Several South Indians are not fans of Paneer, me included. No matter how I cook the damn thing, the spices never seem to penetrate its thick hide. The core is always milky white and bland. But-and there's always a but-Paneer is a very benign food from a glycemic load perspective. No definitive figures here, but I believe it has only about 10 gms of carbs in a 183 gms serving, so the glycemic load is about 7, hence this post.
I've tried Paneer in many forms and tolerated it in most, but the two recipes that have kinda worked for me are recipes I invented. One is a sort of tossed paneer salad and the other is a tava paneer. Both recipes are simple and any additions to the base paneer are even lower GI, so overall both dishes should be very low GI, though I cannot give you an accurate figure.
First up is the tossed paneer salad recipe. You can use this as a filling in a Kathi roll made of misi roti if you like or you can eat it as is.
Ingredients:
200 gms paneer (cut into cubical chunks about 3/4th of an inch in size. You can make them larger if you like)
1 big onion, cut into 3/4th inch pieces, kind of the way you cut onions to put them on a skewer (seekh)
2 small ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4th inch size cubes. Remove the core of the tomatoes.The seeds are a mood killer in this recipe. I just eat the core. I never waste it.
1 big capsicum cut into 3/4th inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon of roasted zeera powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
Pepper or red chili powder (whichever you like better)
1 tablespoon of ghee. Oil will do fine too, but I prefer ghee.
In a non-stick wok, heat the ghee till it is sizzling hot. Throw in all the cut veggies and fry them on high heat. The reason we fry them on high heat is so that it doesn't get all watery. I like the veggies quite firm, but you can fry them as much as you like. For me the veggies are done when the skin of the capsicum shrivels just a little bit. Then, put in the roasted zeera powder, the salt, the pepper and the pinch of sugar. At this stage, you can add a teaspoon of tomato ketchup, if you like the taste. If you add ketchup, omit the sugar. Fry on low heat for a couple of minutes more and then toss in the paneer. Let the paneer get coated with the spice mixture and then fry it for another couple of minutes. The final product should be slightly moist, but certainly not wet.
You can eat this like a snack or you can roll it into a misi roti to make a kathi roll. You can also eat it as a side dish with any kind of roti. The key is to eat this straight off the stove or it's no fun.
Next up is the tava paneer. I eat this as a snack and it's ridiculously simple to make.
Ingredients
200 gms paneer sliced into big square or triangular pieces that are about a centimeter thick. You can slice them thicker if you like.
Roasted zeera powder
Pepper/red chili powder (optional)
Salt
Ghee to toast. Ghee tastes best with this recipe.
On an iron tawa (like a roti tawa), pour a small portion of the ghee and toast 4-5 pieces of paneer on both sides. Sprinkle the salt, zeera powder and pepper. Turn the pieces over and toast on the other side. Now, how firm you want the paneer is really a matter of taste. I just toast it enough to fry the spices a little ,about 1 minute on each side, and I take it off before the paneer starts to get crisp. This is because I like it soft. You can increase the amount of ghee and toast the paneer until it gets quite crisp too.
This snack is pretty healthy, if you go easy on the fat. And you get a good amount of protein this way.
So that's it for today. Tell me how you like it, if you try it :)
I've tried Paneer in many forms and tolerated it in most, but the two recipes that have kinda worked for me are recipes I invented. One is a sort of tossed paneer salad and the other is a tava paneer. Both recipes are simple and any additions to the base paneer are even lower GI, so overall both dishes should be very low GI, though I cannot give you an accurate figure.
First up is the tossed paneer salad recipe. You can use this as a filling in a Kathi roll made of misi roti if you like or you can eat it as is.
Ingredients:
200 gms paneer (cut into cubical chunks about 3/4th of an inch in size. You can make them larger if you like)
1 big onion, cut into 3/4th inch pieces, kind of the way you cut onions to put them on a skewer (seekh)
2 small ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4th inch size cubes. Remove the core of the tomatoes.The seeds are a mood killer in this recipe. I just eat the core. I never waste it.
1 big capsicum cut into 3/4th inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon of roasted zeera powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
Pepper or red chili powder (whichever you like better)
1 tablespoon of ghee. Oil will do fine too, but I prefer ghee.
In a non-stick wok, heat the ghee till it is sizzling hot. Throw in all the cut veggies and fry them on high heat. The reason we fry them on high heat is so that it doesn't get all watery. I like the veggies quite firm, but you can fry them as much as you like. For me the veggies are done when the skin of the capsicum shrivels just a little bit. Then, put in the roasted zeera powder, the salt, the pepper and the pinch of sugar. At this stage, you can add a teaspoon of tomato ketchup, if you like the taste. If you add ketchup, omit the sugar. Fry on low heat for a couple of minutes more and then toss in the paneer. Let the paneer get coated with the spice mixture and then fry it for another couple of minutes. The final product should be slightly moist, but certainly not wet.
You can eat this like a snack or you can roll it into a misi roti to make a kathi roll. You can also eat it as a side dish with any kind of roti. The key is to eat this straight off the stove or it's no fun.
Next up is the tava paneer. I eat this as a snack and it's ridiculously simple to make.
Ingredients
200 gms paneer sliced into big square or triangular pieces that are about a centimeter thick. You can slice them thicker if you like.
Roasted zeera powder
Pepper/red chili powder (optional)
Salt
Ghee to toast. Ghee tastes best with this recipe.
On an iron tawa (like a roti tawa), pour a small portion of the ghee and toast 4-5 pieces of paneer on both sides. Sprinkle the salt, zeera powder and pepper. Turn the pieces over and toast on the other side. Now, how firm you want the paneer is really a matter of taste. I just toast it enough to fry the spices a little ,about 1 minute on each side, and I take it off before the paneer starts to get crisp. This is because I like it soft. You can increase the amount of ghee and toast the paneer until it gets quite crisp too.
This snack is pretty healthy, if you go easy on the fat. And you get a good amount of protein this way.
So that's it for today. Tell me how you like it, if you try it :)
