PANEER JALFREZI

We have Paneer in our house almost once a week. All the Paneer lovers out there be prepared to be bombarded with Paneer recipes. This one is a recent recipe. I had gotten tired of making the same old recipes over and over again and I liked the way the word Jalfrezi sounds. So, I decided to look for a Jalfrezi recipe. The Oxford Dictionary defines Jalfrezi as “a medium-hot Indian dish consisting of chicken or lamb with fresh chillies, tomatoes and onions.”

I prefer reading recipes to watching videos and cooking. I find videos very distracting and you have to keep pausing after each stage of cooking, which makes it very inconvenient (Though I enjoy watching cooking videos) Moreover I need my phone for listening to music while cooking. This is the first time I made a dish looking at a video.

Jaimie Oliver’s food channel on YouTube features other cooks as well. The recipe is by Maunika Gowardhan 

The dish bursts with flavour and is vibrant with colour. The vegetables aren’t cooked for long and retain their crunchiness and sweetness. The key spices are coriander powder and ginger and these enhance the taste of the dish.  I haven’t added chillies to the dish but you may do so. The dish is best served with piping hot rotis (flatbread).

PANEER JALFREZI

Ingredients:

Paneer (cottage cheese) – 250 gms

Onion- 1 medium sized

Tomato- 1 medium sized

Capsicum (bell pepper) – Handful of slices

Peas (cooked) - handful

Cumin (Jeera) seeds- 1 tsp

Chopped garlic – 1 tbsp

Slivers of ginger- 1 tbsp

Turmeric- ½ tsp

Red Chilli powder-1 tsp

Coriander (Dhaniya) powder- I heaped tsp

Salt-to taste

Water- ¼ cup

Method:

1.      Soak paneer in warm water for 15 minutes and then cut into cubes.

2.      Slice onion and capsicum into long thin slices.

3.      De-seed the tomato and chop into thin slices.

4.      Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds.

5.      Once they start spluttering, add onions and fry till they turn pinkish brown. Add chopped garlic. Fry for a minute.

6.  Add spices- turmeric, chilli powder and coriander powder. Sauté for half a minute.

 7.    Add the capsicum and peas. Sauté until coated with spices.

 8.    Add 1/4^th cup of water into the pan.

 9.   Add the paneer and gently stir it in.

10. Add the tomato and ginger slivers. Sauté for 2 mins. (Don’t overcook the tomato)

11. Season with salt.

12. Squeeze a little lemon juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional).

13. Done.

Recipe notes

·        If you do not like the flavour of ginger, you may add it at the beginning, along with garlic.

·      I do not like cooked tomatoes and if you don’t either, I’d still insist that you add them to the dish. They impart a lovely flavour and since they are de-seeded and added towards the end, they aren’t mushy at all.

·   I haven’t tried this recipe for chicken or lamb but it would taste great with just vegetables too sans the Paneer.