Paneer skewers with Mango chutney – a favourite in a very popular collection of eateries.

Emanating from The Thali Café in Bristol – a restaurant which is now one of five which are owned by Jim Pizer – the dish I’m writing about is a customer favourite.  Many of us know Sag Paneer as a wonderful quite bland dish made with the Indian Paneer cheese and Spinach with spices.  The cheese is in some ways similar to Mozzarella in one way – it has a wonderful effect on the palette being soft but not mushy in constituency and has a subtle flavour which oozes out when you are chewing it.  But it can match up to the best because you can also fry or barbeque it whilst mozzarella is really good melting into a pizza or in a traditional salad but may not barbeque all that well.

Here’s your ingredients:-

3 tblsp rapeseed oil

2 tblsp chickpea (gram) flour

600gm hard paneer but into 3cm cubes

4 cm Stem ginger – peeled and grated

6 cloves of garlic, crushed

1  1/4 tsp chilli powder

2 tblsp mango chutney

1/4 tsp ground tumeric

2 tblsp tomato puree

2 tblsp chopped fresh coridander

1  1/2 red peppers cut into 3cm chunks

You need a small frying pan for the oil and when heated add the gram flour and stir it in, & reduce heat until you have a paste.  You want nothing darker than a “nutty brown” colour – take care not to burn it.  Let the paste to cool for 3 mins.  Put into a bowl with the paneer cubes and marinade  with salt ground pepper and all the other ingredients apart from the pepper.  Leave to marinade for at least 15 mins.. If using wooden skewers soak them in a bowl of water and leave to one side.  Ready to cook?  Ok thread the paneer and peppers onto the skewers  and have a griddle pan,  frying pan or barbeque ready.  Cook your kebabs for around 8 mins turning frequently.  Serve with rice or naan bread and cucumber raita and salad.

Bon appetite

 

Penny Nair Price