instant pot chilli paneer gravy

Instant pot chilli paneer gravy is a Chinese style recipe of cottage cheese cubes in a spicy, sour, sweet, umami chilli sauce. This is a fusion recipe having the best of both Indian and Chinese cuisine. A widely popular dish in Chinese restaurants in India.

This spicy cottage cheese dish is one of my favorite recipes too. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of paneer, but one paneer dish that I really like is this one.

I remember going to any restaurant for dinner and without fail, I would order paneer chilli with some naan or tandoori roti.

Here is my version of making this famous fusion Indo Chinese recipe in the instant pot.

There are two variants- a dry or semi-dry version and a sauce or gravy based version. If you want to make the stovetop dry version or semi-dry version then kindly check this recipe – Chilli paneer – restaurant style semi-dry version

About instant pot chilli paneer gravy

1. Paneer: best is to add homemade paneer in the recipe. But if short of time then you can also use a good quality store brought paneer. Make sure the paneer is fresh and soft. You can even use malai paneer.
2. No msg: (monosodium glutamate or ajinomoto): I generally don’t add msg or ajinomoto to any of the Indo Chinese recipes I make at home. So the taste will be not restaurant-style or like the Chinese food we get at the Chinese food stalls in India. But the taste will be good.
3. Thickeners:  potato starch, corn starch (known as cornflour in India) and tapioca starch are the three thickeners you can use in the recipe for thickening the sauce. All three are easily available in the market or online. I have used tapioca starch.
4. Soy sauce: best is to use naturally fermented soy sauce. You can even replace soy sauce with bragg liquid aminos. I personally find bragg liquid aminos having a nice complex taste and flavor than soy sauce.
5. Cooking time: the recipe takes less time in the instant pot then when made in a wok or pan. Paneer cubes are fried separately. To save time you can skip frying paneer cubes and add them directly to the sauce.
6. Vegan options: to veganize the recipe, use seitan or tofu or tempeh.
7. Serving suggestions: Serve with veg noodles, steamed rice, fried rice, dinners rolls or naan bread. I usually serve with naan or roti as this combination is liked by my folks.

How to make instant pot chilli paneer gravy

Frying paneer
1. In a bowl take paneer cubes (200 to 250 grams). Sprinkle 3 tablespoons tapioca starch or corn starch (cornflour) or potato starch. Also add ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder, ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper, ¼ teaspoon salt or add as per taste and ½ teaspoon braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce.

2. Gently toss the paneer pieces in this mixture well so that the cornflour and seasonings coats the paneer cubes well. The the tapioca starch or corn starch coating gives a nice white color to the paneer.

3. Heat 6 to 7 tablespoons oil for frying in a frying pan or kadai. When the oil becomes hot, add the paneer cubes. You can shallow fry or pan fry or deep fry the paneer cubes. Here we are shallow frying.

4. When one side is light golden, turn over and fry the second side.

5. Then turn over and continue to fry till light golden. Do not fry for too long as then paneer becomes dense and hard.

6. Remove fried paneer cubes and place them on kitchen paper towels.

Making starch slurry or paste

7. In a small bowl add 1 tablespoon tapioca starch or corn starch or potato starch and 2 tablespoons water.

8. Mix very well.

Mixing sauces

9. In another small bowl take 2 tablespoons bragg liquid aminos or 1 tablespoon soy sauce or add as required, 1 teaspoon red chilli sauce , 1 teaspoon green chilli sauce, 1 teaspoon rice vinegar or white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

10. Mix very well and keep aside.

Sautéing

11. Press the saute button on the instant pot on normal mode. Set the timer to 5 minutes.

12. Add 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil and let the oil become hot (not smoking hot or sizzling hot). Add ¼ cup chopped spring onions or scallions, 1 to 2 green chillies (slit or diagonally sliced), 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger and 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic.

13. Sauté for 1 minute.

14. Then add ⅓ to ½ cup thinly sliced capsicum (green bell pepper).

15. Sauté for 1 minute.

16. You can press the cancel button if you want. Then add the premixed sauce mixture.

17. Mix very well.

18. Add 1 cup water.

19. Mix again and deglaze.

Simmering

20. Press the sauté button again on normal mode and set the time to 5 minutes.

21. Let the entire mixture come to a boil.

22. Add the tapioca starch paste or corn starch paste or potato starch paste.

23. Mix very well so that no lumps are formed. Stir and mix as soon as you add the paste or slurry so that lumps are not formed.

24. Simmer for a few minutes till the sauce thickens and becomes glossy. The raw taste of tapioca starch or corn starch should not be there.

25. Sprinkle ½ to 1 teaspoon sugar, salt and crushed black pepper as required. Mix again well. Do keep a check on the salt as the sauces already have salt in them. Thus add less salt.

26. Press cancel button and add fried paneer cubes.

27. Then add and 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped spring onion greens or scallion greens.

28. Mix well.

29. Serve instant pot chilli paneer gravy hot garnished with some spring onion green (scallion greens) as a side with noodles or fried rice or dinner rolls or bread or roti.

More Tasty Paneer Recipes

• Matar Paneer
• Palak Paneer
• Paneer Tikka Masala
• Paneer Butter Masala

This recipe is from the archives and has been recently updated to the instant pot version on 10 January 2020. 

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