Chilli Paneer is an amazing Indian paneer starter dish. Just like every other Indian, I love Indo-Chinese food. Deep fried goodness in a creamy sauce or coated in thick, spicy gravy – what’s not to like! I even like the calories that come with it, I am very impartial that way! This Chilli Paneer recipe is one that was born of urgency and necessity. I prefer a dry version of chilli paneer than the kind with gravy so chose to go with that. If you want to make chilli paneer with gravy, I have given options to do that below.
I make Gobi Manchurian quite often but paneer usually gets made into Palak Paneer or Paneer Butter Masala and hardly ever an Indo-Chinese recipe, that too an appetizer. But it happened on the last day in our previous apartment. I was clearing out the fridge and realised I have a few cubes of paneer left which had to be made into something real soon or they’d die. No self-respecting Indian can kill paneer, trust me!
So the paneer pieces turned into a lovely plate of dry chilli paneer recipe that gave some well-needed energy to TH and me to resume last-minute packing in full vigour.
Chilli Paneer Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups cubed paneer I used longer slices
- 1 bell pepper / capsicum
- 2 large onions
- 4 green chillies slit
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste use freshly ground paste if possible
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tsp green chilli sauce
- 1 tsp tomato paste / ketchup
- 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour + 3 tbsp water make a smooth paste
- Salt to taste
For the Marinade:
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp corn flour / corn starch
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- A pinch of salt
- Water
Instructions
- Make a semi-thick paste with the ingredients for marinade.
- Dunk the paneer pieces in and let them soak in the marinade.
- Add 3-4 tbsp oil in a pan and shallow fry the paneer pieces, turning them over when the sides are brown.
- Drain and set aside.
- In the same pan, add chopped onions, green chillies, and capsicum.
- Cook until the onions turn transparent, about 2-3 mins.
- Next, turn the flame to high and add soya sauce, green chilli sauce, ginger garlic paste, sugar and tomato paste.
- Stir-fry on high for about 30 seconds until well blended and turn the flame to medium-low.
- Add the fried paneer cubes and the cornflour-water paste. Taste and adjust salt (since the sauces will have salt).
- Stir and cook for another 3-4 mins until the sauce comes around and thickens due to the cornflour.
- Serve Chilli Paneer steaming hot as an appetiser
How to make dry Chilli Paneer Recipe:
For dry Chilli Paneer recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, please use the Google Translate button on the top right of this website.
thanks for the recipe.. only 1 ques.. in the marinade.. when you said flour – what does it mean?? all purpose flour or gram flour??
-Jules
hii tried this but substituted paneer with chicken,..thnks again for the recipe
Ooh, this looks awesome and this is my absolute favorite thing to order at Indian restaurants. Can't wait to give this a try!
So tempting and colorful.. your clicks are great
Great Ranjeetha! keep me posted on how the chilli paneer recipe comes out!
Hii Nags,
I tried your restaurant style Paneer…It was really nice….I am Paneer lover….I usually make Paneer with green peas…this recipe looks really interesting will surely try and let you know 🙂
A lovely presentation for the recipe, Nags! Love the dip done for coating the paneer. Must have tasted heavenly for sure.
Chili Paneer is instant love 🙂 and thanks for setting the craving in me at dinner time with that awesome plateful.
And thanks for that lightbox tutorial too! good one.
hey.. i've tried this chilli panner recipe with slight variations..
for the marainade with curd,pepper and flour i used a herb and garlic dressing tht i found in walmart and tht made it yummier..
and i slightly burnt the onions but tht seemed to rather suit the taste..
as i'm typing this, the entire plate of chilli paneer i made is polished off by the husband:)
thanks..not just this, i've tried many other recipes and they've all come out great..
thanks & god bless:)
Thank you so much for leaving your thoughts Ramya 🙂 So glad you liked the chilli paneer recipe and other recipes too!! 😀