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.
I just made this today…. It turned out DELICIOUS!!!! Everyone wants the receipe!! It's so easy to make too….thank youuuuu
This one turned out absolutely amazing…I cannot thank you enough for this wondrous recipe. For once, my hubby relished a paneer dish. He dislikes any paneer preparations. Thank You SO VERY MUCH!!!
tried this last weekend.. came out so well..yummy!! ur way of cooking ie.. cooking refering to ur receipes has made cooking fun..its less complex 🙂 all the ingredients n the procedure..
dhanya
Tried this one just now! Turned out well… hopefully will be better the next time! 🙂
This just caught my eyes..I really spent ten minutes staring at the paneer cubes..
Hi,
Came across your blog while searching for chinese stlye paneer recipes.It turned out yummy . I added minces ginger to the marinade( just to make it more spicy)Thanks for the recipe.
Ah, so want to have this now:-)
Don't use Corn starch for marinade. Corn starch is thickening agent and when it is mixed with paneer and heated up it forms thick lumps around the paneer and makes the dish yucky 🙁 Use corn flour + all purpose flour for the marinade.
What I usually do for marinade is:
– mix all purpose flour with a little corn flour
– a little chili power
– a little ginger-garlic paste
– fresh black pepper powder
– salt
-kd
Hi Nags, I really like your recipe specially coz of the simplicity and the regular ingredients that you use… This one didn't turn out great.. while frying the cornflour batter and paneer separated …by flour in marinade you meant regular flour or maida ??
it could be because the paneer was too moist and the marinade didn't stick to it. i have made this chilli paneer recipe many times and never had an issue. as you can see, so have many others 🙂 do try again and this time, pat the paneer dry before adding it to the marinade. also, decrease amount of water in the marinade.
I tried this yummy chilli paneer. And, it came out very well. Thank you for this awesome recipe. I made it a little more gravy to go with fried rice. And, still relishing!! Keep up your good work.