Simi's Chilli Paneer Recipe

One of the closest restaurants to our house is Bombay's Chutney, just down Walkers Line at Dundas St. We've been there a number of times exploring what is a new cuisine for our family. One of our favourite dishes is Chilli Paneer. To our delight a colleague of Wendy's just happens to have a great recipe. It turns out it's easy to make, doesn't take long, and uses three ingredients that we grow on our farm. What more could you ask for!

Simi's Chilli Paneer

1 tbsp  oil

1 tsp  cumin seed

1 large  onion

1 tsp  turmeric
1 tsp  garam masala

½ tsp  ginger (powdered)

1  jalapeño chopped

1 quart  tomatoes chopped fresh (or canned minced)

Salt to taste

400g  paneer (1 pkg) cubed

Heat oil and cumin seed over medium heat in a sauce pan.

Add onion, cook 5 mins until done.

Add turmeric, garam masala, ginger, jalapeño, and tomatoes, continue to simmer until fresh tomatoes are soft (10 - 30 mins depending on how thick you want the sauce to be).

Add paneer, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10-15 mins

Serve with rice

Tofu can be substituted for the paneer (makes this a great vegan dish).

Jalapeños can be substituted with any chile, or left out for a non-spicy version

Paneer

The first time we ordered chilli paneer we really had no idea what it was. The dish had these yummy cubes of something best described as the curd part of cottage cheese. Well, it turns out that's the paneer, and paneer is an unaged cheese similar to cottage cheese or queso fresco (its Mexican cousin).

So, where do you get it? We haven't seen it in our Burlington grocery stores (YET! I'm sure it will appear one of these years).

 

In Burlington you can get it at:

"Indian Grocers" 

1450 Headon Road, Burlington

(that's just south of the Shopper's Drug Mart at Upper Middle)