Dry Tawa Paneer (Pan-fried Cottage cheese)

I can never say no to appetizers or finger-foods. Not only do I enjoy eating them, but I love preparing them and serving for friends and guests at home. I actually have a lot of such recipes in my Snack foods column and the list just grows 🙂

Today, I share a classic Indian appetizer/starter recipe with paneer/cottage cheese – Tawa Paneer. ‘Tawa’ means a flat-pan, so this recipe is cooked on a flat-base pan, but if you do not have one, you can make it in a large skillet or fry pan too. Add any masala gravy to this recipe and you have your curry that can be served with Indian flat breads/naans.

You can check my other Paneer recipes – Paneer Kofta, Chili Paneer, Tikka dry, Paneer green peas curry and Paneer dum Biryani too 🙂

Ingredients:

Paneer/cottage cheese – 1 cup, cubes (Check my homemade paneer recipe)

Oil – 1 tbsp

Tomato ketchup – to serve

Marination:

Hung curd/thick yogurt – ¼ cup

Ginger powder/paste – ½ tsp

Red chili powder – 1 tsp

Pepper powder – ½ tsp

Dry mango powder/amchur – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Dry fenugreek leaves/kasoori methi – 1 tsp

Red chili sauce – 1 tsp

Lemon juice – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients under ‘marination’ and combine well.
2. Add the paneer cubes to this and give a gentle toss so that each piece is well coated with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes.
3. Heat a tawa/flat-base pan and add 1 tsp oil to it.
4. Place the marinated paneer on the tawa and fry them till they turn golden brown from all sides. Spread another tsp of oil around the pieces while they fry.
5. Remove from heat and serve hot with ketchup or green chutney.

Note:

1. The same recipe can be served as gravy too by simply adding these fried paneer to the gravy of your choice.
2. For hung curd, place the yogurt in a muslin cloth or clean handkerchief, squeeze it hard till the water is drained and then let it rest in the cloth itself for 10 minutes. Then you have the hung curd.

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