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Paneer Kohlapuri

Servings 4
Description
Spicy Maharashtrian spice blend in its dry version
Ingredients
  • Paneer (Indian cottage cheese – 250 gms, cubes)
  • Vegetable oil – to deep fry
  • To grind to paste
  • Ginger – ½” piece (peeled)
  • Garlic – 4 to 6 cloves
  • Black peppercorns - 3 to 4
  • – 2
  • Seeds of 2 green cardamoms
  • Cumin seeds (jeera – 1.5 tsp)
  • Coriander seeds (dhania – 1.5 tbsp)
  • Cinnamon – ½” stick
  • Fennel seeds (saunf – 1 tsp)
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp or to taste
  • Salt – to taste
  • Juice of ½ to 1 lime
  • For coating
  • flour (besan – 4 to 5 tbsp)
  • Thick curd – 2 tbsp
  • Cilantro – 1 tbsp (chopped)
  • Kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves – 2 tsp)
  • Oma/ ajwain/ carom seeds – a pinch
  • Salt – ¼ tsp or to taste
  • Red chilli powder – ½ tsp or to taste
  • To garnish
  • fresh chopped coriander leaves
  • To serve
  • onion rings/laccha onions (lime wedges, mint chutney)
Instructions
  1. Wash paneer. You may soak in warm water for 3 mins to soften them, if frozen. Drain.
  2. Grind together all the ingredients under ‘paste’ using just a dash of water if needed to blend. Taste & adjust salt.
  3. In a mixing bowl put the paneer cubes, paste. Mix gently so that masala coats paneer well. Cover and refrigerate till serving time.
  4. At serving time, heat oil in a kadai/ deep fry pan.
  5. Sprinkle the paneer with the coating ingredients and mix well to coat. Add some more besan if paste does not stick to paneer well.
  6. Deep fry few cubes of paneer at a time till golden brown.
  7. Garnish and serve hot!
Note
The ground paste may seem a bit strong & spicy when you taste it but it reduces after adding coating ingredients. So adjust spice level as per taste.

Adapted from Nita Mehta