Stir-fried cottage cheese with Bell Pepper.
This is a wonderful and filling dish to eat, with a lovely combination of flavours. As fresh paneer can often break apart, I usually cut the block of paneer into cubes and shallow fry them to a light golden brown. I sometimes make my own paneer with milk that is soon to expire. The recipe I use to do this is from the website www.vegrecipesofindia and I use lemon juice to curdle the milk.
Taken from : Cuisine Along the Grand Trunk Road from Kabul to Kolkata.
Serves : 4-6
Ingredients:
For the cottage cheese
Cottage cheese(paneer), cut into 2″*1/2″*1/2″ batons 800 gm/ 1 lb 1 3 oz
Ghee 3 tbsp / 45 gm / 1 1/2 oz
Onions, chopped 3/4 cup / 90 gm / 3 oz
Garlic (lasan) paste 3 1/2 tsp / 20 gm
Ginger (adrak) paste 1 3/4 tsp / 10 gm
Coriander (dhaniya) seeds, roasted, pounded to split 1 tsp / 2 gm
Black pepper (kaali mirchi), freshly roasted, coarsely ground 1 tsp / 3 gm
Red chilli powder 1 tsp / 3gm
Turmeric (haldi) powder 1/2 tsp / 1 1/2 gm
Tomato Puree 1 1/2 cups / 360 gm / 13 oz
Salt to taste
Green pepper (Shimla Mirchi), cut into 1/8″ thick strips 1
Yellow Bell Pepper, cut into 1/8″ thick strips 1
Red Bell Peppers, cut into 1/8″ thick strips 1
Cumin( jeera) powder 3/4 tsp / 2 1/4 gm
Green Cardamom (choti elaichi) powder 1/2 tsp / 1 1/2 gm
Mace (javitri) powder 1/8 tsp
Cinnamon (dalchini) powder 1/8 tsp
Clove (Lang) powder 1/8 tsp
Dry fenugreek leaf( kasoori methi) / Fenugreek seeds (methi dana) a pinch
Green Coriander (hara dhaniya), chopped 1 tbsp / 4 gm
Method:
Heat the ghee in a pan; add onions ad saute until translucent and glossy. Add garlic and ginger pastes, and stir-fry until the moisture evaporates. Add coriander seeds and black pepper, stir-fry until the coriander begins to change colour. Add red chilli and turmeric powder dissolved in 2 tbsp of water, and stir-fry until the moisture evaporates.
Add tomato puree and salt, stir-fry until specks of fat begin to appear on the surface. Add cottage cheese, stir for a minute. Add the bell peppers and stir for a minute. Sprinkle the cumin, green cardamom, mace, cinnamon, clove, and dry fenugreek leaf powders; stir carefully.