Chilli Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese)

We know chilli paneer as a popular recipe featured in most of the Indian restaurant menus. But did you know that you can cook this dish easily at home, and doesn’t require any fancy (or unhealthy) ingredients? Read on!

Many delicacies popular in Indian restaurants, and categorised as Chinese food, have nothing to do with the real Chinese cuisine! We rely on some of the ingredients, primarily the sauces used, for this categorisation. Despite the real lineage, most of these dishes are delicious, and we keep ordering them without having to worry about their origins! That’s exactly what we are going to do with this chilli paneer recipe.

 Forget the origins. All that matters is the taste. It’s healthy too, and you know all the ingredients that are going in!

Paneer, the Indian cottage cheese, is an interesting ingredient to work with. In terms of flavour, paneer doesn’t have much of a character in itself. But you can get a delicious dish out of it by cooking with a balanced sauce or paste. The global popularity of paneer delicacies like paneer butter masala endorses this fact.

This is the most important aspect that you have to keep in mind while cooking with paneer. Season well, and combine with the right ingredients, you get a winning paneer dish!

One note about this chilli paneer

It’s quite easy to put together a great tasting plate of chilli paneer. First, we fry the paneer cubes with some seasoning and keep them aside. This gives a crispy, flavourful coating to the paneer, and also holds it together in the later stages of preparation. The second step involves frying ginger and onions. This is followed by capsicum and green chillies and finished off with some soy sauce. The fried paneer cubes are tossed in and slowly stirred to coat with this delicious onion and capsicum base.

That’s about it! Chilli Paneer is ready to be served. Enjoy with some homemade fried rice or roti.

Liked this Chilli Paneer recipe? Check out the following recipes as well.

• Easy Fried Rice
• The only Dal Tadka recipe you’ll ever need
• Chilli Paneer Dry
• Easy Butter Chicken
• Paneer Butter Masala

Print Recipe

Chilli Paneer

Chilli paneer - spicy fried Indian cottage cheese cubes cooked with onions, capsicum (bell peppers), a hint of soy sauce and garnished with spring onions.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Main Dish, Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Paneer

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 400 grams paneer Indian cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoon chilli powder
• 2 tablespoon corn flour
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 inch ginger juilienned
• 3 medium onions
• 1 medium capsicum bell pepper
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• to garnish spring onions finely chopped

Instructions

• Prep the ingredients - quarter the onions, slice the capsicum and green chillies, and julienne the ginger.
  
• Mix chilli powder, corn flour, pepper powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
  
• Toss the sliced paneer into this bowl. Shake gently to coat the paneer pieces with the seasoning.
  
• Heat oil in a pan, reduce to medium, and place the paneer cubes to fry.
  
• Keep the remaining mix in the bowl.
• Drain off the excess oil from the fried paneer pieces.
• Transfer to a kitchen towel to absorb any extra oil.
  
• Now fry the ginger in the same pan, followed by the diced onions.
  
• Fry on a medium flame until the onions turn translucent.
• Now add the sliced capsicum and green chillies.
  
• Add 1/2 cup water to the bowl with the remaining seasoning, mix well, and add this to the pan.
• The corn flour in the seasoning will give the onion and capsicum mix in the pan a thick consistency.
  
• Now add a tablespoon soy sauce to the pan, and mix well.
  
• Check for salt, and add more if required.
• Place the fried paneer cubes in the pan, and gently stir without breaking the paneer pieces to coat them uniformly with the onion and capsicum.
  
• Cook for a couple of minutes, and switch off the flame.
• Garnish with chopped spring onions.
• Serve hot with roti or fried rice.

Notes

• In this recipe, I have used paneer sliced to thin slabs. You can cut them anyway you want. Cubes will be easier to work with
• Fry the paneer slices just enough. If you pan-fry them for a longer time, they'll become too hard
• Ideal consistency is fried just enough, and slightly crispy on the outside