Chilli Paneer

Paneer chilli is the vegetarian answer to chilli chicken. One would come across this dish on every restaurant menu. Well, what’s not to love in Chilli paneer, it is amazingly delicious. Paneer cubes are coated in batter and fried till the outside is crispy. Then tossed in a spicy, sweet Indo-Chinese-inspired sauce along with garlic, cubes of onion, and capsicum. Chilli Paneer though is generally served dry as an appetizer, you can easily make a gravy version and serve it with fried rice or noodles. Making Chilli paneer at home is quite easy and can be as good as in restaurants.I am going to share a few tips to get chili paneer perfect every single time.

Good Quality Paneer

Chewy or hard paneer will ruin the entire dish, so make sure you use paneer that’s fresh, soft, and holds shape. If using frozen paneer, you can soak it in slightly salted warm water for 10 mins.

Frying Paneer for Chilli Paneer

Next important thing is to fry paneer right. Paneer coating should not be too thick, else it will either remain undercooked or it will come off while tossing it in the sauce. If the batter is too thin, it just won’t stick to paneer. After coating the paneer with the dry mixture, start adding water little by little (a few splashes at a time). Watch the video to understand the batter consistency. For deep drying – Golden crispy fried paneers, the frying oil temperature is also important. Too hot oil and the coating will burn. If the oil is not hot enough, the batter will soak up a lot of oil. To check the temperature put a small drop of batter into the oil, if the batter rises in 10-20 seconds to the top, the oil is ready. Another way is to insert a wooden skewer into the oil, if small bubbles appear around the skewer then it the oil is hot enough to fry. To Shallow Fry – I prefer shallow frying coated paneer and it always turns out as good as deep fried ones. Trick is not to disturb the paneer until it is cooked on one side, then flip.

Keep Veggies Crispy

Not only the fried paneer, I also love the crunchy onion and capsicum coated in the sauce. After frying the paneer, keep all the ingredients ready for the fry. The recipe will move faster, so keeping the ingredients ready is really helpful. The veggies will need to be tossed on high heat for a nice smokey flavor and it will also keep the veggies crunchy. I love to use a wok or this for my stir-fries. You can also use a skillet. It is easy to toss everything in a wok on high heat.

Steps to make Chilli Paneer

Mix all the ingrdiets for sauce in a bowl and keep aside. Cut paneer into approxmiately 1 inch square. Coat with the flour and spice mixture and sprinkle water for the batter to stick to the paneer. Shallow fry the coated paneer in little oil. Make sure the pan is hot for crispy paneer.

To the same pan, add ginger, garlic followed by other veggies. Stir fry on high heat. Add fried paneer to the wok along with the sauce. Toss until everything is coated well with the sauce. Add chopped green onion, mix and serve.