Paneer Masaledaar ... Spicy Cottage Cheese Stir Fry

Friday evenings are often tough for me to decide what to cook for dinner. Or shall I say the easiest one, since I usually cook Dal-Rice. That’s the time when I get back from my Swimming class, late and tired. No desire to step into the kitchen so Dal-Rice seals a good deal. But what if you just have had this combo a day before. Phew ! Now that’s a challenge to cook something with minimum efforts, quick and as good to serve as Friday Dinner ( Weekend initiating meal has to be special and good, you know.. )

This Paneer Masaledaar recipes fits perfectly in that slot. Have it with hot chapathis or with fried rice/ pulav.. its just tastes amazingly satisfactory. Since me and S both are fond of Paneer, I make this one quite often. Preparations takes in hardly 10 minutes and cooking time is equally short. Few spices and tangy taste.. yes that’s the special Friday supper at our place… ( Hey, was that something poetic ?? )

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Paneer cubes, soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk for 10 min.
• 2 large onions, sliced thin
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped small
• 2-3 green chilies, sliced
• 1 tsp turmeric, coriander powder
• 1 ½ tsp Red chili powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala to sprinkle on top
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp Kasuri Methi
• Handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp Oil
• 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds

Method:

• Chop all the veggies while the paneer cubes are soaked in milk
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds
• Add onion and sauté till it gets caramelised. Mix with green chilies and ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook covered for 3-4 minutes. Open up, stir in all the spices, mix well and again cook covered for 2-3 min till the tomatoes get all mashed up and tender.
• Now, lower the flame  and give a nice stir before adding the paneer cubes along with the milk. Combine through well and simmer for 5 min till the milk gets mixed up with the spices and gets dried up.
• Sprinkle Kasuri methi, garam masala and keep covered for a while. Garnish with cilantro before serving.

Notes:

• To make things faster, I chop vegetables while the previous one is in Pan. Say, when  the onions are getting fried, I ll chop tomatoes and chilli. And when the tomatoes are getting cooked, I will start making Chapattis. Although it’s a very basic thing and everyone knows it, but just in case J
• You can skip the milk totally, but it will help in retaining the softness of Paneer and also will help in maintaining the moisture in it when kept open for a while.

Can you see the steam comin off ??? .... This is the aroma filling your kitchen :)

Linking to Resh Comfort Food, Krithi's Serve ir- Stir Fried , Sumee's Bon Vivant - Savory Moments, My own For u Mum, Ayeesha's Healthy Morsles - Pregnancy