Paneer fry is a simple sautéed recipe made with paneer, onion, tomatoes and herbs-spices. The recipe comes together in 25 minutes and makes for a quick weeknight meal.
Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan. Keep heat to medium-low and add thinly sliced onions.
Mix the onions with the oil and begin to sauté them.
Onions take a lot of time to sauté. So you can add a pinch of salt while cooking them.
Stirring often sauté onions till they start to become light golden. Do not brown the onions.
Now add 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste.
Sauté till the raw aroma of ginger-garlic goes away.
Then add 3 to 4 slit green chilies. Tip – use green chilies which are not very spicy or hot.
Mix well and sauté for a minute.
Then add diced tomatoes. Mix again well and begin to sauté tomatoes. When sautéing tomatoes, if masala mixture starts sticking to pan, then sprinkle some water. Mix again and continue to sauté.
Sauté till the tomatoes soften.
Keep flame to its lowest. Now add turmeric powder, black pepper powder, kashmiri red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder.
Mix very well. If the mixture starts sticking to pan, sprinkle some water.
Making paneer fry
Season with salt as required. Mix again.
Add 200 grams paneer, chopped in cubes.
Mix the paneer with the masala.
Switch off heat and add 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves. Mix again.
Serve Paneer Fry with chapati, phulka, paratha, naan or bread.
Notes
Either use homemade paneer or any good quality packaged paneer. Make sure that the paneer is fresh and not gone rancid or tasting sour.
Alter the black pepper powder, red chilli powder and green chillies according to your spice and heat preferences.
You could also add some sliced capsicum (green bell pepper) if you like.
Swap paneer with tofu. First press tofu between two heavy weighted objects to remove any extra liquids or moisture. Opt to pan fry tofu lightly before adding the onion-tomato fry mix.