Chili paneer
Crispy golden paneer tossed with charred onion and peppers in a glossy, sweet-hot soy sauce, the Indo-Chinese restaurant favorite, over jasmine rice.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.59 a serving
- 740 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups jasmine rice
- 14 oz paneer, 1 block
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 1 tbsp ketchup
From your pantry
- 2½ cups water, divided
- ¼ cup cornstarch, divided
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 740 calories, 28 g protein, 77 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $2.59 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs almost clear. Put it in a with 2 cups water and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. Turn off the burner and leave the lid on.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Cut the paneer into 1-inch , them dry and with 3 tablespoons cornstarch and the salt until coated.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Cut the onion and bell pepper into 1-inch squares, the garlic and ginger and the green onions.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Stir the soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sugar, ½ cup water and the last tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat until it .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Fry the paneer, turning, until and on most sides, 5 to 6 minutes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Leave the cubes alone for a minute before turning. They release from the pan once a crust forms.Move to a plate.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir-fry the garlic, ginger, onion and pepper over high heat until -tender and at the edges, 2 to 3 minutes.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Char. Charring means cooking over very high heat until some spots turn black. Those dark spots add a smoky, slightly bitter flavor that balances sweet or rich food.
How you’ll know: You see black spots and blisters in places, while most of the surface keeps its own color.
High heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Stir the sauce and pour it in. Let it bubble until glossy and thick, about 1 minute, then in the paneer and most of the green onions.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 1 min
Serve over the rice with the rest of the green onions on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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