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Delicious Indian Paneer Recipes - A Vegetarian's Delight

by: Madhu

Paneer / Cottage cheese / often compared to Tofu because of its texture and usage in cooking. Both i.e. tofu and paneer can substitute for one another. In India Paneer is the most popular ingredient used in vegan cooking. It is the most common and popular food item available under the vegetarian category on the menu card in every restaurant regardless of state or region. And there are some common and delicious paneer dishes that tops the "must-have" Indian dishes list and are a vegetarian's delight.

Paneer is an Indian cottage cheese very commonly used in Indian vegetarian cuisine. It is made by curdling full cream milk with the help of lemon juice or any other kind of food acid. Once the milk is curdled it is poured on to a thin muslin cloth over a bowl. the liquid is squeezed and then the thick though like material remains in the cloth. It is then pressed with some heavy thing for couple of hours and it helps cheese to stick together. It is later cut into cubes, slices or chopped.

Image credit: http://vegafood.freeblog.hu/files/2008.03/paneer2.jpg

Chilli Paneer :
Ingredients :

350 gms Paneer

2 tsp Salt

1 Egg

1/2 cup Corn Flour

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste

2 cups Coarsely Chopped Onions

2 tbsp Sliced Green Chillies

1 tbsp Soya Sauce

2 tbsp Vinegar

1/4 tsp Ajinomoto

Oil for frying

Little Water

Method :

Cut the paneer into cubes.

Mix together the cottage cheese, 1 tsp salt, egg, corn flour, garlic, ginger and water to just coat the paneer pieces with the mixture.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the paneer pieces caoted with mixture till golden in color.

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a wok and stir fry the onions in it over high heat for half a minute.

Add the green chillies, salt, soya sauce, vinegar, ajinomoto and the fried paneer cubes.

Mix well, and garnish the chilli paneer with finely cut spring onions and coriander.

Image credit: http://images.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://bangalorefamily.com/images/PANEER%2520CHILLI.jpg&usg=AFQjCNEIooMgR5ga6VqtGXNzEYYLt-l2KQ

Paneer Pakora :
Ingredients :

250 gms Paneer

1 cup Chickpea Flour (Besan)

2 tsp Oil

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Red chili powder

1-2 Chopped Green Chillies (Jalapeno)

1/2 cup Water

Method :

Mix first set of ingredients well.

Beat in a blender for 4-5 minutes to incorporate air (this will make the batter fluffier).

Let batter rest 1/2 hour in a warm place

Cut the paneer into thick cubes.

Sprinkle little salt, chili powder on the cubes
- Deep fry in oil
- Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
- Serve the paneer pakora with coriander or mint chutney

Image credit: http://images.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://foodcourt.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/paneerpudinapakoda1.jpg&usg=AFQjCNHyKBzehTqKWlUQwdbb-p5vEaVi4w