A spicy hot and flavorful paneer starter from Indo-Chinese cuisine. Serve it as a appetizer or with some fried rice or noodles.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Appetizer / starter
  • Cuisine: Indo Chinese

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons red chili paste ((or 7 to 8 red chilies))
  • ½ cup Hot water (to soak chilies)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons corn flour
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons all purpose flour ((Organic maida))
  • salt (as needed)
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper
  • water (as needed to make the batter)
  • 200 grams paneer
  • oil (for deep frying)
  • 1 to 1½ tablespoons oil (for seasoning)
  • ¾ tablespoon garlic (chopped finely)
  • ½ tablespoon ginger (chopped finely)
  • ½ teaspoon schezwan peppercorn (or 3 to 4 crushed (optional))
  • 2 tablespoons spring onion whites (chopped)
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons celery (chopped (optional))
  • salt (as needed)
  • ¾ to 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¾ tablespoon soya sauce
  • ½ to ¾ tablespoon vinegar ((or tomato sauce))
  • 4 tablespoon water
  • ¼ cup capsicum ((optional))
  • ½ to ¾ cup water
  • 1 teaspoon corn flour (or corn starch or arrow root powder)

Method

  1. Deseed & soak red chilies in hot water. Set aside until soft.
  2. Blend them well with just 2 tbsps of water to a smooth paste. Discard the rest of the soaked water.

Fry paneer

  1. You may skip this entire section and simply add the paneer without frying to the schezwan sauce. To a mixing bowl, add corn flour, maida, pepper and salt.
  2. Pour water just enough to make a free flowing batter of slightly thick consistency.
  3. Add the paneer bites and coat them in the batter well.
  4. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying or shallow frying.
  5. When the oil turns hot, gently drop the batter coated paneer in the hot oil, spacing them apart so they don't touch. Do not disturb them for 2 to 3 mins.
  6. Stir and Fry them on a medium high flame until the paneer bites turn crisp. To pan fry turn them to the other side and fry until crisp. Remove to a cooling rack or steel colander.

How to Make Schezwan Paneer

  1. Heat oil in a pan or wok. Fry ginger garlic for a minute.
  2. Add spring onions, celery (optional) and schezwan peppercorn. Saute for 2 mins.
  3. Add red chili paste, salt and sugar. Fry for 2 to 3 mins. Remove the schezwan pepper as many as possible (optional).
  4. Pour water and cook until the mixture leaves oil. Pour soya sauce and vinegar or tomato sauce.
  5. Mix and saute for a minute. Add capscium and fry for 2 mins.
  6. Mix corn flour with water. Pour that to the pan. Mix well and cook until the sauce thickens. Taste test and adjust the spice and vinegar as desired.
  7. Turn off the stove. Cool this sauce a bit. Add the paneer and mix well to coat the sauce.
  8. Serve the schezwan paneer hot with noodles or fried rice.

To Air fry

  1. To air fry paneer, make the batter slightly thicker. These won't turn golden but will be white in color. If you want you may add some chilli powder to the batter for color.
  2. Place the batter coated paneer in a greased, preheated air fryer basket or tray. Air fry for 6 to 7 mins at 400 F or 200 C. Turn them to the other side and air fry for another 3 to 4 mins until crisp. The timing may vary depending on your air fryer.

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.