Chilli Paneer(cottage cheese)

Chilli Paneer.....the very term reminds me of Banglore. When I was in school, my aunt and her family lived in Banglore and we went to visit them quite often in our holidays. Every time we visited, they would take us to their favourite restaurant 'PARK AND EAT' for dinner. The one thing they would order there every time was CHILLI PANEER and for me it was 'love at first bite' and I was literally in tears after eating it cos it is as HOT as the name suggests!!!! I've always loved paneer but the chilli paneer there was something else!!! AMAZING!!!! 


Ever since then I've been trying to replicate the chilli paneer dish. After many, many experiments this is the closest I've gotten to making it. I've used Shan tandoori chicken masala here but you can use any tandoori masala available to you locally. Even tikka masala and 65 masala does the trick for this dish. 


To make this amazing dish you will need 


Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 5-7 minutes
Serves - 4 people


Ingredients
1 slab paneer cut into medium sized cubes
1 onion
1 green pepper
5 tbsps tandoori masala
1/2 tsp chaat masala
a pinch of orange food colouring(optional)
2 tbsps oil
2tbsps water


Procedure

• Soak the paneer in hot water and set aside for 15 minutes.
• In the meantime, cut the onion and pepper into cubes

• After 15 minutes, drain the water from the paneer and mix the tandoori masala, chaat masala and orange food colouring in it. Soaking the paneer in hot water makes it soft and also enables the masala to coat the cubes evenly.

• Heat the oil in a wok and add the onion and pepper cubes in it. Stir fry for 3-5 minutes or until the onions are a little translucent.
• Add the masala coated paneer to this and mix well.

• At this stage add 2 tbsps of water and mix well so the masala spreads evenly and coats the onion and pepper too. Stir for 2-3 minutes more and remove from flame. 

Serve hot and enjoy!!!

Note

1. Most tandoori masalas have salt added in them already.  Taste and check for the presence of salt if not add salt to taste
2. If you want it less spicy add 3tbsps of tandoori masala instead of 5
3. Chaat masala can be increased or decreased according to your taste. Chaat masala is also usually present in tandoori masala so make sure you don't add too much of it.

Shabnam