Kitchen Tantra

Paneer 65:

Deep Fried Indian Cheese. Panir 65. Paneer Porichadhu.

When I was in Delhi, I shared my room with Poorani! The girl was(yeah was)strict vegetarian back then. When ever we went out for Dinner, she'll always order paneer 65as her appetizers. She said its vegetarian's Chicken 65'. Although...I could'nt agree with her term, I said...it could be never compared to chicken! Later she started trying my chicken recipes....she said its like Paneer and I could eat it all the time! Ha ha ha.

Later when I moved to Hyderabad...she came down to visit me. Before did she come I researched most of the restaurants in the city.(I tried Minerva, Seafood Place, Biriyani house, Bawarchi....so on) To my knowledge...'Paradise Inn' had the best 'Paneer 65'!

Well...today I tried my level best to give an exact restaurant style Paneer 65, except that I didnt use any food color and used only pinch of MSG. To create exact restaurant style...do go by my ingredients and recipe below! But hope you guys are aware of health hazard using artifcial colors and MSG!

Ingredients:

Indian Cottage Cheese(Paneer)
Ginger 2" minced
Garlic 3 cloves minced
Salt
MSG 1/4 Spoon
Soy sauce few spoons
Lemon juice few spoons
Corn flour few spoons
Red food color(organic would be fine)
Chili powder 2 spoons
White pepper 1 spoon
Black pepper 1/2 + 1/2 spoon
Cloves 3 - powderd
Curry leaves 1 bowl
Oil for deep frying.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients together(except oil, paneer and 1/2 spoon of pepper).

Now add paneer to it and mix well. Let this sit in fridge for real good hours(4 hours)

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. When it comes to smoky hot, fry few paneer pieces at a time. Leave them over kitchen tissues for a while. Repeat the same for each batch.

Crisply fry curry leaves and use them as garnish.

Then sprinkle pepper on top...while they are still warm.

Serve warm as a snack/appetizers/ side dish.