Paneer Manchurian

love Chinese food but when it comes to Chinese-fusion food, I have a certain bias towards Indian-Chinese (indo-chinese) cuisine. We Indians have had a long-lived love affair with Chinese food. Long before the pizzas and burgers and junk food became popular, it was Chinese food that most of us wanted when we craved something exotic and different. Indo-chinese is not very close to authentic chinese food. It has been totally adapted and  flavored to suit an Indian palette. Who knew the marriage of a little soy sauce with Indian spices could be so delicious! A big bright star of the Indian Chinese cuisine and it has always been one of my favorites are the chilli and manchurian varieties. “Manchurian” dishes may be made with cauliflower, paneer or chicken and are extremely popular in India. The sauce has no basis in the historical Chinese region. In India this ever popular dish is served at glamorous restaurants as well as by the street side vendors and is consumed with vigor and excitement among all class of people.

The paneer has a crispy coating and is tossed with a mouth-watering spicy sauce. These are perfect for appetizers or may even be served as a side dish.

Use a toothpick or a fork as you please and enjoy with cocktails during or before a meal.
These are really easy to make at home, taste awesome and are always a big hit with guests. They are often paired with Chinese style fried rice. These are great for potluck parties and will be gone in seconds! It can be made dry or with gravy, the recipe below talks about both versions. Food coloring is normally used to give this dish a brighter appearance, I have used a little beet juice instead. I was pleased with the color but it is obviously optional.

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Potato Jackfruit (Aloo Kathal) curry with Poori

It is amazing how we take certain things for granted. Growing up, Kathal (pronounced cut-hull) or Jack fruit used to be abundant during the summers. Mom used to make an amazing curry. So coming to the US, I was pretty disappointed that folks here did not even know what a jack fruit was let alone sell it. We had to go without it for a couple of years. To my absolute amazement, I found that they sold the canned variety in some oriental grocery stores. They were good to satisfy our craving for kathal but did not even come close to the taste of the fresh ones. The other day I decided to search for it on the web and found that there actually is a local farmer that has jack fruit trees and he sells the fruit at his store. The catch, his store was about a hundred miles from where I am. This past weekend, hubby and I decided to take the trip. Believe it or not, we drove a hundred miles (two hundred including the return!!) but it was all worth it as we came back with a huge 10 pound jack fruit :D (so much for my carbon footprint but hey 'am not gonna do this everyday... besides he charged me 20 bucks for it so that's a good deterrent for doing it very often)

Now I have 10 pounds of jack fruit that I want to use as I cannot afford to let it go bad. So get ready to see some kathal creations from me. Here is the first in the series. The most common and traditional kathal preparation in our household. It is a traditional kathal and potato curry with spicy onion gravy. The kathal is pan-fried to get a nice caramelization and then simmered in a nice spicy sauce. I just ate some and feel like having some more as I am writing this. It is best paired with pooris . In case you are not aware what a poori is it is a deep fried puffed unleavened bread. They are an absolute treat to eyes and taste buds alike!!

This is my Mom's recipe, so here goes

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Chilli paneer

I love paneer and I love indo-chinese so as you can imagine, since this dish combines both, it tops my charts... spicy, yummy and quick to fix at the same time. I remember this was one of the few dishes we would expect to eat only in restaurants. Then one day mom made it at home and it was a instant hit among family and friends. My brother and I could not wait for the next time she would make it (at times we would force her :) ... so good! It is one of the very few dishes I knew how to make before getting married. It is also one of the first few dishes that got my hubby believing soon after we got married that 'the wife can cook'!

It is essentially paneer cubes cooked with bell peppers, onions and green chillies and simmered in chilli and soy sauce.
It can be made either dry or with gravy. In its dry form, it is typically served as an appetizer. In its gravied form it gets easily converted into main course paired with some chinese style fried rice. The recipe below talks about both versions.

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