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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!

Picture of Chilli Paneer - Spicy Fried Indian Cottage Cheese
Chilli Paneer – Spicy Fried Indian Cottage Cheese with Onions and Bell Peppers

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.

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.
    Chilli Paneer Ingredients
  • Mix chilli powder, corn flour, pepper powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
    Mix together corn flour, chilli powder, black pepper powder and salt
  • Toss the sliced paneer into this bowl. Shake gently to coat the paneer pieces with the seasoning.
    Sliced paneer pieces are coated in the chilli powder-corn flour mix
  • Heat oil in a pan, reduce to medium, and place the paneer cubes to fry.
    Paneer is lightly fried till the coating starts turning brown
  • 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.
    Drain off the excess oil from the fried paneer pieces
  • 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.
    Chilli powder - corn flour is mixed with water, and added to the pan
  • Now add a tablespoon soy sauce to the pan, and mix well.
    Soy sauce added to the pan
  • 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

12 Comments

  1. Looks delicious !! I love Indian food and trying new things. Defintley something I’ll have to make !

  2. This looks so wonderful and flavorful! I definitely need to try it.

  3. Looks delicious and not too hard to make. Adding to my meal plan!

    • The Take It Easy Chef

      You are right Tiffany, it’s not hard to make. Let me know how you find it. 🙂

  4. Great recipe, thanks for sharing. Looks very mouth watering.

  5. Nice detailed step by step recipe! Looks easy to make and sounds delicious!

    • The Take It Easy Chef

      Thank you very much Sujata. Always for easy recipes! 🙂 and it was delicious indeed!

  6. Yummy! it looks so tasty!! would definitely try it! thanks for the inspiration!

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