Paneer chettinad

Paneer chettinad is spicy, yummy and tasty curry with aromatic flavors. It was named after the famous region of Tamil Nadu. Chettinad is quite popular for its fiery hot delicious cuisine that has lots of freshly roasted spices, herbs, and coconut. It is a fusion of South and North India spices and flavor in which paneer has simmered in the fresh ground masala. It goes so well with rotis, pulao or with fried rice. It’s very simple and easy to make. So, here’s the method of making a yummy, at the same time spicy Paneer chettinad.

Ingredients:

• 400 grams cottage cheese (paneer)
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 6-8 dried red chillies
• ½ cumin seeds
• ½ tablespoon coriander seeds
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 2 tablespoon ginger paste
• ½ star anise
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 4 finely chopped tomatoes
• ½ small bowl freshly granted coconuts
• 5-10 black peppercorns
• Salt to taste (normally ½ teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice (half lemon)

Here’s list what to do:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan over medium temperature. Add red chillies, black peeper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, coconuts, cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and fennel seeds. Sauté this until they are nicely toasted i.e. dark yellow in color.

 If you want to follow old- classic way, take a stone pounder and start pounding those until you have a thick paste. Alternatively, electronic blender can be used instead of stone pounder.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add curry leaves, already prepared paste and ginger paste. Then sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Finally, add finely chopped tomatoes, chili powder, turmeric and cottage cheese (paneer) and cook it for around 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of water, lemon juice, salt and leave it for 2-3 minutes in medium heat.

Lastly, garnish it with coriander leaves and Serve Chettinad Paneer as a starter or as a side dish for rotis, pulao or with fried rice.

Here, we are ready to have Paneer chettinad. It’s sharp, hot, spicy and tangy. In short its mix of all flavors.