I know it must be pretty obvious that paneer is something that I am very fond of and I take great pleasure in the fact that even Konda loves it. But even I was surprised when hubby dear gave us an over dose of Paneer. We went out for dinner and hubby dear went on to order, and all I could do is gape at him for ordering only paneer dishes. The waiter himself, was pretty much taken aback. It was Andhra Paneer, Paneer Tikka, Paneer Fingers, followed by Paneer Butter Masala. You would think that after such an overdose, we would be cured of our affliction towards this? Nay, this delicious Paneer curry is something I would make again anytime. This is something that I just went ahead and made, so it was such a pleasure finally tasting it and knowing it came out yum! It involves more of a Chettinad masala, hence the name!
Since few schools take kids from their pre school, we decided to get applications into those schools. And what a torture it is. Though the school was giving away applications for a week, all the parents were up early and by the time hubby dear reached at 7 am, there were about 200 people before him. He returned back to go the next day. And imagine his shock, when he was attending a mini interview! He was asked lot of questions and then was told that the child should be able to recognize circles, and other table manners.
Imagine that! How on earth they expect a 2 year old baby to know how to draw a circle or that they should go throw the chocolate paper in the dustbin, is beyond me. They even should know the colours! Peddu, if he has the mood, will show only geeen, buue, when not in mood, whatever he touches will be geeen or buue. And Chinnu won't even bother waiting for me to ask him.
Peddu will atleast say something that might sound like A B C,, then it will go into a big song, which I can never understand what. But Chinnu, if you ask him for long, he will launch into singing Amma Nanna I LL LU..I can very well imagine the look on the teacher if they are going to ask Chinnu to say ABC. And if you happen to give a toffee to Chinnu, first thing he will do is, to throw the paper down. He will look at the dust bin, only if he has the mood. I seriously hope the teachers know that a 2 year old kid is very much motivated by their moods!
As I said today's Paneer curry is a treat to senses. Its a mix of South and North Spices and arrived at a delicate dish to treat your senses. When I served with Parotta, it was one yummy lunch!
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Ingredients
For the Gravy
250 gms Paneer
2 medium Onions
2 medium Tomatoes
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
3 tsp Cooking Oil
Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves for garnish
For the Ground Masala
1 cup Fresh Grated Coconut
1 big Onion
3 - 4 pods Garlic
10 - 15 nos Whole Black Peppercorns
2" Cinnamon
2 Cardamom
3 Cloves
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds / Gasa Gasa
1 - 2 tsp Cooking Oil for frying
Instructions
Cut the Paneer into small pieces. Roast the Paneer in oil. Then, sprinkle turmeric powder and soak in water for 10 mins.
Meanwhile, heat a pan with oil, deep fry the onions till light brown, drain and keep aside.
Next, fry the grated coconut till light golden, then add garlic, continue to fry for a min. Next goes the peppercorns. Sauté everything well. Simmer for 1 min.
Then, add one after the other, the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fenugreek, cumin seeds. Fry everything for 2 mins in sim.
Finally, add the poppy seeds and fry for a few seconds. Remove from heat and add the chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well.
Allow it to cool. Then, add the deep fried onion to the spices and grind to a smooth paste using little water.
Heat a big pan with oil. Add the chopped onions and sauté till light brown. Then, add the ground paste, finely chopped tomatoes and adjust salt. Cover and simmer for 10 mins. When the oil comes out, add 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 mins.
Finally, add the Paneer cubes and sim for 10 mins. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Tastes great with Rotis!
Recipe
Paneer Chettinad Curry!
Ingredients
For the Gravy
- 250 gms Paneer
- 2 medium Onions
- 2 medium Tomatoes
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 2 tsp Coriander Powder
- 3 tsp Cooking Oil
- Salt to taste
- Coriander Leaves for garnish
For the Ground Masala
- 1 cup Coconut freshly grated
- 1 big Onion
- 3 - 4 pods Garlic
- 10 - 15 nos Whole Black Peppercorns
- 2" Cinnamon
- 2 Cardamom
- 3 Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
- 1 tbsp Poppy Seeds / Gasa Gasa
- 1 - 2 tsp Cooking Oil for frying
Instructions
- Cut the Paneer into small pieces. Roast the Paneer in oil. Then, sprinkle turmeric powder and soak in water for 10 mins.
- Meanwhile, heat a pan with oil, deep fry the onions till light brown, drain and keep aside.
- Next, fry the grated coconut till light golden, then add garlic, continue to fry for a min. Next goes the peppercorns. Sauté everything well. Simmer for 1 min.
- Then, add one after the other, the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fenugreek, cumin seeds. Fry everything for 2 mins in sim.
- Finally, add the poppy seeds and fry for a few seconds. Remove from heat and add the chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well.
- Allow it to cool. Then, add the deep fried onion to the spices and grind to a smooth paste using little water.
- Heat a big pan with oil. Add the chopped onions and sauté till light brown. Then, add the ground paste, finely chopped tomatoes and adjust salt. Cover and simmer for 10 mins. When the oil comes out, add 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 mins.
- Finally, add the Paneer cubes and sim for 10 mins. Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Tastes great with Rotis!
DEESHA says
lovely curry .. very spicy & yummy
Sharmila says
That is a whole gamut of spices ... poppy seeds too!New to me. 🙂
Roopa says
mmmm it looks like some rich chicken curry 🙂 I am very fond of such dishes when you prepare it this way :), it looks straight out of a dhaba:)
Smitha says
Love paneer, love the idea of Chettinad paneer, very interesting, bet it was much more tasty
aparna says
Lovely dish.
Medhaa says
love the spices used, reading chettinad itself I can imagine how spicy this would be
Laavanya says
My daughter too first recognized only blue & green before moving onto others 🙂 I've heard horror stories about schools' admission requirements - some of the demands are quite ridiculous..
The paneer chettinad looks so good.. nice twist.
Curry Leaf says
Lovely curry.Lovely post.We too were surprised about the schools.We went at 7 morning and same as u said 100 in front.I feel some parents start the q previous night itself he he he.. too competitive but bit bad for us as well as the kid
Mandira says
paneer chettinad, hmm... sounds delicious!
Alka says
I am scared of the time when we are scheduled to shift from our current location,since the most horrifying thing in Mumbai is getting admission in schools. There are queues for getting the admission forms,then submission of forms,then queues for parents Interview, then waiting list for child's interview and also an entrance exam (even for Lower KG )Then after clearing that exam ,we are tortured to wait anxiously for the results for good long 4-5 weeks b4 we can know whether poor child of our is accepted by SO CALLED PRESTIGIOUS school.Currently the school my son goes is not so rigid with its admission rules so it was really simple then...but now.....i m getting butterflies in stomach at the thought of March mania....
The curry looks awesome and so is the recipe...nice one for a variation from regular butter paneer !
Anonymous says
This is a wonderful paneer curry, will surely try it out. As for the school nightmare, hmm...India needs to get a grip on this over competitive and ridiculous expectations placed on young kids and their parents. What kind of education system expects kids to do things beyond their physical and mental development? Seems like they have no clue about child development nor child psychology!
Happy cook says
Love this sounth indian paneer dish.
It is totally different.
Yeah i think it is totally ridaculous all these interviews for a young child, i remeber when my sisters boy wanted to go to preschool they had to go for interviews etc...and then they had to pay twenty thousand rs as donation, that was more than 12 yrs ago.
Jayashree says
Which school did u try???
I have a post on my baby blog about the hassles of getting an application form.
karuna says
this curry looks so good. i have bookmarked it will try this for sure
Ruth says
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
Divya Kudua says
Lovely paneer curry Valli..would love to dig in..;-)I love paneer too and wouldnt mind having it as a starter and side dish too..;-)
Indrani says
Srivalli, I've few awards 4 u in my blog..pl. come by and pick them up
Divya Vikram says
Have heard from my Sis in law about these prekg interviews..Hilarious! And the curry looks too inviting to have with chapathis.
Priya says
Wow wat a lovely curry, looks spicy n delicious..sure will try them soon..
bee says
do they have to get tortured at pre-school? can they go at the age of 5 or something? school sounds like a torture chamber. never heard of andhra paneer.
Kitchen Flavours says
Wow looks yummy, spicy and pefect.
Uj says
Looks yummy Srivalli, I loved the chetinad masala.. will try your way soon 🙂
mindhaven says
hi srivalli,
I;m from Malaysia and I've been an ardent fan of your blog since i stumbled upon it a number of months ago. I tried this chettinad paneer recipe, but i substitutes paneer for tofu (didn't have the time to make paneer). The results were nonetheless, still awesome!..thank u so much!
sundari says
All your dishes are amazing and the way you explain and the quantities you suggest just work perfectly. I have tried a lot of dishes in your blog and all of them just come out perfect. This is the best receipe website I have found sine 5 years :).