Chilli Paneer dry/Paneer cheese in a spicy chilli soy sauce

o tantrums and food have any relation for you? Well, in my case, growing up they had quite a lot to do with each other. This is what my dear mom used to cook especially for me when me - the brat - used to tell her "mom, you don't love me anymore", count to her all the occasions when I was refused an ice-cream, a barbie doll, Shahrukh's poster and the bestest most expensive dress in the mall! She knew how to get me back to behaving normally... lol.

I love Chinese food but I have a certain (very strong) bias towards Indian-Chinese (aka indo-chinese) cuisine. We Indians have had a long-lived love affair with Chinese food. Long before pizzas, burgers and junk food became popular, it was Chinese food that most of us wanted when we craved something exotic and different. One may argue that Indo-chinese is not really chinese food as it is not very close to authentic chinese food. It has been totally adapted and re-flavored to suit an Indian palette. But hey, that is what fusion food is all about, right? 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, featured on almost every menu of an Indian restaurant, be it upscale or roadside.

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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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