Paneer Bhurji

Ingredients(Serves –4 ):

Paneer                          -- 250 gms
Onion                            -- ½ cup, finely chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste  -- 1 tsp
Green Chillies             -- 2
Tomato                         -- ¼ cup, chopped
Turmeric Powder     -- ¼ tsp
Garam Masala            -- ½ tsp
Cumin seeds               -- ¼ tsp
Coriander leaves      -- 1 - 2 sprigs
Oil                                   -- 1 tbsp
Salt                                 -- as required

Preparation :

If you are making paneer at home(refer here), you can avoid the steps of shaping it up. If using store brought paneer, grate it and keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add the cumin seeds, chopped onions, green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Saute until the onions turn brown.

Add the tomatoes and saute until they turn mushy.

Add turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt mix well. Saute until the raw smell goes off.

Add paneer and saute until the paneer blends into the masala.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Paneer Biriyani

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 ½ Cup

Ghee                - 4 tbsp
Paneer            - 400gms
Onion              - 1 medium / 1½ cups thinly sliced.
Ginger             - ½ inch
Garlic               - 6 Cloves
Green chilly  - 3
Turmeric        - ¼ tsp
Red chilly powder - ¾ tsp
Mint leaves    - ¼ cup finely chopped
Coriander leaves - ¼ cup finely chopped
Tomato            - 1 Small / 1 cup chopped
Salt                    - as required

Bay leaf            - 2 small
Cinnamon       - ½ inch stick
Clove                - 2
Pepper corns - 1 tsp

Cashews           - 10
Onion                - ¼ cup, thinly sliced, for garnishing

To grind:
Cinnamon        - ½ inch stick
Cardamom      - 2
Clove                 - 3
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds   - ½ tsp
Fennel seeds  - ½ tsp

Preparation:

First wash and soak the rice for 20 - 30 mins.

Heat a pan with a tbsp of ghee and saute the paneer cubes in medium flame until they turn golden. Turn off the flame and keep aside until use.

In the remaining oil, fry the cashews and the onions one after the other until they turn golden brown.

In the same pan add the whole spices "To grind" and roast until the aroma comes out. Let it cool and grind into a fine powder.

Crush the garlic, ginger and green chillies using a mortal and pestle. Keep aside.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan with remaining ghee, add the whole spices for the masala and saute for a minute. Add the onions and crushed ginger, garlic, chillies. Saute until the onion turns translucent.

Now add the mint and coriander leaves and start sautéing until the onions turns golden. Add the tomato, salt and saute until the tomato turns mushy. Follow it by turmeric, chilly powder and saute in medium - low flame until the oil appears on the sides.

Now add 3 cups of water and let it boil. Drain the rice and add it to the masala, followed by the ground masala and the paneer cubes. Gently mix and cook on medium - low flame until done(Usually it takes 8-10 minutes).

Give a gentle mix without breaking the rice.

Garnish with fried cashews and onions. Serve hot with raita and pappadam.

Chilly Paneer

Ingredients: (Serves 3 - 4 as starters):

Paneer(cubed)      --   200 gms  
All purpose flour  --   1½ tbsp
Corn flour                --   1½ tbsp

Onion                         --   1
Capsicum                 --   1
Green chillies         --   2 - 3
Garlic                         --   5-6 cloves
Soy sauce                 --   2  tsp
Chilly sauce             --   1 tbsp, I used green chilly sauce
Tomato sauce         --   1 tbsp
Vinegar                     --   1 –2 tsp
Pepper powder      --    ½ tsp
Coriander  leaves  --  3 - 4 sprigs , chopped
Salt                              --   as required
Oil                                --   as required

Preparation:

Mix the all purpose flour and corn flour. Add salt and few tablespoons of water and mix well to make a semi-thick batter. Dip the paneer cubes in this batter and deep fry until it slightly turns brown. The paneer should have/only have a thin coating of the batter just to hold its shape.

You can omit the above step of frying, but make sure that you don't break the paneer cubes in further steps. Otherwise, store bought fried paneer works good too. I did not fry it this time, but it was the cubed ones from the store – so I could manage without breaking it.
 
Cut the onion and capsicum into small cubes. Slit the green chillies and thinly slice the garlic and keep aside.

In a pan add 2 - 3 tsp oil and once it gets hot, add the green chillies and garlic. Sauté for a minute and then add the cubed onions. Saute until it gets transparent. Add the cubed capsicum. Increase the flame to high and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the raw taste of the capsicum is gone. You can see that the colour changes slightly when capsicum is done.

Reduce the flame and add the soya sauce, chilly sauce, tomato sauce and vinegar. Mix well. Do a taste test and then add required salt. The sauces will already have some salt in it and hence make sure you do a test before adding the salt.

Add the fried paneer cubes and carefully mix well until the paneer is well coated with the sauces. Garnish with pepper and coriander leaves.

Serve hot.