Monday, February 18, 2013

The Easiest Side-dish

The Chilly Paneer recipe perhaps belongs to the past along with the roadside oily chowmein and slightly metallic tasting manchurian. But on days when you want something quick and tasty to impress without using up a huge chunk of your cooking time this is the dish to make. A little bit of chopping and dashes of sauces and you are good to go. The most important thing in this recipe is getting the balance of the soy sauce and vinegar right.
It was said that when Chinese immigrants landed in Kolkata they adapted their recipes so that their clientele could find the dishes palatable. And thus the Indo-chinese cuisine was born and still goes on in the street-carts and roadside dhabas. This cuisine for me in no way resembles the authentic chinese food, however it is tasty and hits your spice spots very nicely.
The only work you need to do is to chop the base needed for building the chilly sauce. Then you throw stuff together, taste and hey presto - the Chilly Paneer is ready. 


Ingredients:
5 spring onions chopped
1 tsp of minced ginger
1tsp of minced garlic
1 small capsicum chopped
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp vinegar
1tbsp Red chilli sauce
salt as required
pepper as required
paneer cut into chunks.*
oil for cooking

Method:
Heat 2tbsp of oil. Add the ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute till they release their aromas.
Add the spring onions and capsicum and cook for 2 minutes till they soften.
Add the soy, vinegar and red chili sauce. This is the tricky part. Taste and adjust the balance till you get all the flavors balanced together. Sprinkle salt and pepper. 
Add the paneer and fold in. Simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve as a side dish with fried rice or steamed rice and curry. Either way you have a tasty dish at your fingertips. Enjoy!

*The recipe here has used the Milky Mist paneer which for me is the best paneer you can find in the supermarket next to the fresh one.

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