Crispy Paneer Chili Recipe
Make restaurant style Chili Paneer at home with this step by step recipe!
This is a semi Dry recipe where the Paneer cubes (Indian cottage cheese) are fried and is tossed in a flavorful spicy sauce made with soy sauce, chili sauce, sweet chili sauce, and honey.
There are two types of chili paneer that are popular; the dry version which is served as an appetizer and the gravy version which is eaten as a main course with rice or noodles.
I am sharing a semi-dry version with you all today. It has some sauce and you can serve it as an appetizer or even as a main course. It is best when eaten hot. If you want to make the gravy version then simply double the sauce ingredients and add ¼ cup water with corn flour slurry and mix well with the sauces and veggies, before adding the fried paneer. This will give you a gravy version of paneer chili but with the same crispiness of the paneer.
TIPS
Prep everything beforehand:
1. Chop the veggies, get the sauces ready – do everything before you start making the recipe.
2. You can fry the paneer, set it aside and then do all the prep work before you start working on the gravy. Since we cook everything on high heat, it all comes together quickly and there’s hardly anytime to chop things in between.
Use sesame oil:
I use toasted sesame oil in this paneer chili recipe and it does make a difference to the final taste., but of course you can also use any cooking oil if you don’t prefer sesame oil. Peanut oil is also widely used in Chinese cooking.
Cook on high heat:
When cooking the veggies, the wok should constantly be on high heat. You want all veggies to remain crunchy.
Lower the flame once you have added the sauce.
Use quality ingredients:
I always believe that using quality ingredients makes so much difference to the final outcome of the dish. So do use good quality soy sauce, chili sauce, sweet chili sauce (I have used blue dragon), honey and sesame oil.
The reason I am not using vinegar because all the sauces I was using already had vinegar in their recipes. But if you like vinegar you can use ½ tbsp. white vinegar in this below recipe.
Now let’s get to the written recipe. This recipe makes enough for 2 people.
Ingredients
• ½ kg paneer cubes
• Oil for deep frying
Marinate for paneer
• 2tbsp corn flour
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp black pepper powder
• Salt to taste
For Gravy
• 1 capsicum, cubes
• 1 large onion, cubes
• 3-4 fresh garlic cloves, finely chopped (make sure to use fresh )
• ½ inch ginger freshly fine chopped
For Sauce
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
• 1 tbsp. chili sauce
• ½ tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. corn flour + 3-4 tbsp. water (make corn flour slurry)
Method
1. Cut the paneer into 1 inch cubes, marinate in corn flour, red chili powder, blackpepper and salt. Coat them well.
2. Heat oil in a wok to medium, fry the paneer until golden and crispy outside for 2-3 mins. Drain on paper towel.
3. In another wok, add 2 tbsp. oil let it heat up on high flame, keep all the ingredients ready, add freshly chopped garlic and ginger and sauté.
4. Add green chilies, then onion and capsicum and sauté for 1-2 mins.
5. Move the veggies to the side, add all the sauces and stir well, mix with the veggies.
6. Make corn flour slurry with 1 tbsp. corn flour and 3 tbsp. water and add it to the the wok and stir well.
7. Add the fried paneer cubes and toss it to coat well with the sauce.
8. Serve Hot and Enjoy.
TIP: Add more water to the sauce mixture before adding the paneer to get paneer chili gravy.