Dry paneer manchurian recipe with step by step photos – popular and tasty Indo Chinese snack of pan fried paneer cubes coated with a spicy, sweet and tangy sauce.
Making dry paneer manchurian is easy and just about takes 30 minutes. Since you don’t need to chop many veggies unlike some other Indo Chinese recipes. This recipe can also be made with tofu instead of paneer.
I have already shared Paneer manchurian gravy recipe. few more manchurian recipes on the blog are:
In this recipe, I have pan fried the paneer cubes, instead of shallow or deep frying. For a crisp version, you will need to shallow or deep fry the paneer cubes. However as a healthier option, its best to pan fry the paneer cubes for making this dish.
Paneer manchurian dry can be served as a starter snack. You don’t need any other dip or accompaniment to go along with this dish. Since the sweet-tangy sauce, coats the paneer cubes very well.
How to make dry paneer manchurian
Preparation
1. First chop the onions and bell pepper into 1 inch squares. Finely chop the ginger, garlic, green chilies and celery. Keep aside. Skip celery, if you don’t get it. You can also use spring onion/scallions instead of onions. Red or green or yellow bell pepper (capsicum) can be added.
2. Then dice paneer in cubes. Pat dry them with a clean kitchen towel. Then add them to a mixing bowl.
3. Add ½ tsp red chili powder, ½ tsp black pepper powder, ½ salt and 2 tbsp corn starch.
4. Gently shake, toss and mix. Everything should be well mixed. You could also mix the corn starch and the spice powders first and then add the paneer cubes to it.
5. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan or kadai or wok.
6. Add the paneer cubes. The oil should be medium hot. If the pan or wok is small, you will have to fry the paneer in batches.
7. Flip and pan fry so that all the sides get cooked evenly. For a crisp version, you will need to shallow fry or deep fry the paneer cubes.
8. Pan fry till the paneer cubes are light golden. Don’t fry for a longer period of time as the paneer cubes might become dense. Use good quality and fresh paneer. Homemade paneer is the best.
9. Drain the pan fried paneer cubes on kitchen paper towel.
Making paneer manchurian dry
10. In the same pan in which the paneer cubes were pan fried, add the chopped onions, bell peppers, ginger, green chilies, garlic and celery.
11. Stir well.
12. Whilst the veggies are getting stir fried, in the same bowl in which the paneer cubes were mixed, there will be leftover corn starch & spice powder mixture.
13. Add ¼ cup water to this leftover corn starch & spice mixture. Make a smooth paste. you will only get the above dry mixture if the paneer cubes were dry. If the paneer cubes are moist, then you will need to make a separate corn starch paste. For this, dissolve 1 tbsp corn starch with 3 tbsp water.
14. Meanwhile, on a medium flame stir fry the veggies till the bell peppers are half cooked.
15. Add ½ tbsp soy sauce.
16. Add tomato ketchup. About 1½ tbsp tomato ketchup is just sweet. For extra sweetness, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup needs to be added.
17. Stir.
18. Then season with salt, red chili powder and black pepper. Add less salt as both soy sauce, tomato ketchup and the above corn starch paste we made, already has salt in them. You can also add about ½ tsp of sugar.
19. Add the corn starch paste.
20. Stir well and allow to simmer on a medium flame till the sauce thickens. About 1 to 2 minutes.
21. Once the paneer manchurian sauce has thickened, then add the pan fried paneer cubes.
22. Stir again very well so that the sauce coats the paneer cubes evenly.
23. Lastly add ½ tsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar.
24. Stir. check the taste of paneer manchurian and add more salt, soy sauce, vinegar or black pepper if required.
25. Serve dry paneer manchurian hot garnished with celery or some spring onion greens. You can also garnish paneer manchurian with chopped coriander leaves or parsley. For more delicious paneer recipes, you can check this collection of 90 Paneer recipes.
Few more paneer snacks recipes for you!
Dry Paneer Manchurian
Ingredients
for frying paneer
- 250 grams paneer (cottage cheese) or 8 to 9 ounces paneer
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder or white pepper
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt or add as required
- 3 tablespoon oil
for manchurian sauce
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce or add as required
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder or white pepper
- ½ teaspoon rice vinegar or apple cider or regular vinegar
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup water
- ⅓ cup onions or spring onion whites diced into 1 inch squares
- ½ cup capsicum diced into 1 inch squares. any color capsicum - red, green or yellow (bell peppers)
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies
- 1 to 2 teaspoon finely chopped celery - optional
- salt as required
Instructions
preparation
- First chop the onions and bell pepper into 1 inch squares. Finely chop the ginger, garlic, green chilies and celery. Keep aside.
- Skip celery, if you don't get it. You can also use spring onion/scallions instead of onions. Red or green or yellow bell pepper/capsicum can be added.
- Then dice paneer in cubes. Pat dry them with a clean kitchen towel. Then add them to a mixing bowl.
- Add 1/2 tsp red chili powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tbsp corn starch.
- Gently shake, toss and mix. Everything should be well mixed. You could also mix the corn starch and the spice powders first and then add the paneer cubes to it.
pan frying paneer
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan or kadai or wok.
- Add the paneer cubes. The oil should be medium hot. If the pan or wok is small, you will have to fry the paneer in batches.
- Flip and pan fry so that all the sides get cooked evenly. For a crisp version, you will need to shallow fry or deep fry the paneer cubes.
- Pan fry till the paneer cubes are light golden.
- Don't fry for a longer period of time as the paneer cubes might become dense. Use good quality and fresh paneer. Homemade paneer is the best.
- Drain the pan fried paneer cubes on kitchen paper towel.
making dry paneer manchurian
- In the same pan in which the paneer cubes were pan fried, add the chopped onions, capsicum, ginger, green chilies, garlic and celery. Stir well.
- Whilst the veggies are getting stir fried, in the same bowl in which the paneer cubes were mixed, there will be leftover corn starch & spice powder mixture.
- You will only get this dry mixture if the paneer cubes were dry.
- If the paneer cubes were moist, then you will need to make a separate corn starch paste. Dissolve 1 tbsp corn starch with 3 tbsp water.
- Add 1/4 cup water and make a paste of the remaining corn starch & spice powder mixture.
- Meanwhile, on a medium flame stir fry the veggies till the bell peppers are half cooked.
- Add 1/2 tbsp soy sauce. Add tomato ketchup. About 1.5 tbsp tomato ketchup is just sweet.
- For an extra sweetness, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup needs to be added. Stir. You can also add about ½ tsp of sugar.
- Then season with salt, red chili powder and black pepper.
- Add less salt as both soy sauce, tomato sauce and the corn starch paste we made, already has salt in them.
- Add the corn starch paste. Stir well and allow to simmer on a medium flame till the sauce thickens. About 1 to 2 minutes.
- Once the manchurian sauce has thickened, then add the pan-fried paneer cubes.
- Stir again very well so that the sauce coats the paneer cubes evenly.
- Lastly add rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar.
- Stir. Check the taste and add more salt, soy sauce, vinegar or black pepper if required.
- Serve dry paneer manchurian hot garnished with celery or some spring onion greens. You can also garnish it with chopped coriander leaves or parsley.
I think all you’re receipe are marvellous they are so easy to follow and the step-by-step step photos makes it so much more helpful to use so thank you
thanks bharti. happy cooking.
hey…. i m a new entry… i tried ur chilli mushroom n it was amazing… i m a starter in cooking.. n it was my first try…
thank you and nice to know.
Awesome snack for lunch boxes. Started at 7.30am and lunchbox was ready at 8am with poori as combination! Thanks !
welcome savitha pleased to know you liked the poori 🙂 thankyou so much.
Very yummy everyone in my family loved it thank you for ur recipe
welcome lalitha and thanks for the positive feedback.
Tried paneer manchurian and it has turned out yummy! Thanks!
thankyou shweta glad to know this 🙂
Really it helped me as I’m a bachelor.
I tried the Paneer manchurian dry recipe
Do you have any recipe which can be cooked without Onion, Garlic, Ginger
Thanks to you all
welcome sajid. check this no onion no garlic recipe collection and you might find few such recipe – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/recipes/no-onion-no-garlic-recipes/
Hi dassana..I just want to know what do we call corn starch in indian market? Is it same as arrowroot?
Thank You..
All your recipes are so easy and well described. Thanks alot.
welcome ruchi. corn starch is called as corn flour in india and it is white in color. its not arrow root flour.
This recipe is fantastic! The taste is absolute delicious! I did the Vegan version, so instead of Paneer I used Tofu. Very quick and super simple to do. Yummy!
I also want to say that I use your website every time I want to cook something…and since I discovered it I cook almost every day! It helps me to improve my Indian cuisine knowledge, it helps me to stay vegetarian and allows me to cook fantastic dishes for my Vegan and Celiac friends!! Thank you so much! You are doing a very good job,
Sending love and infinite admiration from Italy
welcome margherita. glad to read your sweet and positive feedback. good to know that the recipes are helping you in maintaining vegetarian diet. thanks for your love and best wishes.
Hi Dassana,
Your recipes look amazing, and I can’t wait to make them!
For the green chilies, can I use Serrano or jalapeño peppers?
Thanks VIVian. Use the one which is not very hot or spicy.
Didn’t have paneer and used a similar type of cheese instead. My cheese became a bit shapeless when I baked it; had pieces, not cubes. I also used green peas because I didn’t have bell peppers. It still tasted great!! We both loved it 😀 ! Next time I’ll try to make paneer when I want to make this recipe. Thanks!
welcome sari. with paneer it taste much better. thanks for the feedback.
The dish turned exactly how it shows here and the taste came out great too. the steps were very helpful. i rarely cook.. but i tried making this first time and it turned out very good. i am looking forward to use many more receipes from this site and make dishes.
Thank you for sharing.
welcome snehal. thats nice to know. thanks for sharing positive feedback. do try some more recipes.
This was a hit. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Love your site and pictures.
welcome anjali. thats good to know.
Hey dassana
Tried this & the banana walnut cake on the eve of our wedding anniversary. Must admit it was finger licking good(literally).
U r too good!
Made our day 🙂
thanks nivedita. glad to know. wishing you a happy wedding anniversary.
Thank u so very much,I do learn lots of recipes from your blogs.it is a treat to read your blogs.god bless.I tried this recipe n methi matur malai,Gobi Manchurian, thanku
welcome vaishali. glad to know this. thanks for sharing positive feedback and for your blessings.
awesome…
WOW, this looks amazing…will give it a try and come back to rate it.
thanks melanie
Hi all,
I tried this dish, came out really well.easy & quick
thanks archu
Really good recipe
I tried making it and it was liked by
All.
Yummylecious.
thanks andy
Hi dassana,
Tried this dish on the day it was posted and it turned out amazing
thanks amritha for the feedback.
This was one of the most mind blowing dishes I’ve had the privilege to prepare. As always, writing to thank you and give you the credit for making a beginner’s dish taste like a seasoned one. I must say the alternatives and options that you provide, pin to pin details that you provide for those tiny little things to keep in mind are like each brick inside a wall which easily is missed in other blogs. Once again, I’m amazed with the simplicity that you have explained it with.
thanks again hemanth for your positive feedback. you are also very good with writing and explaining the finer details. may be thats why you observe them so clearly. all recipes in the blog are tried and tested… and if followed point by point as you do, will result in a good dish. happy cooking.
Hi ,
I’m in Saudi and recently started cooking (3 months ). I like cooking some thing that I haven’t tried and came across your site. Since then I follow your site everyweek for cooking. It was awesome and your steps are very easy to follow for anyone. This dish came out very well but had one challenge. When I mixed the corn powder the panneer cubes stuck between themselves. It was easy for me to separate them using spatola. How to avoid this in future?
Thanks
welcome karthik. glad to know that you are liking the recipes. actually it should not stick. may be the paneer cubes must not be dry. if there is moisture or water on the paneer then they will stick. next time just wipe the paneer well with a clean kitchen cotton napkin to remove the excess moisture/water.
This looks so delicious.