Restaurant Style Crispy Honey Chilli Paneer

Restaurant Style Crispy Honey Chilli Paneer

Ingredients 

A. For Marinating The Paneer

1. Paneer 300g cut into 3/4 inch cubes

2. Black pepper powder 1 tsp
3. Ginger paste 1 tsp

4. Garlic paste 21/2 tsp

5. Green Chilli paste 1/2 tsp

6. Salt to taste

B. For The Batter

1. All purpose flour/maida 1/2 cup

2. Corn starch 1/4 cup

3. Pepper powder 1/4 tsp
4. Baking powder 1 tsp

5. Salt to taste 

6. Oil 2 tbsp

7. Ice cold water 1/2 cup or more 

C. For The Sauce

1. Onions cubed 1 medium sized

2. Bell peppers/capsicums cubed 1 medium sized

3. Spring onions 3 finely chopped 

4. Ginger paste 1/2 tsp

5. Garlic paste 1 tsp

6. Garlic very thinly sliced or chopped 10

7. Ginger finely chopped 1"

8. 1 tsp Corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water 

9. Soy sauce 2 tbsp

10. Red chilli sauce/siriracha 11/2 tsp

11. Tomato ketchup 2 tsp 

12. Black pepper powder 1/4-1/2 tsp

13. Honey 3 tbsp 

14. Salt 

15. Sesame oil 2 tbsp

D. For Garnish

1. Sesame seeds a little 

2. Spring onion greens a handful 

Method Of Preparation 

A. Marinating The Paneer

1. Boil water in a saucepan. When it comes to a rolling boil, turn off the flame.

2. Drop the paneer cubes into the water & let it stay in the water for 3 minutes.

3. Take it out of the water & pat dry them.

4. Now you may see the paneer too soft & it is not possible to work with it. So, put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

5. After 15 minutes take it out & marinate with ginger garlic green chilli paste, black pepper powder & salt.

6. Cover & keep it on the countertop for 30 minutes.

                                            Paneer cut into 3/4 inch sized cubes

Paneer soaked in boiling water

Taken out of boiling water & pat dried. Paneer is too soft now so you cannot work with it. So put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Marinated Paneer

Marinated paneer

B. Frying The Paneer

1. In a bowl, add the all purpose flour, corn starch, salt, oil, baking powder & black pepper powder. Mix everything together nicely. Then add sufficient amount of water & add the marinated paneer into this batter. Coat the paneer cubes in the batter nicely. 

2. Heat a skillet with oil on high flame. Deep fry the paneer cubes in the oil. If you think the cubes are getting burnt, then you may reduce the heat to a medium but if you want the paneer to be crispy, fry them on a high flame. 

3. Drain them onto paper towels. 

4. After you have drained them on the paper towels, if you see any of the paneer not fried properly to a golden brown color, then you may fry them again on a low flame.(see pic #4 & #5)

5. If you want the paneer to be extra crispy, then you may fry them a second time on low flame. 

Batter for coating the paneer

Paneer coated in the batter

Deep frying the paneer

See, here I have deep fried the paneer on high flame but a few paneer cubes(on the left) havent turned golden brown in color.

So, I fried them one more time on low flame & now you can see that all the cubes are uniformly browned

C. Preparing The Sauce

1. Take a heavy bottomed skillet & add sesame oil into it.

2. On a high flame, add ginger garlic paste, followed by very thinly sliced garlic & finely chopped ginger. 

3. Sauté for a few seconds, then add spring onion whites, cubed red onions, cubed bell peppers. Sauté for two minutes. 

4. Then add the corn starch dissolved in water.

5. Give it a stir & add the black pepper powder, soy sauce, Chilli garlic sauce & tomato ketchup. Mix everything together.

6. Now thicken the sauce & reduce it to half of its original quantity & then turn off the flame. 

7. After you turn off the flame, add honey.

8. Add the fried paneer to the sauce only after 5 minutes or at the time of serving. Do not add as soon you turn off the flame as that will make your paneer soggy. If your adding the paneer only at the time of serving, then you may need to heat the sauce a little if it has cooled down.

9. Garnish with white sesame seeds & spring onion greens & serve hot with fried rice/noodles or serve as a starter.

This is corn starch dissolved in water

Ginger garlic paste, thinly sliced ginger & garlic in the oil.

Onions, spring onion whites & capsicums added

Corn starch dissolved in water added

Sauces, ketchup added. Then honey added after turning off the flame.

                                  Paneer added to the sauce after 5 minutes.

Notes

1. If you follow all the above steps correctly, you can make the most amazing honey Chilli paneer. 

2. I would suggest you follow the steps exactly until frying the paneer & for the sauce you can make adjustments. You can adjust the quantity of the sauces, ketchup, honey as per your choice. If you want it a little more sour, then you can add more of soy sauce. If you feel you don't want to add the above mentioned quantity of soy sauce, then you may reduce it. Also, soy sauce makes the sauce darker in color. If you want it more tangy then add more soy sauce, if you like it more sweet, then increase the quantity of ketchup & honey. Increase or reduce the quantity of the ingredients for the sauce as per your liking. It can be altered as per your taste.

3. While preparing the sauce, make sure the flame is on high. Cooking the sauce on a low flame makes the veggies really soggy. Hence, cook on high flame & make sure not to burn the sauce. So, be quick in adding each sauce one after another. 

4. The veggies need to be sautéed no more than 2 minutes as you want them to be crunchy and not soft.

5. The consistency of the batter needs to be a little thick & not watery. 

6. Follow the above steps exactly for marinating & frying the paneer & l'm sure the fried paneer cubes will turn out very crispy.

7. Also adjust the quantity of black pepper as per your taste.

8. Corn starch can be replaced with rice flour for marinating the paneer.