Make Paneer Manchurian Recipe two ways. An awesome Restaurant Style Dry Paneer Manchurian recipe made healthy and a delicious, easy Paneer Manchurian Gravy.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Starters
  • Cuisine: Indo Chinese

Ingredients

  • 250 grams paneer ((Indian cottage cheese))
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (or corn flour - for paneer marinade)
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper powder ((ground black pepper) or white pepper - for paneer marinade)
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder (or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper - for paneer marinade)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (or add as required - for paneer marinade)
  • 3 tablespoons oil (- for pan frying paneer)
  • ⅓ cup onions (cut into 1 inch squares or ⅓ cup chopped spring onion whites)
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
  • 1 to 2 teaspoon finely chopped celery (- optional)
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies
  • ½ cup capsicum (diced into 1 inch squares, any color capsicum - red, green or yellow (bell peppers))
  • 1.5 to 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
  • ½ tablespoon soy sauce (or add as required)
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder (or white pepper)
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder (or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper)
  • ¼ cup water
  • salt (as required)
  • ½ teaspoon sugar (- optional)
  • ½ teaspoon rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar or regular vinegar)
  • 200 grams paneer (or firm tofu)
  • ¼ cup thinly sliced capsicum (or 1 small-sized, optional)
  • 1 to 1.25 cups water (or vegetable stock)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
  • ½ cup chopped spring onion whites ((scallion whites))
  • 1 green chilli (- finely chopped or ½ to 1 teaspoon chopped)
  • 1 inch ginger (- finely chopped)
  • 5 to 6 garlic cloves (- small to medium-sized - finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon celery (- finely chopped, optional)
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 to 1.5 tablespoon tomato ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
  • salt (as required)
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons oil (- for frying the paneer)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped spring onions (- for garnish)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (- to make cornstarch paste)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons water (- to make cornstarch paste)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (- for paneer marinade)
  • ¼ teaspoon finely chopped ginger (- for paneer marinade)
  • ¼ teaspoon finely chopped garlic (- for paneer marinade)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper powder (or as required, for paneer marinade)
  • salt (as required, for paneer marinade)

Method

Making Dry Paneer Manchurian - Recipe 1

  1. Dice paneer in cubes. Pat dry them with a clean kitchen towel.
  2. Add them the paneer cubes to a mixing bowl together with red chili powder, black pepper powder, salt and cornstarch.
  3. Gently shake, toss and mix. Everything should be well mixed. You could also mix the corn starch and the spice powders first and then add the paneer cubes to it.
  4. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a pan or kadai or wok. The oil should be medium hot.
  5. Add the paneer cubes. Flip and pan fry so that all the sides get cooked evenly. For a crisp version, you will need to shallow fry or deep fry the paneer cubes.
  6. Pan fry till the paneer cubes are light golden. Don't fry for a longer period of time as the paneer cubes might become dense.
  7. Place the pan fried paneer cubes on kitchen paper towels.
  8. In the same pan in which the paneer cubes were pan fried there will be some oil. So need to add any oil.
  9. Add the chopped onions, capsicum, ginger, green chilies, garlic and celery. Mix well and stir fry the veggies until the capsicum is half-cooked.
  10. Whilst the veggies are getting stir fried, in the same bowl in which the paneer cubes were mixed, there will be leftover corn starch & the spice powder mixture.
  11. You will only get this dry mixture if the paneer cubes were dry. Add ¼ cup water and make a paste of the remaining corn starch & spice powder mixture.
  12. If the paneer cubes were moist, then you will need to make a separate cornstarch paste. Dissolve 1 tablespoon corn starch with 3 tablespoon water.
  13. Add soy sauce and tomato ketchup to the stir-fried veggies. Adding 1.5 tbsp tomato ketchup make the dish sweet. For an extra sweetness, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup can be added. Stir. You can also add about ½ teaspoon of sugar.
  14. Then season with salt, red chili powder and black pepper. Add less salt as both soy sauce, tomato sauce and the cornstarch paste we made, already has salt in them.
  15. Add the cornstarch paste. Stir well and allow to simmer on a medium heat till the sauce thickens - about 1 to 2 minutes.
  16. Once the manchurian sauce has thickened, then add the pan-fried paneer cubes.
  17. Stir again very well so that the sauce coats the paneer cubes evenly and switch off heat.
  18. Lastly add rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar. Stir. Check the taste and add more salt, soy sauce, vinegar or black pepper if required.
  19. Serve dry paneer manchurian snack hot garnished with celery or some spring onion greens. You can also garnish it with chopped coriander leaves or parsley.

Making Paneer Manchurian Gravy

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the paneer marinade. Add paneer to the marinade to the paneer. Toss the mixture well, so that the paneer is well coated with the marinade.
  2. Make the cornstarch paste with water.
  3. Shallow or deep fry the paneer cubes in hot oil. Drain on paper napkins and keep aside.
  4. Remove the extra oil from the wok or kadai and keep about 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok or pan. Or choose to heat 1 tablespoon oil in a fresh pan or skillet.
  5. When the oil becomes hot add the onions. Stir fry the onions on medium to high heat taking care that they do burn.
  6. Let the onions become translucent.
  7. Add the ginger, garlic, green chili and celery. Stir for some seconds or a minute.
  8. Now add the capsicum if adding them. Stir fry the capsicum also for 2 to 3 mins.
  9. Add all the sauces, veg stock or water. Stir well and bring this mixture to a simmer or light boil.
  10. Add the cornstarch paste and mix evenly. Simmer until the sauce thickens and reaches your preferred consistency.
  11. Now add the shallow fried paneer cubes, vinegar, pepper and salt. Stir and switch off heat.
  12. Add the chopped spring onion greens and serve paneer manchurian gravy hot with veg fried rice, steamed rice or veg noodles.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.