Schezwan Paneer is an Indo Chinese dish where crispy paneer is tossed with a spicy schezwan sauce. It can be served as such as an appetizer or with noodles and fried rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4 as an appetizer
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Cuisine: Indo-Chinese

Ingredients

For the paneer

  • 2 tablespoon corn starch
  • 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
  • 200 grams paneer (cut into cubes)
  • oil (to fry)

For the sauce

  • 2 tablespoons oil (use any oil of choice)
  • 3/4 tablespoon ginger (finely chopped)
  • 3/4 tablespoon garlic (finely chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon celery (finely chopped)
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • 1/4 cup onion (quartered and petals separated)
  • 1/4 cup green bell pepper (cut into 1-inch cubes)
  • 3 tablespoon schezwan chutney (add 2 tablespoon for a less spicy version, I have used Ching's schezwan chutney)
  • 1 teaspoon tomato ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • chaat masala (to sprinkle, optional)
  • green onions (chopped, to garnish)

Method

Fry the paneer

  1. Make the batter in a large bowl. To a bowl add cornstarch, flour, salt, pepper and Kashmiri red chili powder. Add water (around 1/4 cup) to make a smooth, free-flowing thick batter. The batter should coat the paneer cubes. Add the paneer cubes and toss to combine until all the paneer cubes are well coated with the batter.
  2. Heat an inch of oil in a small kadai or wok on medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the paneer into the hot oil and fry until they turn crisp and golden brown in color. Drain on a paper towel.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped ginger, garlic, celery and dried red chilies. Cook for 1 minutes until the ginger and garlic start changing color.
  2. Then add the onions and green bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the schezwan chutney, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar and 1 tablespoon water. Stir to combine everything.
  4. Add in the fried paneer cubes and toss until the paneer cubes are coated with the sauce. Sprinkle some chaat masala if you like. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve hot!

Air Fryer Instructions

  1. To air fry the paneer, preheat your air fryer according to manufacturer's instructions. Then spray with an oil spray and place the paneer in the air fryer. Air fry at 380 F degrees for 10 minutes or until the paneer is crisp and golden brown. The rest of the recipe remains same.

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.