Paneer Pepper Fry

My simple, quick mid week dinner!

Tuesday Si has tennis after school and I have exactly half an hour to get dinner ready before picking her up. This is one of my go to recipes when I’m craving Indian but don’t have time to do anything elaborate! I didn’t plan to make this today but opened the fridge and happened to have two peppers and some panner! So voila….we had Paneer Pepper Fry for dinner with chapatis.

This is a dry recipe and would go well with any flatbread (chapatis, parathas, rotis, naans) and its even a great filling for rolls, wraps, pita pockets or even sandwiches!

 

Here’s my recipe…

Overview

• Serves: 4-6
• Difficulty: Easy

 

Ingredients

• Paneer 600g cubed (I’ve used 3 packets of 200g Tesco panner)
• 2 peppers roughly chopped (I’ve used one red and one green but feel free to use any colours)
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped the same size as the peppers
• A few banana shallots chopped in half (I only used these because I had them but otherwise I would have used one more medium onion)
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• Ginger half inch
• 1 green chilli slit (deseed the chilli if you prefer it mild or skip altogether)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil (I’ve used groundnut oil)
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• Pinch of asafoetida powder (hing)
• Half tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• Half tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp dry mango powder
• 2 tbsp kasturi methi
• Salt to taste
• Chopped coriander leaves for garnish (I haven’t used these as I didn’t have any)

 

Method

1. Put oil to heat in a large pan
2. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and wait for a couple of seconds till they sizzle
3. Add the asafoetida powder, then add the garlic and green chilli and saute for a few seconds
4. Add the onions and shallots and grate the ginger
5. Add a bit of salt and saute for a few minutes till the onions turn translucent
6. Add the turmeric powder
7. Add the green peppers and cook for a 2-3 minutes (I prefer to cook the green peppers before the other coloured peppers but feel free to add them all together)
8. Add the red peppers (or any other colour you are using)
9. Add cumin powder and coriander powder
10. Cook for a few minutes till the peppers have softened slightly (I like a bit of bite but you can cook further if you prefer them softer)
11. Add the panner, stir properly and cook for 2-3 minutes
12. Taste and add salt as required
13. Add the dry mango powder and stir again to ensure all the spices are combined
14. Finally add the kasturi methi and stir again and turn off the heat
15. Garnish with coriander if using
16. Serve hot with any flatbread of your choice