For one of my friends heading back over to England, we headed out to lunch at an Indian Restaurant in Footscray called Aangan.  It’s recognisable by the tree popped up on their roof, which at night, lights up like a Christmas Tree.  What’s totally wonderful about this place, is the variety of Naans available.  You could go there with a group of people and buy a whole lot of different varieties and feast on these.  It’s amazing and well worth trying if you live in the area!

This dish, was inspired by their Chilli Paneer – which is also great.  The flavours are slightly different to theirs, but has the same concept where the paneer has a batter of cornflour deep-fried.   Although my version keeps the frying to a minimum – I only pan-fry.

This Indian dish is almost like a stir-fry, where you could add your favourite vegetables and fry these before adding in the sauce and paneer.

For vegans, the paneer could easily be subsituted for firm tofu.  But, I have to say, paneer is quite a favourite of mine and, for those vegetarians out there, definitely see if you can find this at your local indian store in refrigerated section.

Not sure what paneer is? Check out wikipedia.

Serves:

• 3-4 serves

Ingredients:

• 200 grams paneer, diced
• 2 tbs corn flour
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 1/2 tsp ginger mince
• 1/2 tsp chilli paste
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1/2 red pepper roughly diced
• 1/2 green pepper roughly diced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 onion, roughly diced
• handful coriander, diced roughly
• 1 tsp white pepper
• pinch salt
• fresh chillies, diced
• drizzle olive oil for frying paneer

Instructions:

1. In a pan, drizzle olive oil and fry the paneer until brown on each side.
2. In a bowl, place the corn flour and take the paneer out of the pan.
3. Cover the sides of the cooked paneer with corn flour before setting aside.
4. Mix in your dry spices and sauces with the onions and pepper, adding the water, to fry in.  You may need to add a little more water in, as we’re using this for the sauce as well.
5. When soft, mix in your paneer and allow to the cornflour to start to thicken the sauce.
6. After a minute, take off the heat and add your fresh chillies and coriander before serving.