Quickest Paneer Chilli Ever!

I love paneer. In fact, I love it so much that it's surprising how late in the day a paneer recipe has made its appearance in this blog. Normally I always end up making paneer butter masala (my love for paneer only being rivaled by my love for butter!). If not that, then I just grate paneer into my chapathi when rolling it out to make it a paneer parantha or make pakoras (fritters) out of it.

This recipe was given to me by Neeraja (chechi), my cousin, who is actually more like the elder sister that I don't have. She is someone whose advice and suggestions never fail to make sense, and who I look up to for her articulate, confident, down-to-earth and practical approach to life. She also seems to have inherited the gene for culinary expertise that runs in the family (her mom's Shepherd's Pie has made its way into this blog). While her persona as the head of the psychology department at a well-known women's college is one of being a strict disciplinarian, she indulges us all with her recipes and food, cooked and baked, sourced sometimes from the home science department of her college :-), other times from newspapers and magazines. The recipes she sends are invariably always something different and unique. I have a backlog of recipes from her to cook through, and they will be featured here as soon as I photograph them!

This paneer chilli takes hardly 15 minutes to make!

Ingredients:

1. Paneer                      350 grams, cubed
2. Egg                           1
3. Cornflour                  Half cup
4. Ginger-Garlic paste    1 teaspoon
5. Onions                      1, large, coarsely chopped
6. Green chillies             2, chopped fine
7. Soya sauce                1 tablespoons
8. Vinegar                     2 tablespoons
9. Coriander leaves        2 tablespoons, chopped

• Make a thick batter with the egg, cornflour, ginger-garlic paste and salt (to taste) with a little water, if needed. Just thick enough to coat the paneer.
• Dip paneer pieces in this and shallow fry till golden brown. Keep aside.
• In the same pan, fry the onions on high heat for less than a minute.
• Add the green chillies, soya sauce, vinegar, fried paneer, and salt to taste.
• Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves. Take off heat.
• Serve with a smug (again!) smile.

TIPS:

You could use a stock cube or Maggi vegetable cube as seasoning in the end, to make it even tastier. Just remember to use less salt on the whole then.
You could also add capsicums for an extra crunch.
Also try it with tomato sauce or tomato chilli sauce (thanks for this and the previous tip, Prateik!)

She also used leftover dosa batter once instead of the cornflour and it turned out really yum-try it out that way too!