“There is no sincerer love, than the love for paneer.”

Kali mirch paneer is mildly spiced, has lots of milk , a dash of cream and the goodness of pepper. All the ingredients are happily available in every kitchen and it takes hardly any time to put together this very tasty paneer/ cottage cheese dish.

Cottage cheese or paneer is low in calories and high in protein, it depends on the fat content of the milk that it is made from. Some people like it and other just don’t. I somehow am not too fond of its alternative, tofu, it’s bland. Whenever I cook cottage cheese or paneer, I look at the label and pick up the packet with the closest date. Also I immerse the paneer in hot boiling water for a good 20 minutes before adding it to the curry or masala. At home, I buy paneer atleast once a week and with a salad and roti a weekday dinner is taken care of, with not much effort. It is a versatile protein like chicken and you could use it as a salad dressing ,a tava grilled tikka or make a cutlet / croquette with potato, even blend it up with honey and mashed banana and spread it on toast for breakfast. There are umpteen options available.

This is a recipe I came across some time back and I have made a few changes to make it a little more spicy, though the spice that hits you is still pepper or rather kali mirch!

Ingredients:

• Paneer-250 GMs
• Onions-4
• Ginger- garlic paste -2 tbsp
• Green chilli -3
• Cashewnuts -4-5
• Seeds from 1 cardamom pod
• Garam masala -1 tbsp
• Pepper powder- 1+1 tsp
• Milk -3/4 cup with 3/4 cup water
• Cream -2 tbsp ( optional)
• Salt to taste
• Ghee/ oil
• Kasturi Methi to garnish ( optional)

Method:

• Soak the paneer cubes in hot water and keep aside.

• Grind chopped onion, green chilli, cashewnuts, cardamom seeds and ginger- garlicpaste together till smooth.

in hot oil/ ghee, sauté the ground paste for a couple of minutes till the raw smell disappears. (10 minutes)

Add Garam masala and 1 tsp pepper powder and fry well.

Add milk and water mixture and bring to a boil.

Simmer for a few minutes.

Add cream and salt to taste.

Add the drained paneer cubes and bring to a boil.

Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Check for seasoning and remove.

Sprinkle pepper(1 tsp)on top and serve hot with parathas.

You could also garnish with Kasturi Methi.

Chefs tips:

• Always buy fresh paneer, milky mist, hatsun, motherdiary are all good brands.
• Never forget to soak the paneer in hot water .
• It will take time to sauté the ground onion mixture so you could alternately put the flame on low and keep the kadai covered for 10 minutes.
• Instead of paneer, you could also try out different combinations like peas and potato , Methi and peas , mushroom , corn and peas .
• Those of you who like mint, can grind 4-5 leaves of mint along with the onion for a subtle taste of mint.
• This serves 4-5 adults.

Till my next post,

Cheers

Rose