While you're waiting, nibble on a carrot. It's good for you. Your name is written on it. Mine was :P



Go ahead and fry the paneer on a medium-low flame. Turn them over after a couple of minutes. Careful while doing so, as they go soft quickly and it's a little tricky to turn them over without breaking them up.



As soon the paneer turn this color, quickly remove them from the pan and dump them in a strainer. Pour a glass of cold water all over the paneer. This ensures that the paneer does not turn stiff. You want it to be soft and chewy, not hard and crunchy for this recipe.




Add the paneer to the vegetables and stir it around a bit. Allow to cook for five minutes more and that's it.



Serve in a pretty dish along with rice or chapatti. Bon apetit!

1 comment:

Lakshmi said...

Wow looks tempting .. surely going to try this ... need to get babycorn first .. :) way to go girl :)