Chili Paneer

One of my favorite Indian dishes is Chili Paneer...It's delicious and has a spicy kick that is just wonderful! I love it when I eat it out and it has a Indo-Chinese kick to it..Anyhow, going out all the time and eating it out is not an option considering that I don't have a lot of Indo-Chinese restaurants around me, which totally sucks by the way. Well having this problem prompted me to come up with my own version which luckily turned out fantastic! Simple to make and packs a flavorful punch..what more could I ask for?!

Ingredients:

1 block of paneer (Indian cottage cheese), cubed - you'll find this in Indian stores in the refrigerated section

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/3 red onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp of water

2 tbsp of vegetable oil, divided

1 tsp of red chili powder

Pinch of cumin seeds 

2 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Scroll down to the bottom for quick directions.

Start by chopping up the onions. You can see I haven't diced them too small..

Slice up your garlic...

Now chop up the green and red bell peppers. I wanted to make sure these were the same size as the onions as I chopped up...

I cut the paneer into cubes...

Now take the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and mix it with 3 tablespoons of water. Add in salt, pepper, and red chili powder. 

Coat the paneer cubes with the marinade...

Heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat and and drop in the cubes of paneer..

They'll slowly start to brown and will start looking like the picture below..take these and put them on a paper towel to soak up any remaining oil. 

Now, in the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil on medium-high heat, and drop in a pinch of cumin seeds..

TIP: To make this spicier, I would slice a serrano pepper and fry it with the cumin seeds.

Fry them for about 2 minutes and drop in the onions & garlic, and saute for about a minute...you want all the vegetables to have somewhat of a crunch and not be too soggy..

Now add the bell peppers and saute all the vegetables for about 4 - 5 minutes. 

Now, add in the cubes of paneer and toss together. Add the soy sauce and make sure all is mixed well...

And, that's it! Dinner is ready! Serve it with Indian tortillas (Rotis) or some rice! I can eat this by itself if I'm trying to avoid carbs and it tastes fantastic by itself!

Hope you love it as much as I did! 

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